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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.)
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.
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.
