Transcription · Afrikaans
Afrikaans transcription services
Native Afrikaans transcribers for corporate video, eLearning, legal and media content. Verbatim and clean transcription, time-coded files, delivered in your preferred format. Part of a full Afrikaans language service: transcripts, voice over, and translation of any content you need.
About Afrikaans transcription
Find the right Afrikaans transcriber for your project
Afrikaans developed from 17th-century Dutch dialects and is now one of South Africa's twelve official languages, spoken natively by around 7 million people, with a further recognised community in Namibia.
At GoLocalise, we work with professional Afrikaans transcribers who are native speakers and experienced across corporate, legal, media and eLearning content.
We stay on top of every step, from file review and transcriber selection through to proofreading and final delivery, to ensure the transcript you receive matches the audience and content you are producing for.
Choose your format
Three ways to transcribe the same recording
The right one depends on what the transcript is for. If you are not sure, tell us the use case and we will recommend it.
Full verbatim
Every wordRecords every spoken detail, including pauses, filler words, repetitions and hesitations, exactly as they occur.
Best for
Legal proceedings, research interviews, focus groups
Edited
Clean readRemoves redundant words and hesitations while keeping the meaning and the speaker's intent fully intact.
Best for
Corporate meetings, interviews for publication, content to be translated
Summarised
Key pointsCondenses the discussion into structured key points rather than a full record of the conversation.
Best for
Executive briefings, legal summaries, research documentation
What's included
What comes with every Afrikaans transcript
English code-switching, kept intact
Real Afrikaans speech slips in and out of English mid-sentence. We capture both exactly as spoken, rather than forcing everything into one language.
South African or Namibian usage
We match the regional vocabulary and register your speakers actually use, from Cape informal to formal corporate Afrikaans.
Timecodes where you need them
Per speaker turn, per paragraph or at fixed intervals, aligned to your edit or subtitle workflow.
Speaker identification
Every turn attributed — by name where you supply them, by role where you don't.
Second-linguist proofing
A second native speaker checks the draft against the audio before delivery.
Your format
Word, PDF, plain text, Excel or a subtitle-ready file — whatever the next step needs.
How it works
One project manager, from brief to delivery
A structured workflow that treats accuracy and confidentiality as checks at every stage, not a hope at the end.
Brief review
We look at the audio, the number of speakers and how much English is mixed in, so the transcript is set up the right way.
Transcriber assignment
Your file goes to a native Afrikaans transcriber who knows the sector — mining, agriculture, insurance, legal or research.
Transcription and review
The draft captures Afrikaans and any code-switched English exactly, then is checked against the source for accuracy and attribution.
Delivery
Your transcript in the format you need, on budget and on time.
For commissions of inquiry or multi-day proceedings we assign a dedicated team and agree milestones up front.
Who we work with
Industries that rely on Afrikaans transcription
In some sectors a documented record is a compliance duty; in others it is accessibility. These are the briefs we see most.
Mining & resources
Safety briefings, incident interviews and operational recordings.
Agriculture & insurance
Claims, assessments and field interviews across South Africa and Namibia.
Legal & commissions
Hearings, arbitration and commissions of inquiry, formatted to requirement.
Media & broadcast
Interviews, documentaries and subtitle templates.
Market research
Focus groups and in-depth interviews, code-switching captured as spoken.
Podcast & content
Show notes, searchable archives and repurposed written content.
Confidentiality
Who hears your Afrikaans audio
Afrikaans transcription work often comes from insurers, mining and agriculture, market research and commissions of inquiry — recordings that are commercially or legally sensitive. So the honest answer to who hears this matters as much as the accuracy.
Your files are uploaded through an encrypted system, handled by a named Afrikaans transcriber under NDA, and never fed into public speech-to-text tools. We work in line with POPIA where it applies, will sign your own agreement, follow your retention rules and delete on delivery if that is your policy.
Encrypted upload
No loose files over email.
NDA as standard
Yours or ours, before we start.
POPIA-aware handling
In line with your data-protection duties.
Deletion on request
Files removed on delivery if you need it.
Afrikaans specifics
Close to Dutch, and that is exactly the trap
Around 90 to 95% of Afrikaans vocabulary traces back to Dutch, but the language has its own grammar, spelling conventions and pronunciation. Some varieties are more urban and contemporary, others distinctly rural, and a transcriber who knows the difference catches what a generic tool misses.
Which is why a Dutch transcriber is not a substitute. Afrikaans grammar, spelling and expressions have developed over centuries in South Africa, and a Dutch speaker will mishear regional terms and produce text that reads as unnatural to a South African audience. The overlap is high enough to be dangerous: the file comes back looking plausible and wrong.
So we assign by content type as well as by language — corporate, legal, media or eLearning. Tell us what the recording is about and that decides who gets the file.
Transcription rates
Professional Afrikaans transcription
Best for short corporate videos, interviews and internal communications.
- Native Afrikaans transcriber
- Verbatim or clean read
- Proofreading pass
- Word, PDF or plain text
A complete managed service for legal proceedings, eLearning content, and longer-form media.
- Everything in Standard
- Content-specialist transcriber
- Timecodes and speaker IDs
- Difficult audio and multiple speakers
Priced by runtime, audio quality, number of speakers and turnaround, and backed by our Price Match Promise. Send us a sample for an exact, no-obligation quote.
Trusted by global brands
We have used GoLocalise on a regular basis for projects in a number of languages. The service we receive is great. The team is always friendly and professional. The voiceovers we receive are of a very high quality and the turnaround is extremely quick. We are very happy to recommend GoLocalise to other businesses.
It was a pleasure to work with David and the team at GoLocalise. David gave me lots of help and advice, guiding me through my first subtitling project. He really knows his stuff! The experience was completely pain-free. I would not hesitate to recommend GoLocalise – outstanding work at a good price.
They're reliable, adaptive and obsessed with quality. And while you can never be 100% guaranteed of perfection, you can be sure GoLocalise will go the extra mile to get it right every time. We've worked with them now for over 5 years and we are truly thankful to have such a strong localisation partner for our business.
Related services
What happens after the transcript
Transcription in more languages
Native transcribers for interviews, meetings, research, media and legal material. Browse another language, or ask us about yours.
Most common questions
The cost depends on audio length, turnaround and whether you need verbatim or clean transcription. Longer files and urgent deadlines carry a premium, while standard corporate work is straightforward to price. Send us your files and expected deadline, and we will quote precisely.
Ready to transcribe your Afrikaans audio?
Send us the files — English code-switching and all — and we'll come back with an exact, itemised quote.
Professional voice over services for your audio and video productions
Voice over
- State-of-the-art studios
- Neumann microphones
- On-hand sound engineers
- 1,000+ voice actors
Translation
- 100+ languages covered
- Tailored to your needs
- Stringent quality control
- Dedicated project managers
Subtitling
- Experienced subtitlers
- Industry-standard software
- Burn-in and graphic editing
- Open and closed captions
Transcription
- Improve accessibility
- Reach a wider audience
- Boost SEO and video views
- Maximise video engagement