The ability to communicate effectively across cultures and languages is more important than ever in today’s connected world. Arabic transcription services play a vital role in overcoming language boundaries, allowing people and businesses to easily gain access to Arabic content.
This service makes it easier to understand and use Arabic media, lectures, and conversations by turning spoken Arabic into written language.
What is Arabic transcription
Transcription is the process of converting audio, video, conversations, and other similar content into written form, and there are a lot of benefits and types of transcription that we are going to cover in this article.
What is the difference between Arabic transcription, transliteration, and translation?
It’s confusing!
And you may find that many people mix them. but we are going to make it simple by knowing the definition of each one.
transcription:
writing down the same audible content in the same language.
example: If there is a talk between two people and the first one says: كيف حالك؟
It will be transcripted as follows: “كيف حالك؟” in written words.
transliteration:
converting Arabic script to its Latin counterpart. Transliteration does not give you the meaning of words in another language like translation; rather, it helps you pronounce the Arabic words by writing the sounds of the Arabic word into the English or Latin alphabet.
example:
Arabic word that is the name of the first surah in the holy Quran: الفاتحة
Translation (meaning): The Opening
Transliteration (the sound): Al-Fatiha
translation:
converting the meaning of written or spoken Arabic content from one language to another
example: “write” in Arabic means “يكتب” and we say يكتب is the Arabic translation of write.
Types of transcription services:
The transcription service could be performed manually by humans or automatically by tools that are not as precise as humans. In addition to that, there are various ways of thinking or algorithms that the transcriptionist could follow.
Strict Verbatim Transcription:
In this type of transcription, we write down every word in the audio file as it is, paying attention to every detail, and we include things like:
- Interruptions, stumbles, laughs, noises in the background, and repeats.
- Pauses in speech: “uhms”, “ahs”, “hmms”
Strict verbatim transcription is usually used in:
- legal fields.
- market research.
- Movies scripts.
Intelligent Verbatim Transcription:
The transcriber avoids any distracting parts of the audio or video. The purpose of intelligent verbatim transcription is to provide a clear written transfer that is more readable and precise.
This needs a human, clever transcriber, not just a tool. so he can understand, analyze, and reproduce the audible content correctly.
The most important aspect of intelligent verbatim transcription is to keep the meaning and spirit of the spoken speech unchanged, but in a more suitable way for the written form.
Intelligent verbatim transcription is usually used in:
- Businesses.
- Podcasts.
- Meetings and conferences.
- Learning courses.
- Medical field.
Edited Transcription:
Here, it’s not about writing the same pronounced words but about writing them in a coherent, brilliant way. So you need to be a transcriptor and editor simultaneously to write free mistakes and well-written pieces of content.
You may have to delete or replace some parts as you need to rewrite the same meaning in different words or change the order of writing.
Phonetic transcription:
It is about writing. The phonetic symbols represent how each word is spoken, which is a mix of transcription and transliteration. This kind of transcription is rare and is used to simplify learning new languages.
What are the benefits of Arabic audio transcription?
1- Enhance communication: Arabic transcription eliminates the language barrier, enabling individuals to comprehend and engage with Arabic content effectively.
This is particularly beneficial for businesses seeking to expand into Arabic-speaking markets, educational institutions offering Arabic language programs, and individuals engaged in international collaborations.
2- Better Research and Analysis: Transcription makes it easier for academics to analyze texts in Arabic by helping them to find major themes, extract information, and obtain a better understanding of the Arabic language and culture. This can be extremely useful for academic study, market analysis, and political analysis.
3- Assist non-Arabs in learning Arabic: Arabic transcription is a language learning tool that helps non-Arabs learn the language more effectively and enthusiastically. It is highly used for improving pronunciation and teaching phonetics.
4- Improve AI and machine learning models: Transcription, especially phonetic transcription, is one of the most used tools in linguistics to build more effective machine learning models.
5- Media Videos Subtitling and Captioning: Arabic transcription is essential for producing subtitles and captions for Arabic media content.
6- Enable disabled individuals with hearing problems: They can understand and enjoy more video and audio content through reading subtitles.
7- For marketing purposes: discussion transcription with focus group participants or consumer survey respondents or transcription of the ads to make the selling message clearer and to improve communication through international business dealings.
8- In the medical and legal fields: Transcription helps in writing down every single step during diagnosis and documenting every step of the legal process
9- Preparing for translation and voice-over: Transcription and translation are widely used in tandem, with transcription serving as the initial step before the text is translated or voiced over.
What is the best Arabic transcription tool?
The best transcription process is done by humans. although you can use some automated tools like:
But do you need my opinion?
Try fast-trans!
It’s more accurate and understandable at the lowest cost! And the most important thing is that it is done by humans.
How can fast-trans help you with Arabic transcription? And how does Arabic transcription work here?
Arabic transcription makes the Arabic content easily accessible because of:
- the clarity of the written words compared to the spoken ones.
- It’s the first step before audio translation.
We, at Fast-trans have the experts and experience you need to transcribe your materials by humans who understand the purpose of every transcription piece. We have copywriters, translators, linguistics experts, and editors, which means you will enjoy integrated, accurate service.
After the transcription process, we have multiple review phases to ensure that every sentence that is well-heard is well-written.
