Tips for Improving Multilingual Transcripts and Translations
A wrong translation can often be linked back to a faulty transcription. So, if you are looking to fix a translation, the best way to do so is by making the original transcripts cleaner.
This help article guides you to fix just that.
How to fix bilingual translations in Reduct
Reduct assigns one language to each paragraph. When a single paragraph holds two languages, Reduct can only translate one of them cleanly. The other language gets left behind or comes out wrong.
Step 1: Split paragraphs with mixed languages into individual paragraphs.
Find any paragraph that holds two languages. Split it so each paragraph uses one language only. If one full sentence is in Spanish and the next is in English, put them in separate paragraphs.
Do not split out a single word. If a speaker says one foreign word in a sentence, leave it. Splitting a paragraph into a single sentence may make the transcript messy.
Step 2: Run the translation
Translate the file as usual and check the result. It’s easier to open the side-by-side view and see the translation and transcription in a single view.
Step 3: Re-transcribe the wrong parts on the original
Go to each wrong translated section and run re-transcribe on the original transcription. Make sure you pick the correctly spoken language.
It’s beneficial to do this even when the original text looks fine. A bad translation often points back to a small error in the original transcription. And fixing the source is what fixes the translation.
Your goal here is to create a clean transcript with the languages separated by paragraph.
Re-transcribe is meant to correct the original language. To fix a translation, you correct the source first, then translate again.
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Step 4: Delete the existing translation
Click the language icon in the top right, then click the cross button next to the translation you want to remove.
This clears the old, broken translation so you can start fresh.
Step 5: Run the translation again
Once your original transcript is clean, click on the language button and translate it one more time. The new translation builds on your corrected transcript, so it will usually come out much better.
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What if this doesn’t work?
This method works best when only a few parts are wrong. If almost every paragraph is wrong, this turns into a lot of work.
In that case, reach out to support, and we will help you find the best path forward.