Academic Typing and Transcription Services in Scotland

University Transcriptions have worked with most of the universities in Scotland on a wide range of academic research interviews and recordings. The universities and colleges include;

Edinburgh
  • Napier University
  • Heriot-Watt University
  • Queen Margaret University
  • Scotland’s Rural College
  • The University of Edinburgh
Glasgow
  • Glasgow Caledonian University
  • Glasgow School of Art
  • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
  • University of Glasgow
  • University of Strathclyde
Aberdeen
  • Robert Gordon University
  • University of Aberdeen
Others:
  • University of Abertay Dundee
  • University of Dundee
  • University of St Andrews
  • University of Stirling
  • University of the Highlands and Islands
  • University of the West of Scotland

We are a preferred supplier to most of these, and by way of example we have been working with the University of Dundee on large medical research projects for over 15 years. Our University clients feed back to us that one of the main reasons they use our service is because of our specialist dialect and accent transcription services for the Scots language and Scottish regional accents.

What is Scots?

Scots is the shorthand used to describe Scottish dialects such as ‘Glaswegian’, ‘Doric’, ‘Buchan’, ‘Dundonian’, or ‘Shetland’. Put together, these accents and dialects are called the Scots language. Sometimes Scots is known by the names ‘Scotch’, ‘broad or braid Scots’, ‘Doric’ and ‘Lallans’. Since 2011 the Scots language has been included as one of the options to choose for language on the Census for the United Kingdom, a survey issued every 10 years.

Here is an example, taken from an information board at the Burns Centre and quoted on the Aye Can Speak Scots website:

“Though his position in society wis ower laich for him tae hae the richt tae vote, Robert wis nanetheless passionate aboot politics and made his writin desk his ballot box. Scunnerin the weel-daein and pooerfu, hooanever could prove a fykie business. Robert Burns loved the lassies. He fell in love aften an wi ease, and wi mony weemun frae a wheen o backgrunds. The wey he treatit his lovers wis different ilka time, and ilka relationship affected Robert in its ain weys.”

It is fairly similar in strength to a number of regional dialects found around England, with the Black Country, Geordie and Somerset dialects all having similar levels of unique words that are not necessarily recognised by English speakers in other geographical areas.

What is the difference between Scots and Gaelic?

Gaelic is spoken in the north and west of Scotland, and Scots is spoken more in the south and east. Scots is derived from English and hence the Germanic languages, and Gaelic is a Celtic language, linked to Irish and Welsh.

We are UK specialist transcriptionists and our transcribers spend about 95% of their time transcribing academic recordings of UK accents and dialects, some stronger and more broad than others! Although we are located in North Wales, with our company offices located just outside the market town of Mold in Llanarmon-yn-Ial and our administrative offices situated close to Denbigh, we have always enjoyed strong links to the Scottish Universities, which have traditionally made up a good percentage of our work each year, and are preferred suppliers to many of them. We are also listed on the the Public Contracts Scotland website and are always happy to tender for work. We do not charge extra to transcribe ‘hard to hear’ voices, regardless of how ‘strong’ the accents are.

UniversityTranscriptions.co.uk is a registered data controller with the Information Commissioners Office, the UK government organisation regulating how data is handled and protected. Our registration number is ZA305217. This complies with EU law on data handling and works to a similar level to the 27 other EU states, particularly important after Brexit if your institution has strict data protection requirements for transcription service providers.

We are a UK registered company and file our accounts annually in England and Wales with Companies House, who regulate our business. Our company number is 4946815. We have a D-U-N-S number: 736877809. DUNS stands for “Data Universal Numbering System”, a service operated by Dun & Bradstreet in the UK and USA to provide unique identification to companies worldwide.

Our transcription services manager has BPSS UK Government (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) clearance, which is a security level comparable across the EU for academic and government institutions handling politically sensitive data. University Transcriptions is also CyberEssentials accredited. Cyber Essentials is a UK government accreditation system that awards a certificate to companies who are able to demonstrate a particular level of data security. This is comparable with other EU state accreditations for data handling security.