Chinese speech-to-text API (中文)

Transcribe Chinese with one request

Set language to zh 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/meeting-zh.m4a", "model": "oracle", "language": "zh", "include_diarization": true, "output_format": "json"}'

Translate Chinese 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/meeting-zh.m4a", "model": "oracle_mini", "language": "zh", "translate_to": "en", "output_format": "srt"}'

Chinese at a glance

What to know about Chinese transcription

• The API has one Chinese code, zh, and no script parameter. If your product needs Simplified or Traditional characters consistently, convert the transcript afterwards (for example with OpenCC).
• Chinese is written without spaces, so a "word" in the timestamps may be a single character or a short token. Build subtitles and highlights by time ranges, not by word counts.
• Cantonese and other Chinese languages are not listed separately. Test Cantonese, Hokkien or Wu recordings before relying on them.

Where teams use Chinese transcription

• Meeting and interview transcripts for teams working with China.
• Chinese subtitles for video and e-learning (srt).
• Translating Mandarin content to English for research or due diligence.

Choosing a model

Start with oracle (US$1.44 per hour) for production Chinese 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 Chinese accuracy figure for this API, so test a sample of your own recordings before committing. Full comparison: models and prices.

Questions and answers