There are a great many ways a company or individual could require the services of a translation company, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the written form. There might be a requirement for an audio transcript to be made – perhaps of a meeting, where no paper transcript exists. Of course, audio introduces its own set of issues where interpretation of what has been said can vary between people. That’s why investing in translation services that have a pre-established reputation for offering quality, and most of all, accurate solutions are the most advantageous.
A lot of meaning can be conveyed in intonation, so a sensitivity to the way a person is speaking as well as the context can have a massive impact on what is put to the page in another language. However, not all clients want the audio to be translated as well as transcribed – many simply want it to be kept in the original language. This means that the translation company should have access to native speakers who can understand possible accents and dialects that could potentially interfere with the understanding of the communication. A good knowledge of the region the audio comes from would also be of great benefit, in the interests of cultural sensitivity.
The translation services must also be adept at translating conversations in which speakers could overlap. This is particularly difficult but sometimes the meaning is actually lost and nothing can be done about it. Good translation services should also be able to handle transcriptions from a number of different sources in a range of different media including various computer formats such as Mp3, AVI CD, DVD, VCR. There should be no real limitation on what can be transcribed so long as the recording is of a certain quality and is audible. Audio restoration software might be able to clean it up somewhat, which could make the transcription better.