Supported Automatic Transcription Languages

Descript provides support for automatic transcription in 23 different languages, listed below:

Catalan
English (US)
Italian
Polish
Spanish (US)
Croatian
Finnish
Latvian
Portuguese (BR)
Swedish
Czech
French (FR)
Lithuanian
Romanian
Turkish
Danish
German
Malay
Slovak
 
Dutch
Hungarian
Norwegian
Slovenian
 

Beta Language Support

Descript is currently Beta testing language support various languages:

  • Hindi
  • Greek

Users who would like to participate in testing can learn more about how to download Descript Beta and join the Beta community to provide feedback here.

 

Getting Started

The first time you create a transcription in Descript you will be prompted to set your default transcription language. Click the language selector dropdown menu and select your desired language of choice, then click the Save and start transcription button.

If you find that you often switch between different transcription languages, you can also check the box to "Always prompt for transcription language" and this popup window will appear each time you add a file for transcription.

set-transcription-language.png

 

A confirmation window will appear indicating that your transcription will soon be ready and providing options to update your currently-selected language, or add speaker labels.

confirmation-window.png

 

You can change these preferences at any time in the App Preferences menu by clicking Command + Comma (macOS) / Control + Comma (Windows) and scrolling down to the language options at the bottom.

app-preferences.png

 

Unsupported Features

While multi-language transcription is available for most Descript editing features (including Screen Recordings and Studio Sound), there are a few notable exceptions:

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I re-transcribe a file if I accidentally selected the wrong language?

Yes - Locate the file in the Project Sidebar (typically in the Project Files folder) and click the ellipsis button to the right of the file name, then select Re-transcribe file. If you have enabled "Always prompt for transcription language", you will be prompted to select the desired language again. Otherwise you must change the transcription language in your App Settings page before re-transcribing.

Monthly transcription rate limits

Please note that re-transcribing a file will deduct additional transcription minutes from your monthly transcription rate limit.

 

What if my file contains two or more languages, can Descript tell them apart?

Descript will only transcribe the currently selected language so if you have a file that contains multiple languages you'll need to add / transcribe it separately for each language. Once complete, you can assemble (copy / paste) the sections you need into your main Composition.

 

How accurate is Descript's automatic transcription service?

Automatic (AI-based) transcriptions can get up to 95% accurate, however many factors determine how good the returned transcript will be. For best results see our article Transcription accuracy tips.