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Transcription of Audio/Video

Transcription and translation of audio and video files in a whole host of file formats is something we are getting asked for more and more.

The Process

In a nutshell, transcription first involves our professional translators watching or listening to your recording and writing down the speech (adding time codes if needed), in the same language that’s being spoken. They then translate that text into the target language you require.

Example: An audio file in Japanese will first be transcribed into Japanese as text. The Japanese text is then translated into English.

An experienced transcriber can transcribe 15 minutes of audio/video in 1 hour (not counting translation).

Translating straight into the target language from the audio/video is not recommended for a high quality translation.

Translation Charges

Clearly you don't know how many words are used in your audio or video until they have been transcribed (it's a chicken and egg thing), but we normally estimate that in English a recorded interview of 1 hour between 2 people would generate around 6000 spoken words, and a dictated piece of audio would generate between 8,000 and 10,000 spoken words.

These figures are based on English, but other languages such as German use longer words and so probably have fewer words per hour. Japanese, however, generally uses shorter words and therefore the spoken word count is likely to be higher.

The quote for transcription projects is in two parts, the transcription fee which is normally charged per minute and then the translation charges for the text.

What Type of Files Can We Transcribe?

We can use pretty much any type of file such as a tape, CD, DVD, video cassette, MP3, mpeg or wav. If you have used something we've not listed, drop us an email we're bound to be able to help you.