Recently updated on November 20th, 2025 at 03:58 pm
You’ve probably noticed how audio is everywhere now. Smartphones and smart speakers basically pushed it into our daily routines, whether we asked for it or not.
I came across a Mordor Intelligence report recently. It said the audio equipment market was worth about 12 billion dollars in 2020 and could reach 17 billion by 2026.
Because of this shift, we’ve seen a steady rise in Chinese-to-English audio translation requests at our agency. Chinese is the second most spoken language worldwide, and the Asia-Pacific region dominates the audio market, so the demand doesn’t exactly surprise me.
What is Audiovisual Translation?
Audiovisual translation has been growing fast, and for good reason. With everyone glued to videos, AVT has become a daily request at our agency.
AVT uses many of the same skills as general translation, but it definitely comes with extra hurdles. You notice that pretty quickly.
Subtitles have strict limits, so you’re squeezing meaning into tiny windows of time and space. Voice-over is another challenge, because the translated lines need to match the original timing, and I still find myself counting beats now and then.
What Are the Main Types of Transcription?
When it comes to Chinese-to-English audio, transcription usually comes in two main types. Each has its own quirks, but these are the ones you’ll see most often.
#1 True Verbatim Transcripts
#2 Intelligent Verbatim Transcripts
True verbatim transcription captures everything in the audio, pauses, “um”s, stutters, false starts, everything. It turns speech into text exactly as it sounds, including mistakes, slang, and messy grammar.
Clean transcription cuts out stutters and false starts, fixing grammar so the text reads smoothly.
Samples
True Verbatim Transcripts
采访者：那我们先从自我介绍开始吧，你做什么样的工作，然后平时的话都有一些什么样的爱好？嗯，想到什么你都可以跟我们分享一下。
Interviewer: Let’s start the interview with a self-introduction. What do you do? Then, what do you like to do in your spare time? Um, you can share with us whatever comes to your mind.
女嘉宾：行，我叫（03：13），今年34岁。我在工商银行工作了10年差不多，后面的话因为小朋友出生了，因为要照顾他，所以说就辞职了。现在的话我是在保险公司啦，对，保险公司做销售，然后时间方面就相对要自由一些。
Interviewee: Ok, my name is (03:13), and I’m 34 years old. I’ve been working for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for nearly 10 years. When my child was born, because I had to look after him, so I quit my job. Now I’m working for an insurance company. Yes, as a sales representative in an insurance company, then the working schedule is more flexible.
Intelligent Verbatim Transcripts
采访者：那我们先从自我介绍开始吧，你做什么样的工作，平时的话都有一些什么样的爱好？想到什么你都可以跟我们分享一下。
Interviewer: Let’s start the interview with a self-introduction. What do you do? What do you like to do in your spare time? You can share with us whatever comes to your mind.
女嘉宾：行，我叫（03：13），今年34岁。我在工商银行差不多工作了10年，后面的话因为小朋友出生了，要照顾他，所以就辞职了。现在的话我是在保险公司做销售，时间方面相对要自由一些。
Interviewee: Ok, my name is (03:13), and I’m 34 years old. I’ve been working for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for nearly 10 years. When my child was born, I left my job to look after him. Now I’m working as a sales representative in an insurance company since the working schedule is more flexible.
Translate Chinese Audio to English: 2 Simple Steps
If you want accurate Chinese-to-English audio translation, you need both transcription and translation. It’s really that simple, just two steps.
Total Time: 2 days
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Step 1: Transcribe
First, transcribe the audio into Chinese text. You can choose true verbatim or clean (intelligent) transcription, with or without time stamps.
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Step 2: Translate
Translate the Chinese scripts into English.
Translate Chinese Audio to English with Chinese Copywriter
With Chinese Copywriter, you get a skilled team of professional Chinese transcribers dedicated to translating your audio accurately into English. Our project managers guide you every step of the way.
We offer a complete, cost-effective, and hassle-free solution. From transcribing and translating to creating English subtitles and editing on-screen text, we handle it all.
Transcription Example:
Transcription: 最后一次通知您，您有一封快件已派送两次，无人签收。如需查询请按1，如需查询请按1。
Translation: This is to inform you for the final time that you have a parcel which has been delivered twice but nobody received it. To learn more about it please press 1. To learn more about it please press 1.
💡 This is a small transcription sample we prepared for a client. It looked a bit suspicious, so we reminded them to watch out for phone or parcel delivery scams.
Our Audio Transcription Style Guide
Timestamps
Timestamps should be in the following formats:
- Chinese: (hh:mm:ss)
- English: [hh:mm:ss]
Speaker Identification
- Do not use a speaker identification if there is only one speaker.
- If the speaker’s name is known, use the speaker’s full name as identification. Exceptions: If a speaker is identified by a title throughout, then use the title and last name. Examples: Professor Wang, Dr. Ma.
- For interviews, use “Interviewer” and “Interviewee” to identify the speakers. You may number the identification if there is more than one interviewer/interviewee.
- For training courses, lectures, instructional courses, etc., use “Instructor” as identification.
- For focus group recordings, identify the focus group leader as “Moderator” or “Facilitator”. Participants can be identified by name if their names are provided. Otherwise, use “Man” and “Woman” for identification. If there are several women and men, then number the speakers as “Man 1”, “Man 2”, “Woman 1”, “Woman 2”, or “Male 1”, “Male 2”, “Female 1”, and “Female 2”.
Spelling and Capitalization
- Be consistent in the spelling and capitalization of words throughout the transcript.
- Use spell-checking tools such as Grammarly for spell check but be aware that it might not catch all mistakes.
- Use client instructions, the internet, dictionaries, glossaries, style guides, etc. to verify the spelling of words, places, and technical terms.
- For places, names, and other words that you are not sure how to spell, use the mark [Place], [Name], etc.
Inaudible Speech
💡 Use an inaudible timestamp [inaudible hh:mm:ss] to indicate words or phrases you cannot hear or understand. Replace the “hh:mm:ss” with the timestamp of where the inaudible speech begins.
Interruptions and Incomplete Sentences
💡 Use periods plus spaces when there is a change of thought in the middle of a sentence, or the speaker doesn’t complete a sentence.
For example:
Interviewer: Tomorrow I’m going to… well, maybe I’m just…
Quotations
💡 Use non-curly quotes when the speaker is quoting something that was or is being said.
For example:
Female Speaker 2: I was going to the park, but my sister stopped me and said, “Let’s go shopping.”
Chinese Copywriter Team consists of talented linguists, project managers, localization engineers, and SEO experts. Since 2012, we have been providing translation, localization, and marketing services for various international businesses targeting the Chinese markets as well as Chinese businesses expanding their global reach.