When you enter the world of translation, you will see it has many branches. Before starting the translation process, many actions are carried out on a project basis and in line with the customer’s request. Transcription, also known as deciphering, is frequently used these days.
This may be the first time you've heard the term transcription, but we're sure you've seen examples of it many times in everyday life.
The transcription service means transcribing any audio element in an audio recording or video. This service is usually provided in a single language; in other words, a voice recording in Turkish is transferred to text in Turkish. Afterwards, the translation process can start in line with the project’s or the customer’s demands.
How to Transcribe
Transcription involves a long process and is quite laborious. There is a big difference between spoken and written language. We don’t just use words when we speak; our body language and the emphasis we make also play a significant role in meaning. However, writing down this emphasis and body language takes work. Still, it is essential in terms of maintaining the integrity of meaning.
The transcriber first listens to the audio recording or watches the video, thus gaining an idea of the context. Then, the listening process starts for the second time, and notes are taken. For example, the emphasis or sarcasm of the person is stated.
Then the listening process starts again, and all the audio elements are written down. Is it over now? No.
The person performing the transcription process listens to the recording one last time; this time, the transcribed text is checked sentence by sentence.
As you see, the act of transcription requires listening to a recording repeatedly. Therefore, even transcribing a 10-minute audio recording can take hours.
Types of Transcription
There are two types of transcription methods: edited and one-to-one transcription. Which transcription method is preferred depends entirely on the project; different types of recording may require the use of varying transcription methods.
The first method is edited transcription. As the name suggests, some editorial processes occur while this method is applied. Sound elements that are not necessary for meaning are omitted while transcribing. For example, the pronunciation errors of a speaker are corrected, or audio components such as sneezing are disregarded.
The other method is one-to-one transcription. The person transcribes all kinds of audio elements in a recording. In other words, the structure of the speech is preserved as it is, and all sorts of pronunciation errors are left as they are.
Audio Quality and Transcription Service
Sound quality is essential for transcription services. Recordings with low audio quality are much harder to transcribe. But technology comes to our rescue at this point and makes our lives easier once again!
Today, there are many computer programs to improve or correct sound quality. Thanks to these programs, it is possible to improve the sound quality of a recording and facilitate the transcription process.
Transcription and Machine Translation Tools
Today, many applications offer transcription services. Many translation tools, such as Google Translate, can listen to audio, save it as text, and translate.
But as with written translation, these tools have many shortcomings. They may only understand the words correctly some of the time and not record them completely. Emphasis and emotions are often lacking because machine tools cannot yet perceive them.
However, to facilitate the transcription process, many applications can use the ability to convert sound to writing. Thus, the person performing the transcription process can continue with the editorial process instead of transcribing the audio elements.
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