When searching for reliable Spanish transcription services, look for experts who understand the unique dialects of a language spoken by millions of people around the world. Contact TranscriptionServices.com for Spanish transcription services that you can depend on.
What are the specific challenges faced by Spanish transcriptionists?
Dialectal differences
Just as American English is different from British English, Spanish also has variants between and within continents. Two of the most common are Castilian, which is spoken in Europe, and Latin American Spanish, which is spoken in the Americas.
Also, just as the United States is home to different accents and dialects of American English, Spain has different dialects of Spanish, and Latin America has dialects spoken in different countries, like Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina. These dialects arose when Spanish explorers took their language and culture with them to Latin America. Over time, the Spanish language in the colony diverged from the original language in the old country.
What does this mean for 21st-century Spanish transcription? Transcriptionists must have experience with the specific dialect spoken, or else they will struggle to understand the pronunciation and vocabulary.
Accent marks
Many languages use accented letters, but in Spanish accent marks have the power to alter the meaning of a word. For example, mi means “my,” and mí means “me.” Additionally, accents can change the sentence type. Adding an accent to words like que or como can indicate that the sentence is a question or exclamation.
A skilled transcriptionist will be knowledgeable about and pay attention to these small details that are so important to the accuracy of the final transcript.
Transcribing directly into English
A transcriptionist who directly translates the Spanish audio into English text will need to be fluent in both languages. Word-for-word translation won’t work; instead, phrases and sentences need to be translated to ensure the accuracy of the final product. This is because word order in Spanish can be very different than in English.
Spanish uses a different syntax than English. The most important words are placed at the end of a sentence rather than at the beginning. The Spanish language also places adjectives after nouns, instead of before, as in English. Also, the verb tenses in Spanish reflect the object of the sentence, so not every sentence requires a subject. This doesn’t work in English sentences, but it is perfectly fine in Spanish sentences.
A skilled transcriptionist who is directly translating the text will be fluent in both Spanish and English, and thus be able to account for these differences in a way that sounds natural.
Using a Spanish transcription service
At TranscriptionServices.com, we hire transcriptionists who can handle these challenges and who aim to preserve the original context of your content. Contact us today to start using our Spanish transcription services.