How well does it handle Somali?
Supported end-to-end; treat the output as a fast first draft and plan a review pass — it still beats typing from scratch.
Latin-script output in standard Somali orthography.
Diaspora recordings with English or Arabic mixing are common and handled; review mixed passages.
What you get
Speaker labels
Every voice in the recording is separated and labelled — works in Somali the same as in English, because speaker labels follow voices, not words.
Word-level timestamps
Each word is timed to the audio, which is what makes accurate Somali SRT and VTT subtitle files possible.
Search & quote
The transcript is searchable in Somali — jump to the exact second something was said and copy it with its timestamp.
Every export
TXT, SRT, VTT, DOCX and JSON on every pack — no format paywall.
Who transcribes Somali audio here
Interviews, radio archives, community meetings and oral history.
Transcribe Somali by recording type
Somali audio to text · Somali interview · Somali lecture · Somali podcast · Somali meeting · Somali youtube video · Somali town hall
Questions people ask
Do I need to tell it the audio is Somali?
No — the language is detected from the first seconds of audio automatically. If a recording mixes Somali and English, each part is transcribed in the language actually spoken.
Can I get English text from Somali audio?
No. The transcript comes back in the language that was spoken, so Somali audio produces Somali text. Captions and every export stay in the source language; translation is not something Whipscribe does.
Does it work on Somali video, not just audio?
Yes — upload MP4/MOV/WebM or paste a link; the audio track is extracted automatically and transcribed the same way.
How much does it cost?
A pack from $4 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. Preview any transcript instantly with no signup; a pack from $4 opens the full transcript, no account needed. After that, one-time credit packs: $8 for 1,000 minutes, $12 for 2,000 minutes or $24 for 5,000 minutes, and credits never expire.
Is this live captioning?
No — Whipscribe transcribes recordings, not live speech. Upload a file that already exists and the Somali transcript is typically ready in about a minute per half hour of audio.
Related: Audio to text · Subtitle generator · Interview transcription · Bulk transcription