Want to keep track of the videos you've posted or viewed on Youtube?
We know the feeling! The benefits of having transcription documents are numerous: they are easily sharable in your network, increase the SEO of your site, and you can even reuse them in other formats...
Yet, if the in-built automatic transcription in Youtube works quite well, there are many other ways on the web to have more accurate and readable transcriptions.
As they say, you shouldn't put your eggs in the same basket. ;)
Our team at Checksub are experts on video transcription and we'll show you the best tricks to get it right. Ready to go?
The first simplest solution is to extract the transcript of your video from Youtube itself.
Why complicate life, eh?
To do so, go directly to the page of your video on the platform. Press the tab below and click on "open transcript".
From there you can hide the timestamps and copy/paste your written transcript into a text editor or your website.
You can also upload the automatic subtitles of your video to your channel's Video Studio. Choose the video and press "details". Then click on "more options" and choose the language you are interested in.
You will see, however, that the transcription can be very imprecise depending on the case and the language. Here is a rather funny and relatable example :
https://www.youtube.com/embed/SrApzuyirvs
At Cheksub, we're familiar with this tool and don't recommend it for more elaborate projects.
In fact, to improve your transcription work-flow, there are more efficient ways of doing the job.
The other way to do in a really professional way is to transcribe youtube videos with your own hands.
Yeah, alright, you may need lot of courage :)
But, after all, that's what transcription professionals do all day long! They spend their time listening closely to video and film audio in order to create suitable subtitles.
Get inspired by their know-how to grow your skills as a transcriber!
But before you start, let us explain how to do your job properly.
Basically, a manual transcription requires only a keyboard and your attentive listening. But, of course, that's just if you stick to the most traditional version.
Transcription professionals have several tools to make their work easier, and this is what makes them persevere.
To focus exclusively on your keyboard, you can use a foot pedal or keyboard shortcuts to control the audio flow. This takes one less task away from you and allows you to transcribe at your own pace.
You can also use headphones that isolate you from noise and increase your concentration.
Software are also available to make it easier. Express Scribe or Transcriber, for example, make manual transcription easier by allowing you to connect your foot pedal or other device and play your video correctly. These tools have a free version, but you will have to pay for an unlimited version.
Other software used by professional transcribers, such as word expanders program, allows you to select and set up shortcuts to make your writing even more instantaneous (immediately turn your "pk" into a "why"). You can Install for example Textware Solution or Shorthands for Window.
Being efficient in the rewriting process is one thing, creating a file that is readable and well organized for the user's eye is another. Let me give you some advice.
Before rewriting your content in a text editor (Words, Google Doc, Notepad…), start by defining the different symbols used in your dialogue lines:
Also, as you transcribe, take care to leave space between the lines and don't hesitate to add other types of characters and different colors.
Now we can imagine that you don't want to do all the work by yourself. The manuel way leads to professional results but is very energy consuming and not scalable.
That's why we provide here 4 automatic transcription solutions to quickly retrieve your content on Youtube. We let you compare these platforms according to their features and your needs.
360converter is an online platform for converting Youtube video to text. You give your URL and it takes care of generating a more or less accurate transcript. Knowing that the service is free, it can help you in occasional projects with not too long videos.
With its video transcription service, Waywithwords offers a professional solution for your more elaborate transcription projects. You can work with them on the format, and benefit from experts in transcription and translation in a few languages. Pricing varies according to the size and duration of your content.
Kapwing's software has a feature to import subtitle files directly from the URLs of your youtube videos. Its simple and quick solution create a transcript that you only have to correct. Although the solution is free, it lacks the ability to manage several projects at the same time.
Happyscribe provides the same service as Kapwing but on its online platform. It also offers the possibility of translating into more than a hundred languages. The site gives you a free trial and then asks you for monthly or per-project pricing. The service is mainly intended for individuals who want a quick solution.
Not so fast! At Cheksub we've also created a high-quality automatic transcription tool.
In our early days, 4 years ago, we realized that there was no subtitling solution adapted to video creators. To help them increase their productivity in their work, we provide them with the best technologies available on the market:
The process is fairly straightforward:
If you want to save time, try one of the best solution on the market!
