Does Language Familiarity Impact Transcription Accuracy?
Language is an amazing thing. It can communicate anything and everything, from the simplest concepts to the most complex ideas imaginable, helping people from diverse backgrounds meet at a common understanding.
However, knowing the words of a language isn’t the same as truly understanding it. The building blocks of a language can look different depending on where in the country you are. Taking the English language as our example, ask a Northerner and a Southerner what they mean when they talk about a bread roll! In addition to regional dialects, there are localised slang terms, expressions and phrases, along with subtle differences in meaning. These will flow easily for native speakers but can be confusing for anyone unfamiliar with the language or region.
In this blog, we’ll look at various aspects of language, especially English, and examine how familiarity with the language can have a major impact on transcription accuracy.
Familiarity is Important
When transcription of recorded speech is required, a major factor in making sure you get the most accurate transcript will be the transcriber’s familiarity and understanding of the language being spoken, along with all its variations. A professional transcriber whose native tongue is English will be experienced with many regional speech patterns around the UK, but for a transcriber working with English as their second or third language, a lot of that nuance is lost.
Another reason why familiarity with a localised language is important is when transcribing the speech of a non-native speaker. When a speaker on a recording is relatively new to a country, or even to a different region of their own country, they may adopt some regional expressions but state them incorrectly. An experienced transcriber who is very familiar with that locality will quickly recognise any errors in slang phrases and expressions and can correct them or mark them accordingly depending on the client’s preferences.
Therefore, to get the most accurate transcription, it’s always best to have it transcribed by an experienced professional transcriber who is also a native speaker.
Idioms & Slang
The English language is full of funny little sayings. ‘That’ll whet your appetite’ and ‘It’s a dog-eat-dog world’ are phrases that professional native transcribers in the UK are very used to hearing, and they understand the meaning behind them. This is not always the case for non-native transcribers. They may hear these phrases and get confused, not understand the meaning, and potentially transcribe them incorrectly or not at all as a result. For example, using the sayings above, they may type ‘That’ll wet your appetite’ or ‘It’s a doggy-dog world’.
Even some of our everyday business speak has been influenced by sports like football and baseball in both the UK and the US: ‘We scored an own goal’, ‘They’re moving the goalposts’, ‘We need to touch base’, ‘Cover all the bases’ and ‘Give me a ballpark figure’. These sayings can baffle a transcriber with English as a second language and no knowledge of these sports, which can lead to mistakes or gaps in your transcript that didn’t need to be there.
Accents
If you live in the UK, you’ll know that there isn’t really such a thing as an ‘English’ accent. Our country is made up of hundreds of different accents and over 40 different dialects, and these can present a challenge to someone who isn’t a fluent native speaker. Meanings can be lost, words completely misheard, colloquialisms confused and intent changed completely. Consider the Scottish term ‘I cannae do it’, which means ‘I cannot do it’. A non-native transcriber who is unfamiliar with the accent may well transcribe this as either ‘I can, er, do it’ or ‘I can do it’, both of which are opposite to the true meaning. This is detrimental to having an accurate transcript. The same goes for any language – regional accents and dialects will impact the context and understandability of what’s being said. Therefore you’ll get the most accurate transcript when it’s completed by a professional native transcriber who understands the complex subtleties of the language and its many accents.
Time
One thing many businesses forget about when they’re looking to outsource their transcription projects is the actual time it takes. If you’re working to a deadline, or you want to access fair prices, then finding a professional native-speaking transcriber is always going to be your best bet. This is simply because if the person transcribing isn’t fluent or it isn’t their first language, they’ll need to listen to the audio multiple times before they can hopefully transcribe the recordings to the best of their understanding. This will almost certainly take longer than it would for an experienced professional native transcriber. When you add the necessary process of then checking those transcripts for accuracy, this can extend the time it takes for you to receive your transcription projects back. This may well be outside of your project deadlines and can cause unnecessary delays and costs.
Conclusion
When outsourcing your transcription projects, one of the major considerations is obviously cost. Although prices from transcription companies in another country may seem attractive, it’s clear that all the factors described above will have an impact on the quality and accuracy of your final transcript. This can cause unexpected problems and you may end up having to pay more to get it fixed, as well as suffer the obvious inconvenience from the delays and other subsequent outcomes associated with that process.
For more information on how crucial it is to have complete accuracy for your transcription projects, please see our blog Why Accuracy is So Important in Transcription.
Of course, non-native speakers can still be incredibly successful in the transcription industry, but it takes several years of dedicated study, language immersion and practice. If you’re working in a particularly sensitive field or you need 100% accuracy for your transcription, then we would always recommend finding a professional transcription service that uses native-speaking transcribers.
At McGowan Transcriptions, all our native transcribers are trained experts with many years of experience and knowledge of regional accents, speech patterns and local idioms. For over 30 years we’ve been working closely with businesses and other public and professional organisations to produce accurate, polished transcripts that meet your needs, every time. If you’d like to know more, just get in touch with the team today.
Call 0800 158 3747 or email office@mcgowantranscriptions.co.uk.
March 2024