Transcribe Mandarin audio to text
Go Transcribe can automatically convert Mandarin audio and video files to text in an instant. Get started for free!
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Mandarin transcription, in detail
Accuracy, the accents we cover, and the words worth teaching your custom dictionary.
Estimated accuracy
Known locally as
Script, left to right
Model
Estimated on clear, single-speaker audio. Recording quality, crosstalk and background noise move this figure further than the language itself does.
Accents and varieties covered
Mandarin is not one accent. These are the varieties the model is built to handle, so a regional speaker is not a special case.
Putonghua Northern Mandarin Southern accent English/Mandarin code-switching- Speakers
- about 1.1 billion
- Where it's spoken
- Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore
- Language family
- Sino-Tibetan, Sinitic
- Say hello
- 你好
What the output looks like
Timestamped, speaker-labelled, and editable in your browser the moment it lands.
我们先从上季度的数据开始。
In English: Let's start with last quarter's data.
Words worth adding to your custom dictionary
Every language has a handful of words any engine has to guess at. In Mandarin these are the usual ones. Add them to your custom dictionary once and they come back right in every transcript from then on.
| Commonly guessed | What you meant | Why they collide |
|---|---|---|
| 是 | 市 | Tone is the only separator between dozens of common syllables. |
| shi | 是 | Pinyin leaks into the output when the speaker spells something out. |
| 四 | 十 | Four and ten collapse together in southern accents. |
Getting the best Mandarin transcript
Use the bilingual English and Mandarin mode when your speakers switch between the two. It keeps both in one transcript rather than forcing a single language for the whole file.
Add product, brand and technical terms to your custom dictionary. Tone carries meaning in Mandarin, and the dictionary resolves the syllables your industry uses to the right characters.
Common questions about Mandarin transcription
Who needs Mandarin transcription?
International businesses operating in mainland China and Taiwan, market research agencies, media companies producing subtitles, and universities with Mandarin-language programmes.
How accurate is Mandarin transcription?
We estimate around 96.9% on clear, single-speaker Mandarin audio. Recording quality moves that figure further than the language does, so a close microphone and one person speaking at a time is the biggest lever you have. Names, places and industry terms go into your custom dictionary once and come back right in every transcript after that.
Which Mandarin accents and dialects are supported?
These varieties: Putonghua, Northern Mandarin, Southern accent, English/Mandarin code-switching. The model is built for all of them, so a recording with several accents in the room is handled the same way as one without.
What is distinctive about Mandarin?
Mandarin carries meaning in tone, so syllables that look identical written in the Latin alphabet are different words entirely. The model works from the tones in the audio and outputs characters, and there is a bilingual English/Mandarin mode for speakers who switch mid-sentence.
Will Mandarin text export correctly?
Yes. Mandarin text (Simplified Han) comes through every export unchanged: Microsoft Word, PDF, plain text, and SRT, VTT and Avid DS subtitles. Text direction and diacritics survive the round trip, so a transcript opens the way it looked in the editor.
How long does Mandarin transcription take?
Most transcriptions are ready in less time than the length of the file. A 60-minute recording is typically processed well under an hour, and you get an email as soon as it is ready.
Can I translate a Mandarin transcript?
Yes. Pick a target language and click translate: your Mandarin transcript is translated into any of 60+ languages as a full, editable document with word-level timestamps preserved, so you can export subtitles from the translation just as you would from the original.
Why transcribe Mandarin with Go Transcribe
Sign up with Go Transcribe today and work with one of the most sophisticated transcription software in the market.
Collaboration Tools
If you work with colleagues on the same files, Go Transcribe is built for it. Annotate, highlight and add comments, and share your findings with your team.
Advanced Artificial Intelligence
Advanced AI speech recognition that handles a wide range of accents, dialects and languages.
Trusted by Businesses Globally
Thousands of businesses work with Go Transcribe and rely on us for Mandarin transcription.
One-Click Translation
Translate your Mandarin transcripts to over 60 languages with a single click. Create multilingual versions of the same recording without leaving the editor.
Ensuring accuracy for automatically transcribing Mandarin audio into text
Just like converting any language audio or video file into text, there are a few tips to follow to get the best results:
Ensure that speakers are not talking over each other and that the recording device is close to the person speaking.
Try to reduce background noise
Try to eliminate any static or echo
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User friendly, efficient and gets the job done! A very useful tool for all those who are not natural note takers!
This has got to be the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to create transcriptions. This makes writing meeting minutes so much easier. A big fan!
We've transcribed six hour-long interviews and go-transcribe works a treat. not 100% by any means, but good enough to save us days of manual transcription.
I used Go Transcribe to make the initial transcription and it was much easier. I'll certainly recommend it and use it again.
This service saves me a ton of time, and for the price the accuracy is really good. I sent a message to the support team and they replied really quickly.
Other Supported Languages
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