Autrans
Use Case

Oral History Transcription for Nigerian Archives & Researchers

Transcribe oral history interviews in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Pidgin or English with speaker labels and timestamps, ready for archiving.

You've got hours of recorded interviews with elders, community leaders, or family members, some in Yoruba, some switching between Igbo and English mid-sentence, and a research deadline that doesn't care how long manual transcription takes. Autrans turns those recordings into searchable text with speaker labels so you can tell who said what across a two-hour session, and word-level timestamps so you can jump straight to the exact moment someone described the founding of a town or a family's migration story. Upload from your phone or laptop, including WhatsApp voice notes if that's how the interview was recorded, and export to DOCX or PDF for your archive, or SRT/VTT if you're pairing the audio with video. Your recordings are never used to train AI models.

Benefits

  • Speaker labels separate interviewer from narrator automatically, no more guessing who's talking on playback
  • Word-level timestamps let you cite the exact minute-mark for any quote in your research write-up
  • Handles Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Pidgin, and Nigerian English, including interviews that switch languages mid-sentence
  • AI summary gives you a quick overview of a long interview before you commit to a full read-through
  • Export to DOCX or PDF for archival storage, or SRT/VTT if the interview is paired with video footage
  • Audio is never used to train AI, important when subjects share sensitive family or community history

How it works

  1. 1Upload your interview recording, from a field recorder, phone, or a WhatsApp voice note
  2. 2Pick the language spoken, including mixed Yoruba-English or Pidgin-English sessions
  3. 3Autrans transcribes the full interview with speaker labels and timestamps
  4. 4Read the AI summary and key quotes to orient yourself before diving into the full transcript
  5. 5Export to DOCX, PDF, or subtitle format for your archive or publication

Frequently asked questions

Can Autrans transcribe an interview that mixes Yoruba and English?

Yes. Pick the language that best matches the interview, and Autrans handles natural code-switching between Nigerian languages and English within the same recording. It's built for exactly this kind of real-world speech.

Will it tell me who's speaking in a multi-person interview?

Yes, speaker labels separate different voices in the recording so you can follow a conversation between an interviewer and one or more narrators without re-listening to the whole thing.

Can I get timestamps for citing specific quotes?

Yes, transcripts include word-level timestamps, so you can point to the exact minute a narrator made a specific statement, useful for academic citation or fact-checking.

Is old, low-quality field-recorded audio still usable?

Autrans works with standard audio formats from phones and recorders. Very poor quality or heavy background noise can affect accuracy, but most field interviews recorded on a phone or basic recorder transcribe cleanly.

Related

Yoruba

AI transcription for Yoruba language recordings, sermons, interviews, and cultural content. Supporting the preservation of Nigeria's second most spoken language.

Hausa

AI transcription for Hausa language recordings. Supporting one of Africa's most widely spoken languages across Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, and Cameroon.

Igbo

AI transcription for Igbo language recordings. Making one of Nigeria's three major languages accessible in text form.

Nigerian Pidgin English

The first transcription service that truly understands Nigerian Pidgin, from casual conversation to broadcast media. Na we sabi am.

Nigerian English

AI transcription for Nigerian English, the way Nigerians actually speak, with local vocabulary, expressions, and accent patterns.

Start transcribing free

Get 30 minutes of free transcription to start. No credit card required. Just upload your audio and go.

Get Started Free