A Growing Need for Spanish Transcription and Translation Services

The number may seem staggering, but Spanish is the native language for
more than 340 million people and the number grows every day.  It has become one of the five most commonly
spoken languages in the world and Latin American nations are becoming big players
in global business as their economies grow.

With elevated tourism in Spain
and Mexico, and a growing
immigrant population in the U.S.
it’s easy to see where Spanish translation and transcription are necessary for
these cultures to merge on a global level.

Global Business - Spanish
Transcription & Translation

For those companies expanding their business, Spanish is typically a
first choice for marketing, and translation is the fastest way to port existing
marketing materials over so they can be utilized in foreign markets.  A necessary step when one considers that the
Spanish-speaking community is a massive global economy sharing in products,
services, cultural influence over businesses and institutions, etc.  This is particularly true in the United States,
where the Hispanic population has taken hold as the
largest minority group.

Transportation and telecommunications, including the web, have brought
companies into closer communication, creating a global network that has
increased the speed at which data and hard goods travel, business deals are
made, accounts are handled, etc.  While
global businesses are dealing more in Spanish as they market abroad, the
primary focus on business where Spanish translation services is concerned is in
the U.S.

When there’s little need for Spanish translation, such as businesses in
the U.S.
run by Spanish speakers for Spanish speakers (e.g., TV and radio), Spanish
transcription services are all that is needed. The same is true for Puerto
Rican businesses, government agencies, and organizations in search of language
services (Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United
States and its residents are U.S. citizens.)

However, in most of the United
States, Spanish transcription followed by
translation into English, is far more popular and covers a wide area of
business and government work such as:

• Marketing 
  - on and offline to immigrants for business purposes
• Business - Spanish transcription and
  translation of conferences, meetings and foreign delegate dialogue between
  businesses and/or government officials
• Legal - Typically law enforcement,
  suspect and witness interviews, 911 calls, court hearings and depositions
• Medicolegal - Often for hearings that
  cover Veterans Affairs issues stemming from natives of Puerto Rico who served
  in the U.S. Armed Services (local governments in Puerto Rico conduct business
  in Spanish but the federal government – of which Veterans Affairs is a part
  –  conducts its business in English –
  even in Puerto Rico.
• Health Care
• Focus groups - Political, marketing and
  research, public health, etc.
• Television Subtitles and closed captioning
• Travel and Tourism

Confusion with the Term Spanish
Transcription

It’s important to note that there is a difference between translation
and transcription and to avoid confusion the two should not be interchanged,
although some transcription agencies do just that. This has led to some
misunderstandings between the client and language services – and even between
employees of the language service (e.g., between a project manager and a
linguist). A client might state that he wants the Spanish recording transcribed
– thinking that he will receive a Spanish transcript. However, the language
service understands his request as translating the Spanish audio “on the fly”
into English text.

Spanish Audio Transcription

Audio transcription involves converting the spoken word into a written
or printed version in the same language and thus is monolingual – meaning that
Spanish audio is transcribed into Spanish text.

Spanish Audio
Transcription/Translation Services (TT)

Audio transcription/translation (TT) is the combination of both
transcription and translation services. It is the process of first taking a
Spanish language recording and transcribing it as Spanish text. That transcript
is then translated into English text. Both documents are presented to the
client.

To avoid cumbersome dialog, some agencies use the term “translication”
when referring to transcription/translation. For example, it’s much easier to
use the word translication and its variants than the awkward
transcribed/translated, transcriptionist/translator, and so-on. It’s still more
common though to hear or see the use of the term transcription/translation.

Some services offer “on the fly” audio translation, where audio/video
in Spanish is translated into English text as it is being listened to.  There is really no true transcription
involved – although sometimes a rough transcript may be produced if the speech
is difficult to decipher. While this can produce faster results and is much
cheaper, the accuracy of the message may be reduced.  This type of translation is often used in
marketing for research purposes and business meetings but isn’t appropriate for
projects where accuracy is critical.

Due to the growth and reach of the Spanish speaking population, it’s
becoming more important for individual organizations to ensure localization,
clarity and cohesion of their message so that the content is in-line with the
target audience.  Spanish audio
translation, transcription, and TT / translication when handled professionally,
can help with virtually any market to ensure that the message is properly
interpreted and delivered.