Are you preparing to visit the West African state of Sierra Leone to carry out your research for your PhD thesis or your next book? A hearty welcome to Sierra Leone!

You will surely love it. The people are welcoming and Transcribe Sierra Leone, which is the best transcribing and translation firm in Sierra Leone, is here to make the process smooth and easy for you. We will help you in translating and/or transcribing all your documents or audio recordings from Krio (or other Sierra Leonean Languages) into English and make your entire research process less painstaking.

Researching in Sierra Leone can be fun, but also a very challenging task for most of our overseas clients, especially when it comes to the language barriers. The majority of our clients are non-Sierra Leoneans, mainly overseas PhD students, university lecturers, research firms, etc., who cannot speak any of our local languages, but yet have interest in researching about Sierra Leone. 

Most definitely, before you venture into Sierra Leone to do any research work, you must bear in mind that majority of your respondents will not be speaking English. And therefore you will need to conduct your research in one of the several local languages: Fula, Kissi, Kono, Krio, Kuranko, Limba, Loko, Mandingo, Mende, Shabro, Soso (Susu) Temne, Vai, Yalunka, etc.

Therefore, you will require the help of a trained and qualify translator and transcriber to help transcribe and/or translate (from any of the above mentioned languages) into English. This is where Transcribe Sierra Leone becomes a very useful tool in your research process.

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In making preparations to come carry out your research, you must have in mind the following:

An Interpreter:  

Depending on the area of your research, you will need the service of a good Interpreter to help you interpret from one of the above native languages into English and vice versa. But mostly, irrespective of the district in which you intend carrying out your research, a majority of Sierra Leoneans can speak one of these three languages: Krio, Mende, or Temne.

So, no matter your subject area or your intended district in which you may want to do your research, you will need to find a native speaker to help you with the interpretation process.

So, if you are intending carrying out your research in the north and western part of Sierra Leone, which is mostly populated by the Temnes, finding someone who is a native Temne speaker to be your Interpreter can be a great assert.

If you intend conducting your research in the South and eastern parts of the country, finding someone who is fluent in Mende is key.

The Krio language is the most widely spoken language in the country. A vast majority of Sierra Leoneans can speak Krio and in addition to one or more other national languages. So, finding an Interpreter who is fluent in Krio, Mende and English, is very important if you intended carrying out your research in the South and Eastern parts of the country. And finding someone who is fluent in Temne, Krio and English is very important if you intend conducting your research in the north and western parts of the country.

And most importantly, finding an Interpreter who can fluently speak Temne, Mende, Krio and English is the best. This person can be used in whichever location in Sierra Leone and he can communicate with your respondents. But please note, although such Interpreters are available, but it will be a little bit hard for you to find one. So, having a foresight knowledge on which district you will want to focus is important. And then find an Interpreter that is most suitable for those districts – south/east, a Mende and Krio Interpreter and north/west, a Temne and Krio Interpreter.

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A Transcriptionist:

And once you have taken that painstaking venture in conducting your research and you have recorded all your required information, now you need the services of Transcribe Sierra Leone to transcribe and/or translate all this very important information in a written format. This is where we, Transcribe Sierra Leone comes in handy. 

Once you find Transcribe Sierra Leone, you need not look any further; you can absolutely find none other. With Transcribe Sierra Leone, you are assured that every bit and details of your recording will be captured. We always guarantee 96% – 99% accuracy level for all our transcripts.

So, whether you require us to only transcribe your audio or you require us to both transcribe and translate your audio, we are here for you.

What are the differences?

Transcription only simply means we are transforming or transcribing the audio into a written format using the same language in which it was recorded.

So, for example: If the audio was recorded in Krio (which is the most common language), we are also going to type it into Krio only (not English).

Transcription and Translation on the other hand means, transforming or transcribing the audio into a written format using a different language from the audio recording.

So, for example: If the audio was recorded in Krio (which is the most common language), we are going to type it into English (which requires both transcribing and translating the audio).

So definitely, pricing is slightly different, Transcription and Translation being more difficult and more time consuming.

So, talking about pricing, at Transcribe Sierra Leone, our pricing is very moderate, considering the fact that we are most frequently dealing with students who are often on loans and are on a very tight budgets.  So, we make sure we compare transcription rates in the West (and other so-called transcription agencies in Africa) and we drastically reduce our rates, since we are aware that the cost of living in the West and in Africa is not the same.

These so-called transcription agencies in Africa will charge customers at a higher rate, take out their commission and then sub-contract to us, since they do not have the expertise to transcribe and/or translate works meant for Sierra Leone. So, contracting us directly is always at your very best interest, since our rates are very flexible, tailored to meet our clients’ budgets.  

We’re ready to localize your next project.
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