Our Arabic transcription service for academic research is regularly called upon by students from the University of London. Working from either video or audio, our Arabic transcribers and typists can either produce a same language transcript or a direct translation from Arabic into English.
The University of London is understandably proud of its reputation as one of the largest, most diverse universities in the UK with over 120,000 students in London, and a further 50,000 studying across 180 countries for a University of London degree. Its cosmopolitan make-up probably explains why so much research is carried out in different languages, including Arabic.
We asked Ahmed, one of our Arabic translators and transcribers, about the challenges he faces when completing academic transcriptions or translations for students and/or researchers.
Interview with Ahmed
KH: We know that you have NDAs in place, but could you please give us a general idea of what kind of transcriptions you complete for universities?
A: The subject matters I deal with are truly diverse. I think I must have one of the most interesting jobs in the world as I get to learn about so many different things – from new smart bin technology to hearing about people’s lives and experiences in war-torn parts of the world, which can obviously sometimes be both distressing and inspirational.
KH: Would you say that you are more often asked to complete same language transcriptions, or are the researchers generally more interested in direct translations from the Arabic speech into English?
A: It really depends on how the researcher will use the transcript. If they are interested in the content from the point of view of the information being imparted, then I am generally asked to provide a direct translation from the Arabic speech into English text. If the researcher wants to study the transcript as part of a discourse analysis, then I will generally be asked to provide a strictly verbatim Arabic transcript with speaker turns etc.
KH: Thank you Ahmed.
If you are currently a student or member of the academic staff at the University of London, or you are based at another academic institution, you may be interested to know that we offer an academic discount for our transcription services. If you have some Arabic interviews or footage and would like a quotation to have them transcribed or translated into English, please get in touch and we’d be happy to help.
