Some people get confused between transcription and translation. However, if you are a media house, production or post-production firm, OTT, or an individual filmmaker, mixing them up can cost your business.
Therefore, this guide will focus on the differences between translation and transcription, their benefits, and when to use these.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
Transcription vs. Translation - How Do They Differ?
It’s common to mix the two processes of transcription and translation. For the unversed, translating involves transforming written text from one language to another, whereas transcription converts spoken or recorded language into written text.
Both processes require different equipment and talents. Transcribing calls for good typing and listening skills. Translating necessitates multilingualism.
Understanding the differences can help you save time and money. Also, it will help you determine whether you need precise written records of audio/video content through transcription or need to overcome linguistic barriers through translation.
| Transcription | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion Mode | It converts what is said in a video file into text format regardless of its message and meaning. | It converts text from the source language to the target language. |
| Purpose | Creating a readable and accurate file of audio/video. | Facilitating information across different languages. |
| No. of Languages Involved | It involves only one language. For example, a video in English will be transcribed into English. | It involves two languages since it converts text from one language to another. For instance, English to Spanish or French to Spanish translation. |
| Language Form | It deals with the spoken language as well as other forms of language, such as sign language. | It often deals with only one form of language, i.e., text-to-text. However, it can be from speech-to-text and speech-to-speech. |
| Skills Required | Accurate and fast typing, good listening, understanding of the spoken language. | Subject matter expertise, fluency in both source and target language, and knowledge of cultural sensitivity. |
| Typical Contexts | Medical transcriptions, legal proceedings, corporate meetings, media production, and academic research. | Medical records, legal documents, literary works, technical manuals, and websites. |
| Challenges | Requires ensuring accuracy with background noise, choppy audio, speaker accents, and technical jargon. | Requires preserving tone and style while navigating idiomatic terms, cultural context, and linguistic complexities. |
What is Transcription?
Transcription involves converting the video or audio content into a written format in the same language as the source language of the original file. The main aim of transcription is to provide voice notes in text. Sometimes, it often deals with non-verbal language, such as gestures, sign language, feelings, emotions, etc.
What is Translation?
Translation involves the literal conversion of one language to another. However, you must preserve the original intent, context, message, tone, and factual information while converting the content from the source to the target language. It is a great tool to overcome linguistic barriers and expand reach across borders.
Benefits of Transcription and Translation
Now that you have a good idea about the difference between translation and transcription, it’s time we dive into their benefits.
Benefits of Transcription
Here are some of the major benefits of transcription:
1. Enhanced Accessibility
With transcription, the video content’s accessibility and inclusivity increase as it can benefit a broader audience, including deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.
Transcription of the spoken and unspoken dialogues displayed as closed caption (CC) offers an alternative to these people with hearing loss to consume your video content, increasing your overall viewership.
2. Improved Comprehension
Undeniably, audio/video is a popular and highly engaging form of content. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to comprehend the information provided through audio due to varying dialects and accents of a language.
However, if you transcribe your audio, it is presented in a user-friendly format, making it easier for the audience to understand. Besides, sharing transcribed audio on various platforms, such as your website and social media, is simple.
3. Increased Content Value
Another benefit of transcribing audio and video content is that it can enhance your search engine traffic. Google bots can’t watch or listen to audio/video content but can easily comprehend and crawl the text format.
Besides, with the transcription, you can find that each of your videos covers a range of subjects. This insight will allow you to leverage your content better for organic reach as you may categorize each topic in multiple pages or blogs.
Benefits of Translation
Discussed below are three main benefits of translation, to help you understand why you should include it in your content marketing strategy.
1. Increased Audience Trust
Translating your content into your target audience’s native language can offer a multilingual experience, enhancing trust. Besides, Internet users prefer buying from a website that displays information in their native language.
Also, your multilingual content can make your audience feel at home, helping you expand your reach into foreign markets and create a competitive advantage.
2. Improved SEO
If you want to survive in any market, local or foreign, search engine optimization (SEO) is optimal. Translating your content in different languages helps you leverage multilingual keywords so your content appears in more local search results, driving higher organic traffic.
3. Enhanced Accessibility
Another significant benefit of translation is enhanced accessibility. If your content is available in only one language, such as English, it will be accessible to people who understand English. However, if you translate your content into multiple languages, a broader audience will access and benefit from it.
Translation vs Transcription - When is it Needed?
You can decide between translation or transcription, by asking yourself a few questions regarding your project:
- Do you need an accurate text format of the recorded audio/video?
- Does your target audience only understand the language of the original content?
- Do you want to make your video comprehensible without the audio?
Answering these questions will help you analyze your project’s needs and whether you should go with transcription or translation. However, you may face situations where your project demands you to use both transcription and translation to guarantee success.
For example, you transcribed your video/audio content and used it as close captions (CC) to provide greater accessibility to your audience. After a while, you realize that people from other regions can also benefit from your content, but they speak a different language. Thus, you decide to go with translation as well.
Limegreen Media - Your Ultimate Translation Partner
Do you want to outsource translation services to professionals? If YES, you have landed at the right place. Limegreen Media has proven media localization expertise. Over the years, we have successfully delivered many translation projects and can help you with your endeavor.
Bottom Line
This guide discussed the differences between translation and transcription and their benefits. We also explained some factors that may influence your choice when deciding between the two services. Simply put, if you want to make your video/audio content accessible to people with hearing loss, you should opt for transcription. However, if your target is to reach a broader audience in a foreign market, you should go with translation.
