Due to the global information superhighway called the internet, the entire world, though it speaks hundreds of different languages, makes up a single giant global village. And when it comes to Spanish, we’re talking about a real, physical-world community of over 41 million people who speak the language in the U.S. alone.
As Spanish continues transcending geographical boundaries around the world, business, non-profits, and government agencies are increasingly dealing with clients that speak this language but are not native English speakers. In this article we will see how Spanish transcription services can help you to close the communication gap between your organization and the Spanish-speaking audiences across the globe, and how you can get access to an accurate Spanish transcription service.
What Is Spanish Transcription?
Spanish transcription is the conversion of Spanish speech in a video or audio recording into text. With a manual process, trained and experienced professionals listen to the recording and type each statement on a word processor. To get quality transcripts in the right format and with no grammatical errors, organizations usually engage human transcriptionists with native-level proficiency in both Spanish and English.
You might wonder; why is the demand for Spanish transcription services so strong and growing? The answer lies in the U.S. Hispanics economics. Between 1990 and 2014, this population’s disposable income soared 600% to about $1.25 trillion. This constitutes 10% of the total US purchasing power and is an important segment for the U.S. companies’ marketing strategy. Marketers know they must address the language barrier to effectively penetrate the Hispanic market.
They found the answer in accurate Spanish transcription and translation. It enables them to ‘hear’ their target Hispanic audience as well as adapt their brand messaging and products specifically for the culture.
Who Needs Spanish Transcription Services?
Any organization that engages Hispanic communities or clients’ needs to use transcription services at one point or another. It is essential for effective two-way communication between agencies/ businesses, and their non-native English-speaking audiences. Examples include:
1. Marketers
U.S. business that targets the local and overseas Hispanic population often uses Spanish transcription services. Spanish companies expanding into the U.S. and targeting the English-speaking market segments may also need to transcribe some of their marketing materials, online and offline. Interviews with clients, corporate meetings, and seminars can be transcribed and then translated into the preferred language.
2. Law Enforcers
With the help of a translator, U.S. law enforcement often communicates with victims, suspects, or witnesses that only speak Spanish. Their on-record statements, interviews, or interrogations will require accurate Spanish-to-English transcription for analysis, corroboration, or litigation.
3. Educators and Students
In academia, Spanish transcriptions are an invaluable teaching resource for professors. From lectures and group discussions to research interviews, accurate transcripts can streamline learning for Spanish-speaking students, especially overseas.
4. Law Firms
Legal transcripts of recorded lawyer-client interviews or depositions can help law firms with litigation and pre-trial analysis of evidence. When the lawyer or client is Spanish, the use of Spanish transcription services is often necessary to achieve this.
Steps to Transcribe Spanish Recordings to Text
You can transcribe Spanish audio to text using speech-recognition software (artificial intelligence) or human-based transcriptionists. If you want a quality transcript, start by choosing a manual Spanish transcription service as compared to AI. This choice is beneficial in many ways, including:
- Bilingual fluency: Human transcriptionists that speak both English and Spanish fluently are essential for transcribing and translating recording into accurate English text (or vice versa).
- Accurate transcripts: Human transcriptionists can accurately transcribe Spanish recordings involving thick accents, uncommon dialects, background noise, crosstalk, and more.
- Speaker identification: The ability to identify speakers in group meeting recordings is essential for generating accurate Spanish transcripts. Correct speaker identification is not usually a guarantee with an AI-automated process.
- Time and cost savings: When you are always guaranteed a high-quality transcript manually, you can avoid unnecessary editing costs and commit more of your productivity time to core business priorities.
- Privacy and security: Use a human-based transcription service that provides data security guarantees, including confidentiality agreements and server encryption.
You can consider using AI-powered transcription if you are looking for the lowest Spanish transcription rates on the market. This option may also be convenient if available as a built-in feature with your video conferencing tool. As you weigh your transcription options, keep these common AI shortcomings in mind:
- Problems with correct speaker identification
- Inaccurate transcripts when speakers have thick accents or there is too much overlapping speech
- Editing inaccurate transcript takes more of your time and money
- No confidentiality agreements/guarantees
Summing Up
The demand for Spanish transcription services are growing among organizations targeting Hispanic communities or audiences locally and abroad. From academics and law to medical and marketing, accurate transcripts are vital for improving communication between providers, firms, or government agencies and their Spanish audiences or clients. The two main transcription methods available to these organizations are manual and AI or automation. Transcript accuracy and cost-effectiveness are two of the key differentiators between the two options.
