Additional  resources:

 

“Interpreting Evidentiary Tape Recordings: The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love,

Or Maybe Not…”

 

By Diane Teichman. The ATA Chronicle,  Publication of the American Translator’s Association. February 2000.

 

ELEMENTS OF THE TRANSLATION AND TRANSCRIPTION OF RECORDED EVIDENCE

 

 

Schedule Diane to transcribe and translate your evidentiary recording.  E-mail Diane at dianeteichman@linguisticworld.com.

 

Audio Recording format options

 

 

 

 

The Process

 

This work, along with tape monitoring requires the most concentration and is the most tedious of all interpreting and translation assignments.  The process is never as simple as playing the tape through once and transcribing it automatically.  Every tape recording will have a section that has to be replayed to ensure that I heard or deciphered that section correctly.  Or that it could not be deciphered and was unintelligible.

 

All of the elements of clarity listed below control how many times I have to replay a word, a sentence or a passage.  Subdividing a large assignment among two or more professionals requires terminology glossary development and sharing.

 

Based on these elements, the average professional translates and transcribes at a rate of one hour production time for every 8-15 minutes of recorded speech.

Each final transcript and document is in standard transcript format and is proofread for spelling and grammar in the target language.

 

A notarized certificate of accuracy is optional.

 

Basic elements that can be obstacles to a fast turnaround time:

 

Þ Audio quality

Þ Tape quality 

Þ Clarity of spoken communication, including

1. Does the speaker cry, interrupt, talk over another speaker, cough, mumble or scream the words to be transcribed?

2. Are there other interruptions that drown out the speaker such as a telephone ringing or a wiretap microphone picking up background sounds?

3. Does the speaker speak the source language fluently?

4. Does the speaker have a heavy accent?

5. Will grammatical errors in the source language be a component?

6. Does the speaker combine two or more languages or invent words?

7. Does the speaker nod, gesture or shake their head instead of audibly responding?

8. Are such gestures clearly visible and should they be indicated in the transcript?

 

 

My Procedure

 

I apply the following the components of skill and expertise to my work on audio and video recoding translation and transcription.

 

I treat every legal transcription that I am assigned as if the transcript I produce will be offered into evidence at trial.

 

The format of the transcript is clear and proper so that either a judge and or any juror can follow it simultaneously as the original video is playing

The translator has the qualifications, experience, and the ability to impress the judge and jury that they are an expert on this work if taken under Voi  Dire.

 

In case the transcript is challenged, I must have utilized tools that can sufficiently support the choice of target text under the scrutiny of a judge.

 

I am familiar with the procedure for offering such a translation into evidence.  My work has been successfully offered and accepted into evidence on numerous occasions.

 

I am familiar with the procedure of a challenge to such evidence and I successfully defeated the only challenge to my work ever made.

 

I have been hired as an expert to challenge a translation resulting in a ruling in favor of my evidence.

 

I consider every recording and resulting transcript to be privileged and confidential.

 

 

Final product options based on process selected:

 

Dual Phase

A dual phase transcription is when the original recording is transcribed then proofread and then that transcription is translated into the target language.  The translation is then proofread.  The result is two documents.  This is more time consuming.  Plus only a qualified foreign language specialist can verify a foreign language transcription.

 

Single Phase

A single phase transcription/translation in when the recording is translated while I listen to it.  The transcript is then proofread.  The result is one transcript in the target language.

 

 

Each transcript includes a Glossary of Terms and Key to Abbreviations.

These are the standard notations indicating that the spoken words could not be deciphered: Inaudible, Unintelligible, Unintelligible because of human sounds and Unintelligible-Talk Over.

(Talk-Over) indicates when two or more persons talk over each other and I am able to decipher their statements.  

The speakers are noted if identified on the tape or officially identified by the client.  If unknown they are identified as Male Voice and/or Female Voice.

 

 

Estimates

 

An estimate on turnaround time or cost requires listening to the whole tape   in order to measure the clarity and quality of the contents.  Only then will I know how long it will take me to complete.  That is a time consuming process which will cut into a short deadline.

 

In order to avoid the risk of errors and omission this work can not be performed continuously for hours with out a break.

Audio & video transcription and translation