What is the difference between ‘writing’ and ‘transcribing’?

Their meaning may be confused, but ‘writing’ and ‘transcribing’ are quite different activities. In a dictionary definition, “transcribing” is “writing again (certain contents) in another place, transferring, copying or reproducing”; that is, transcribing is actually conveying the contents of a medium into another.

One of the most common uses of the word is to describe the conversion of an audio into a written text. Although this is a task requiring time and a lot of work, a transcription may be quite useful to professionals of different areas, in addition to students. In an audio transcription everything spoken goes into a written format. Thus, lectures, seminars and conferences, among others, may be transformed into written files, by facilitating the access, citation and diffusion of the contents.