Proofreading and translation: additional services to automatic transcription!

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, knows impressive evolutions. Among many fields concerned by AI, we find the automatic recognition of the Speech. The conversation between man and machine is now real.
Even though, machines are becoming more and more advanced, they are still fallible. It is for this reason that human labour remains a key value essential for a quality result.
As a reminder, an automatic speech-to-text system is basically “a collection of computer codes designed to convert a speech recording into its word-for-word text version”.
In this article, we propose you to discover the « human side » added to the automatic transcription application: proofreading and translation services.

The proofreading service after your automatic transcription

Automatic transcription has the advantage of saving time and money! To get your automatic transcription, just a few clicks are necessary: send your audio or video file on the online Authôt application and export it into Text.
This automatic service represents on average 40% of Authôt customers’orders in 2017. The remaining 60% are transcription requests with proofreading, which we will detail below.
Many businesses are interested in automatic transcription because it saves customers a great deal of time.
On the table below you can see transcription time of the files sent on our application. Please note that these transcription times depend on the platform activity. Indeed, if it’s a moment of intense activity the transcription of your file may last longer.

Once automatic transcription is completed, customers can work on the layout and proofreading themselves: either directly on the application’s online editor or internally with their own office software.
Despite 95% of automatic transcription reliability, 60% of the audio or video files sent on Authôt application go through our proofreading service. The main reason for a need of human proofreading is a lack of time or available person. Customers simply want to obtain a 100% reliable transcription of the audio content, they trust Authôt for a full follow-up of their project. This is particularly the case for Audiovisual Productions (watch the interview), Media (watch the interview) or Key Accounts (watch the interview).

What is the proofreading service?

 

• 1st step: proofreading

The correction of the files is carried out by professionals, (experts in language or literature, editors, writers…) based in Europe, mainly in France and in the UK. We are currently working with hundreds of freelance proofreaders. Multilingual, these professionals can handle file editing in all languages offered by the application. They have access to the files while respecting confidentiality standards with a contract. Their job is to listen to the file and correct any errors on the automatic transcription made by the system, in particular proper names, acronyms or oversights of punctuation. When the files are very technical, some customers provide us with a specific lexicon (scientific or business terms for example) or lists of proper names. This allows proofreaders to provide a complete and right job.

 

• 2nd step: validation

Once the main errors have been corrected, we validate the work internally. Our team of validators, based mainly in our office in Boulogne-sur-Mer, carefully read the corrected transcript. They verify that instructions provided by customers have been taken into account, and they ensure the finish and reliability of the transcription thanks to specialized software such as Antidote.
Thanks to this, the files are guaranteed without grammar or spelling mistakes!
Proofreading also concerns specific requests such as the addition of speakers names, facilitated by the application’s multi-speakers technology. It also eliminates hesitations.
We invite you to watch the interview of Manon, head of Authot’s proofreading and validation service.

Translation service of transcribed files
 

Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. (For more information we invite you to read the Authôt FAQ and the question: « What is the difference between transcription and translation?)
Translation is a complex task because it involves a total understanding of the original text in order to convey the message as accurately as possible. Each language has its own specificities and somes words or expressions do not exist from one language to another, so it is a real interpretation work. It is essential that the translation be carried out by a professional bilingual of the source language and native of the target language.
By the way, the most translated document in the world is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with 503 translations.
The most translated non-religious book is French! This is the book « The Little Prince » by Saint Exupéry, translated into 300 different languages. It is indeed behind the Bible and the Coran.
Our automatic transcription application is available in 22 languages. For example, you can send an audio or video file in German and get your text transcript in German as well.
The translation service we offer is not automatic. It is indeed an additional offer to the transcription provided by our teams. Our network of translators is large enough to be able to answer all specific requests (French, English, Spanish, German but also specific languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Swedish…!).
For more information on Authôt’s translation service, we invite you to read this document.

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Sources:

ted.com
vimeo.com
youtu.be
ohchr.org
ctvnews.ca
Authôt Blog