How Korean speech transcribes
Korean speech transcribes well. Word spacing follows rules that even native writers debate, so the transcript's spacing may differ from your style guide.
What a Korean transcript looks like
Korean transcripts are written in Hangul with spaces between words, following standard spacing rules. English loanwords are usually written in Hangul as pronounced, so 'computer' appears as 컴퓨터 rather than in Latin letters. Korean has two number systems (native and Sino-Korean); numbers may appear as digits or as words, so check dates, prices and counts.
Examples
A Seoul UX researcher transcribes a 44-minute Korean usability-test recording.
A student transcribes an 11-minute Korean voice memo of lecture notes.
Costs: 44 credits (4.4¢) and 11 credits (1.1¢), including a translated transcript if you select another language. Audio files go in the audio to text workspace.
Particles glued to nouns: searching a Korean transcript
Korean attaches particles directly to nouns: 회사, 회사가, 회사는, 회사를 and 회사에서 all contain "company". Search for 회사 with partial matching and you'll find every form; search for 회사를 and you'll miss most of them. Verb stems change shape too (하다, 해요, 했습니다, 하는), so search for the shortest stable part. Short stems bring false matches in return: searching 사과 finds apple (사과) and apologise (사과하다) alike, so skim the hits rather than replacing blindly. Together with the spacing differences already mentioned, this makes partial-match search the dependable way to find terms. Learners building word lists face the same issue, and vocabulary lists from transcripts shows how to handle it.
Speech levels show up in the verb endings
Korean marks the relationship between speaker and listener in verb endings: 합니다 (formal), 해요 (polite), 해 (casual). Because the transcript records what was said, it preserves that information. In a usability test, a participant moving from 해요 to casual speech may signal growing comfort or frustration. Translations mostly erase these distinctions, so if register matters to your analysis, work from the Korean text. Also check the honorific -시- (하셨어요 rather than 했어요): if it is missing, the politeness of the line changes.
Sino-Korean homophones and translation
Much of Korean's formal and technical vocabulary is Sino-Korean, and without Hanja many words share one spelling: 의사 is doctor or intention, 사고 is accident or thinking, 정의 is justice or definition, 수도 is capital city or water supply. The Hangul transcript is correct either way, because the spelling is the same. The risk appears when you translate: machine translation picks one meaning, and in a short or ambiguous sentence it can pick the wrong one. In technical, legal and medical videos, read the translated transcript next to the Korean and check these words in context.
Loanword spellings versus the official standard
English loanwords appear in Hangul, and Korea has an official loanword orthography that everyday writing often ignores: 케이크 versus 케익, 메시지 versus 메세지, 콘텐츠 versus 컨텐츠, 주스 versus 쥬스. Your transcript may use either. Broadcasters and publishers usually follow the standard, so if you are preparing broadcast captions or a printed report, search for the common variants and normalise them.
Romanizing names when you translate
If you pick a target language, Korean names have to be romanized, and the spellings vary widely: the surname 이 appears as Lee, Yi, Rhee or I; 박 as Park or Pak; 김 as Kim or Gim. Revised Romanization is the official system for places, but most people keep their own spelling of their name. Machine translation can't know which one a person uses, so check every name in the translated text against a business card, a profile page or the person's own website. Translating names and technical terms covers building a name list before you review.
Counters with two number systems
Beyond digits versus words, Korean pairs native numbers with some counters (세 살 for age, 두 시 for the hour, 다섯 명 for people) and Sino-Korean numbers with others (삼 년, 이십 분, 오천 원). Times combine both in one phrase: 두 시 이십 분 is 2:20. When a transcript writes these in digits, check the value; when it writes them in words, check the system fits the counter. Prices counted in units of 만 (3만 원 is 30,000 won) deserve a second look in shopping and finance videos, because English counts in thousands and a slip of one place turns 30,000 into 300,000.
Example: a 20-minute beauty review
A 20-minute MP4 review costs 20 credits (2¢) for the Korean transcript and Hangul subtitles, and a second run with English as the target costs 20 credits (2¢) more. Many Korean cosmetics brands write their names in Latin letters while speakers say them with Korean pronunciation, so the creator searches the Hangul transcript for each brand and swaps in the official spelling before uploading.
Hangul subtitles are compact, so cue length is rarely the problem; line breaks at word spaces are. The VTT generator page explains the caption file format.
Using the tool on this page
- The spoken language is detected automatically; you select the output language — the spoken language itself for an untranslated transcript, or another language for a translation. Files can be up to 2 hours long.
- Only the audio is sent for processing — the video stays on your device — and audio and text are deleted within 30 minutes of delivery (how files are protected).
- You can download a timestamped transcript, subtitles (SRT and VTT) and plain text. Every output, step and limit is explained on the video to text page.
Other languages
Frequently asked questions
Is Korean word spacing correct in transcripts?
Mostly. Korean spacing rules are tricky, so you may want to adjust spacing to your house style.
Will Gyeongsang or Jeju dialect be transcribed?
Gyeongsang speech differs mostly in intonation and some endings, so test a few minutes and check those endings. Jeju is very different from standard Korean; treat any Jeju passages as needing a fluent reviewer.
Does the transcript use Hanja?
Expect Hangul throughout, as in most modern Korean writing. If you need Hanja to disambiguate Sino-Korean homophones in an academic or legal document, add it by hand in parentheses after the Hangul.
Can it transcribe North Korean speech?
North Korean broadcasts use the same language with different vocabulary, loanword choices and spelling rules (for example 로동 where the South writes 노동). Expect a South Korean-style transcript and check terms and names against North Korean usage if that matters.