Our Listener – Wendy, Cape Town

“Finding calm and courage, one transcript — and one dragon — at a time.”

Wendy has been with Way With Words since 2014, though she admits with a laugh that she had to pause and reboot her brain to remember the exact month. “November, I think,” she says, the kind of self-aware humour that instantly disarms you. It’s been over a decade of words, sounds, and stories – and for her, it all began at a crossroads.

She had reached what she calls an “advanced age,” that awkward phrase society sometimes attaches to experience. Work opportunities had become scarce, and she wasn’t sure where to turn next. Her partner, who’d done transcription work in the United States, suggested she give it a bash. She did. She passed the test. And she hasn’t looked back since. “My love of writing and the English language, and the very interesting transcription content, is what has kept me here,” she says. Then she grins through the words: “Plus, I have a few bills to pay, so that also helps.”

There’s a self-deprecating wit in Wendy’s words, but beneath it runs a quiet steadiness, a sense of someone who has come to know the value of stillness. She confesses that doing “absolutely nothing” can be a form of joy these days. “Usually with a glass of merlot,” she adds. That stillness, however, doesn’t mean she’s idle.

Her curiosity is alive and well, and her imagination even more so. “I like to tinker around on a computer. Browsing the Internet of Things is an unending thrill,” she says, though she admits it can sometimes test one’s sanity. And then there’s her love of games. She recalls the excitement of owning the very first PlayStation and of late-night adventures through the fog of Silent Hill, the tension of Resident Evil, the daring climbs of Lara Croft. “These days,” she says, “I’ve found a home in The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim. It was launched in 2011 and I only discovered it a few years ago. I’m usually immersed in a world of dragons and war axes for a few hours a day, at least.”

Wendy’s blend of humour and introspection runs through everything she says. She talks about her passion for reading (“a lot of reading, a LOT,” she emphasises) and her loyalty to Stephen King’s thrillers. She loves television and film but draws the line at comedy and horror: “I just can’t sit through them.” And when she listens to music, there’s one artist who always makes the cut. “Anything Taylor Swift releases,” she says, “not a Swifty, but close! And totally unashamed to admit it, the woman is talented. Case in point, listen to the bridge of You’re on Your Own, Kid.”

For Wendy, transcription isn’t just a job, it’s a continuation of her lifelong relationship with language. It’s also a form of service, an act of attention. “Only a human being can understand and interpret the context of a script, the nuances, the tone of the speaker,” she explains. “We can listen to difficult audio and transcribe it more accurately than a machine can. The act of simply listening and understanding is a really important feature that only we can provide.”