Amharic speech-to-text API (አማርኛ)

Transcribe Amharic with one request

Set language to am and start a job. Poll GET /transcribe/{jobId} for the result, or pass a webhook_url.

curl https://app.kolwrite.com/transcribe \
  -H "x-api-key: $KOLWRITE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"audio_url": "https://example.com/interview-am.m4a", "model": "oracle", "language": "am", "include_diarization": true, "output_format": "json"}'

Translate Amharic audio into English in the same job (Oracle models only):

curl https://app.kolwrite.com/transcribe \
  -H "x-api-key: $KOLWRITE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"audio_url": "https://example.com/interview-am.m4a", "model": "oracle_mini", "language": "am", "translate_to": "en", "output_format": "srt"}'

Amharic at a glance

What to know about Amharic transcription

• Amharic is written left to right in the Ethiopic syllabary (ፊደል). Check that your fonts and databases support the Ethiopic Unicode block.
• Amharic is a lower-resource language for speech recognition. Test a sample of your recordings and plan review before publishing transcripts.
• Ethiopian speech mixes Amharic with English and other Ethiopian languages. Tigrinya and Oromo are not on the supported list.

Where teams use Amharic transcription

• Community media and services for Amharic speakers in Ethiopia, Israel, the US and Europe.
• Research and NGO interviews translated with translate_to: "en".
• Archiving radio and religious recordings.

Choosing a model

Start with oracle (US$1.44 per hour) for production Amharic audio. Use base (US$0.48) for clean, single-speaker recordings at volume, oracle_mini (US$0.96) for the cheapest translation, and oracle_pro or oracle_max for noisy or difficult audio. KolWrite does not publish a Amharic accuracy figure for this API, so test a sample of your own recordings before committing. Full comparison: models and prices.

Questions and answers