Audio translation services
Babbletype offers direct translation and transcription of foreign language recordings into English, either individually or in support of complex multi-market projects. Our translators will listen to your recordings in the source language, and then capture a transcript of the recording into English.
Our translators use an interpreted translation method to produce our translations. Everything meaningful said over the course of an interview or focus group is captured, following a process analogous to the way instantaneous interpreters translate conversations on the fly. All content is captured, but not necessarily word for word. This approach is dramatically faster and less expensive than the methods used by traditional translators, while delivering the same underlying content.
Note that Babbletype provides audio-to-text services only. We create English (or original language) transcripts from foreign language audio sources.
Incredibly inexpensive translations
Babbletype offers audio-to-text interview translations in our standard languages as low as $4.25 per recorded minute, and in all other languages as low as $5.75 per recorded minute. Group recordings or tabular formats (Excel) are slightly higher, at a $.50 per minute surcharge for either type of special request. For example, a Word transcript in English from a Japanese recording with 6 speakers would cost the same as an Excel transcript in English of a Japanese recording with 2 speakers.
Traditional translation services charge upwards of $0.20 - $0.25 per word. Since typical voice conversations have about 125-150 words per recorded minute, that's $25 - $38 per minute before any special requests get added.
One hour of foreign “standard” language audio, volume word output
Standard languages
The most commonly used languages in market research are our standard languages. These are languages we actively work to build and maintain production capacity in, and that we can deliver most promptly:
Chinese (Mandarin)
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese
Spanish
Non-standard languages
If you have ongoing translation needs in other languages commonly used in market research, we may be able to help. Contact us and let us know the specific languages you regularly need, and we will respond promptly.
Product formats
For standalone transcripts, Babbletype provides translations in PureText-formatted transcripts (see Transcription for examples). For combined transcript projects, Babbletype provides translations in all combined formats (see Content Analysis for examples).
Turnaround time
Babbletype converts foreign language recordings from the above list of standard languages into English transcripts in about three days, once reserved. Very long files, bulk uploads, additional formatting requests, crosstalk, heavy background noise, or other significant audio issues can often impact timing. Please obtain a confirmation from us before setting delivery expectations to your clients. Foreign language to English transcripts in non-standard languages depends on the scope of the project and is custom-quoted with then current availability. See Turnaround Time for more details.
