Transcription

Transcription services in French, Spanish, German and other languages

Transcription of audio and video recordings

SMG Languages’ transcription service provides clients with written transcripts of dialogue and conversations recorded in audio or video format. Clients can receive complete transcripts of recordings of meetings or conferences as digital files or hard copies.

SMG transcribes files provided by the client in French, Spanish, German or any other language, delivering the content in the requested format.

Remember: ‘transcription’ simply means converting what is heard in an audio recording into written text. So, if you order a transcription of a company meeting held in French, you will receive a written record of the discussion in French. To request the transcribed text in a language other than that of the audio recording, you can order our comprehensive transcription + text translation service (see below for more information).

Edited transcription

An accurate transcription faithfully reproduces the speaker’s words and pauses. However, if required, we can also correct the transcript’s syntax and grammar to make the dialogue more suitable for reading. Generally speaking, a verbatim transcription records any grammatical errors, pauses, hesitations, etc. heard in the recording. On request, our staff can also rework the transcript to make spoken dialogue more suitable for written text and correct any grammatical inaccuracies that occurred during the recording.

Real-time transcription

For clients requiring even faster turnaround, we can provide real-time transcription of meetings, conferences or other types of events, using transcribers who work during the event and thereby shorten production times. We use shorthand techniques and ALT (Automatic Language Treatment) systems, which enable us to transcribe or summarise conferences, meetings and judicial proceedings quickly, efficiently and professionally.

How to request a transcription service and how we do it

The client can request the transcription service using the form on this page or by contacting one of our offices.

SMG receives the request and, once the client confirms our quotation, coordinates the service, including the required linguistic staff and technology.

Our company has carefully selected highly qualified professional transcribers, ensuring high-quality service. At SMG, we monitor the quality of our transcription services throughout the process and review transcripts before delivery to the client.

If a client needs to reach us during the service, our project managers are available by telephone and email to respond to any requests.

The transcription service provided by SMG operators is a certified transcription service, delivered in compliance with the international quality standards ISO 9001, UNI EN 10574, UNI EN 15038, ISO 17100 and ISO 27001.

To improve the clarity of the transcribed content, we ask clients to agree on several important technical details before placing an order, for example:

• the name of the speaker may be indicated immediately before their speech;
• the timestamp of the recording may be inserted before each spoken segment or at regular intervals (every five minutes is recommended);
• inaudible speech may be indicated using the marker: (inaudible speech);
• loud background noise may be noted in brackets.