What to expect from Maltese transcription
Maltese has a small speaking population, and the speech model saw far less of it than of Italian or English. Clear speech from one person gives a usable draft, but plan a careful read of the whole transcript. Names of villages, people and parishes are where most corrections go, along with fast conversational speech.
Upload the recording as it is: MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG, OPUS, FLAC or AAC, a voice note saved from WhatsApp or Telegram, or a video file such as MP4 or MOV. You can also record from your microphone in the browser. Long files are split and processed in parallel, so a ten-minute recording usually takes a minute or two.
Maltese spelling in the transcript
Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet, and the transcript uses its own letters: ċ, ġ, ħ and ż, the digraphs għ and ie, and the silent h. These are the details to check first. A dropped dot on ċ or ż, or ħ written as h, is a quick fix in the editor while you listen.
The definite article and its hyphen (il-, it-, ix-, iż-) follow the next sound, and the model does not always get the assimilated form right. Read article and noun pairs with that in mind.
Maltese and English in the same recording
Most people in Malta switch between Maltese and English, sometimes inside one sentence, and Maltese already has many words from Italian and Sicilian. English words in a Maltese transcript may keep their English spelling or be written the Maltese way, so decide on a style and make it consistent during review.
If a meeting or call is mainly English with Maltese phrases, select English for that file. Auto-detect can mistake short Maltese clips for Arabic or Italian, which is why this page sets the language for you.
What people record in Maltese
Typical uploads are research and journalism interviews, local council and community meetings, homilies and parish events, radio segments, and family recordings from older relatives. Maltese families in Australia, Canada and the UK use it to keep a written copy of conversations with grandparents.
Exports and next steps
Export TXT or DOCX for notes and documents, PDF for a fixed copy, SRT or VTT for subtitles, and CSV with one row per line and its start time. Timestamps and speaker names can be switched on or off in each export. Speaker labels are available on paid plans or with a Minute Pack.
For video files such as a recorded festa or a YouTube interview, see the Maltese video to text page, which covers subtitles and links.