Chinese
中文
Transcribe Chinese Audio to Text
Upload Mandarin audio or video, or paste a public link, and get a Chinese transcript in characters with timestamps, ready to edit, search and export. Standard Mandarin works best. The free plan gives you 120 minutes every week.
See It In Action
Here is a short clip of a Mandarin meeting as Hear2Text transcribes it, with an English translation below.
"大家好，感谢参加今天的会议。我们先回顾一下项目进度。"
"大家好，感谢参加今天的会议。我们先回顾一下项目进度。"
Translation: "Hello everyone, thank you for joining today's meeting. Let's start by reviewing the project's progress."
Characters, punctuation and timestamps
Transcripts are written in Chinese characters, typically Simplified, with full-width Chinese punctuation and no spaces between words, the way Chinese text is normally read. There is no Pinyin. Accuracy reaches up to 99% on clear audio; homophones, rare names and technical terms are where you will make most corrections. Every segment has a timestamp, so you can click it, listen again and fix the character in the browser.
Try Free NowBuilt for Mandarin, honest about the rest
Hear2Text recognises Chinese automatically, so you do not pick a language before uploading. Standard Mandarin, whether from Beijing, Taipei or Singapore, is where results are strongest. A regional accent, fast speech or a noisy room lowers accuracy. Cantonese, Hokkien, Shanghainese and other Chinese languages are not reliably supported, and we would rather tell you that than let you find out on a two-hour recording.
Try Free NowTranslate Chinese transcripts into English
On the paid plans, a finished transcript can be translated into English or any of more than 60 languages. That helps teams who do not read Chinese follow a supplier call or a lecture. Recordings that mix Mandarin and English are handled in part: the language is detected once per recording, short English terms usually come through, and long English stretches may be transcribed poorly.
Try Free NowMandarin, accents and other Chinese languages
There are no dialect-specific models: the same model hears every recording. Standard Mandarin works best, regional accents lower accuracy somewhat, and other Chinese languages are not reliably supported.
Mandarin (Putonghua)
Mainland China
Standard Mandarin is what the model handles best. Clear Putonghua from a close microphone, such as a news broadcast, lecture or interview, gives the most accurate transcripts.
Taiwanese Mandarin
Taiwan
Mandarin as spoken in Taiwan transcribes well on clear audio. Local vocabulary and names may need a correction, and the characters may not come out in the Traditional script you expect.
Cantonese
Hong Kong and Guangdong
Not something we promise. Cantonese is a separate spoken language, and recordings in it often come back as Mandarin-style text or with many errors, so test a short clip before relying on it.
Singaporean Mandarin
Singapore
Clear Singaporean Mandarin usually transcribes well. Frequent switches into English, Malay or Hokkien words can be dropped or misheard, so check those passages.
Shanghainese
Shanghai
Shanghainese (Wu) is not a supported variety and usually transcribes poorly. Mandarin spoken with a Shanghai accent works much better than the dialect itself.
Hokkien
Fujian and Taiwan
Not supported in any reliable way. Speech in Hokkien (Taiwanese) is usually transcribed poorly; Mandarin passages in the same recording fare much better.
How to transcribe Chinese audio
Upload a Mandarin recording or paste a public link, check the characters against the audio, then export or translate the transcript.
Add your Mandarin recording
Upload an audio or video file up to 500 MB and 6 hours, record in the browser or the app, or paste a public YouTube or Vimeo link.
Chinese is detected automatically
You do not choose a language. Hear2Text recognises the Mandarin and writes it out in Chinese characters with a timestamp on every segment.
Check names and homophones
Read through the characters, click a timestamp to replay any line, and fix wrong characters in names or technical terms right in the browser.
Export or translate
Download TXT on the free plan. Paid plans add SRT, VTT, Word and PDF, plus translation of the transcript into English and more than 60 other languages.
Who transcribes Chinese with Hear2Text
Anyone who needs Mandarin speech as searchable Chinese text: business teams, students, researchers, journalists and creators, whether they read Chinese or rely on the English translation.
Creators on Chinese video
Turn a Mandarin vlog, interview or livestream replay into Chinese text for captions, video descriptions and articles; SRT subtitle files are on the paid plans.
Teams working with China
Record a Mandarin call with a supplier or partner, transcribe it afterwards, and translate the transcript into English so colleagues who do not read Chinese can follow the decisions.
Researchers and journalists
Transcribe Mandarin interviews and focus groups for coding and quoting, and use timestamps to go back to the original audio before you cite a sentence.
Mandarin learners
Transcribe a podcast episode or TV clip, read the characters while replaying each line from its timestamp, and compare with an English translation on the paid plans.
What you get with a Chinese transcript
Up to 99% on clear audio
Clear standard Mandarin from a close microphone gets the best results. Noise, crosstalk and strong regional accents lower accuracy.
Simplified characters
Output is typically in Simplified characters with no switch for Traditional. Edit or convert the text if your readers need Traditional script.
Context for homophones
Characters are chosen from the whole sentence, not from the syllable alone, so common homophones come out right. Check rare names and terms.
Speaker labels on every plan
Every plan labels who is speaking, as Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on, which makes Mandarin meetings and interviews easier to follow. On the paid plans you can rename them.
Characters, not Pinyin
Transcripts contain Chinese characters only. For Pinyin, export the text and use a separate converter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it work for Cantonese as well as Mandarin?
Can I choose between Simplified and Traditional characters?
How does it deal with Chinese homophones?
Can I get the transcript in Pinyin?
Can I translate a Chinese transcript into English?
What audio and video formats can I upload?
Turn your next Mandarin recording into text
Upload a Mandarin recording or paste a public link, and read an editable, timestamped Chinese transcript in minutes, with 120 free minutes every week.
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