Transcription services
We turn audio and video into accurate, usable text — in the original language or translated into another — with a human transcriber and an independent review on every file.
From spoken word to working document
Meetings, interviews, depositions, focus groups, training videos, earnings calls, podcasts, customer research sessions — organizations produce more recorded speech than ever, and recordings are hard to search, quote, review or submit. Transcription turns them into text you can actually work with.
Link Translation provides transcription in 30+ languages, as a standalone service or combined with translation: the same recording can come back as a transcript in its original language, a translated document in another, or subtitles with timestamps.
How we keep transcripts accurate
Automatic speech recognition has become good — and that is exactly the risk. It produces confident text even when it misheard, and it misses most often on the parts that matter: names, figures, technical terms, and speakers talking over each other. Our process treats machine output the way we treat machine translation: useful as a draft, never as a deliverable.
- A human transcriber works through the full audio, verifying or writing every line
- A senior reviewer — an experienced transcriptionist — independently checks the transcript against the recording before delivery
- Subject-matter assignment: recordings with medical, legal, engineering or financial content go to transcribers from the relevant sector practice group, so terminology is recognized, not guessed at
You choose the style: full verbatim (every hesitation and false start, as courts often require), clean verbatim (readable but faithful), or a summary transcript. Speaker labels, timestamps at set intervals, and notes for inaudible passages are agreed up front, so the transcript matches the conventions your use case expects — a deposition is not formatted like a podcast.
Transcription plus translation
When the recording is in one language and the readers are in another, we run transcription and translation as one project. The transcript is produced by a native speaker of the source language, then translated by a specialist into the target language — with the same terminology control and independent second review as any translation we deliver. This is a common workflow for multinational litigation, market research across regions, and training content being rolled out globally.
For video, we can deliver the result as subtitle files (SRT and similar), timed and length-checked so lines fit on screen.
Practical details
Send a sample or the full files and you get a fixed quote within 24 hours, based on audio length, number of speakers, audio quality and the style you need. Poor audio does not disqualify a project — it just needs to be priced honestly, which is why we listen before we quote. Confidentiality is standard practice — much of what we transcribe is legal, medical or pre-release material — and files are handled only by the team assigned to your project, under a signed agreement if you require one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between transcription and translated transcription?
Plain transcription turns speech into text in the same language — a Portuguese interview becomes a Portuguese transcript. Translated transcription adds a second step: the transcript is then translated by a specialist, so the same interview can be delivered as an English document. You can order either, or both.
Do you use automatic speech recognition?
Where it helps, yes — as a first draft. Speech recognition struggles with accents, overlapping speakers, technical vocabulary and poor audio, and it does not flag its own mistakes. A human transcriber verifies every line against the audio, and a senior reviewer checks the finished transcript before delivery.
Can you handle legal or medical recordings?
Yes. Recordings with legal or clinical content are assigned to transcribers from the relevant practice group, who know the vocabulary and the conventions — speaker attribution for depositions, verbatim versus clean-read style, timestamping. Confidentiality agreements are standard, and we can sign yours.
What formats do you accept and deliver?
Any common audio or video format. Delivery is a formatted document (Word, PDF), a structured file (Excel, XML) or subtitle formats such as SRT with timestamps, depending on what you need the text for.