InterviewSchwiizerdütsch12:31
Sie haben vorhin gesagt, das Projekt sei fast gescheitert. Woran lag das?
Schweizerdeutsch
Swiss German transcription, on your own computer.
LocalTranscript includes a model dedicated to Swiss German speech. It transcribes spoken dialect into readable written Standard German, separates the speakers and keeps every recording on your machine.
Why Swiss German needs its own model.
Swiss German is widely spoken but has no single standardised written form. Models built for Standard German miss the dialect's vocabulary, word order and pronunciation.
That is why LocalTranscript ships a separate model for Swiss German speech. You pick it for a recording the way you would pick any other language, and the processing stays on your computer.
- A dedicated model. Swiss German audio is processed by a model built for it, not routed through a generic German one.
- Written Standard German output. Spoken dialect comes back as readable Standard German text; that is the transcript you search and quote.
- Local processing. The audio never leaves your machine; the model runs on Windows and Apple Silicon Macs.
- Speakers separated. Interviews and meetings come back with speaker labels; recurring voices are recognised again later.
- A searchable record. Transcripts land in the local library: search them, quote them, export them.
What a transcript looks like.
Speaker labels, timestamps and readable Standard German text.
Illustrative example with fictional content. Spoken: Swiss German dialect. Output: written Standard German, in the app's transcript layout.
Where it earns its keep.
Research interviews
Qualitative interviews in dialect become speaker-labelled transcripts without a transcription bureau or a cloud upload.
Meetings and committees
Association boards and project meetings held in Swiss German get a reviewable record and a first protocol draft.
Journalism
Quotes stay verifiable: the recording, the transcript and the timestamps stay together on your machine.
Swiss German is its own mode.
The dedicated Swiss German model and the multilingual mode are separate settings. For a meeting held in dialect, pick Swiss German; for meetings that mix German, French, Italian or English, use the multilingual mode. Both run locally.
Practical notes.
What to expect before the first run:
- One download, then offline. The model is fetched once during setup; transcription itself needs no connection.
- Modern hardware. Runs locally on modern Windows PCs (DirectX 12) and Apple Silicon Macs. Processing speed varies by model, recording length and hardware.
- Processing takes time. Local transcription is not instant; long recordings run in the background while you keep working.
What to know before you rely on it.
Honest limits, so you can test against them:
- Accuracy varies with dialect, audio quality and how much people talk over each other. Test it on your own recordings first.
- There is one Swiss German model today, with no separate fast and high-accuracy variants.
- Names and specialist terms may need the custom vocabulary list.
Common questions.
Does the recording leave my computer?
No. Recording, transcription and speaker separation run locally. The complete list of network connections the app can make is published on the security page, and Hard Offline Mode blocks all of them.
Which dialects does it understand?
The model is trained on Swiss German speech in general rather than one specific dialect. In practice, accuracy varies by dialect and recording quality; try it on your own audio first.
Can one meeting mix Swiss German and French?
Swiss German and the multilingual mode are separate settings. Choose the Swiss German model for dialect recordings, and the multilingual mode for meetings that mix German, French, Italian or English.
Do I need an account or a licence to try it?
No. The free version installs without an account or card. Test it on a real recording and judge the result before paying for anything.
Test it against a real dialect recording.
Download the app, run a Swiss German meeting or interview through it, and compare the result with whatever you use today.