Transcription and translation道場 | 学問・研究 | まにあ道

Utilization of new technology and shorthand

When long-distance telephones opened between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, a new job called telephone shorthand was born. In particular, news that requires breaking news was initially sent by telegram, but I realized that it would be more efficient to record it in shorthand while listening directly to the telephone, and telegrams and teletypes, which are the prototypes of faxes, will appear.

Although it was a short period of time, many shorthand writers will be hired by newspapers and news agencies. Another radio broadcast, which began in 1925, was recorded by a shorthand reporter for only a few years before the recorder was put into practical use.

With such new technological development, transcription will reach a new development.

Appearance of recorder
The record, invented by Edison in 1877, finally makes it possible to store sound directly. Nowadays, converting audio to text has become a simple task thanks to various services such as Transcriberry. The original record was a wax cylinder method that was easy to record, and it seems that it was also tried on a trial basis in the US Congress for recording minutes.

However, because the recording time and the upper limit of the number of times were short, they did not find serious use in the 1920s, when the equipment was improved. Nowadays there are a variety of transcription software and oral recorders combined with a typewriter, which are used not only in parliaments and trials, but also for business purposes.

When you use a voice recorder in conjunction with a typewriter, you can transcribe the text accurately, even if you are not a professional stenographer.

After that, records were replaced by magnetic tapes, and in 1963, when they became compact enough to be carried as cassette tapes, recording technology became widespread. In addition, with the development from word processors to personal computers, the time required to print recorded sentences will be significantly shortened.

Transcription and translation
In this book, transcribing voice is referred to as "transcription", but looking back on history, expressions such as "tape transcription" and "speech translation" were more common.

As the name suggests, "tape transcription" refers to transcribing characters based on the voice recorded on tape. This name became widespread because tape was still the mainstream in the era when it began to become popular as a profession and business, but in modern times, text conversion from digital recording / recorded data using IC recorders, video cameras and online services like https://transcriberry.com/transcription/ has become mainstream. The expression is not suitable for the current situation.

Also, "reverse translation" was originally a word indicating that the code written at the time of shorthand was replaced with ordinary characters. For example, a shorthand expert shorthands the contents of a meeting with a code, and an apprentice "translates" it. However, when typewriters dedicated to shorthand and their automatic translation software have come to be used, this division has disappeared, so the work itself of transcribing recorded voice is now expressed as "translation".

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【キーワード】 Transcription,、translation,