French speech-to-text API (français)

Transcribe French with one request

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

Translate French 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/reunion-fr.m4a", "model": "oracle_mini", "language": "fr", "translate_to": "en", "output_format": "srt"}'

French at a glance

What to know about French transcription

• One code, fr, covers every variety of French. Québécois and West African French differ from Parisian French in accent and vocabulary; test recordings from your audience.
• French typography puts a space before : ; ? and !. If you build subtitles or compare against a reference, normalize these spaces consistently.
• In Canada and North Africa recordings often switch between French and English or Arabic. Set the dominant language explicitly.

Where teams use French transcription

• Subtitles for French broadcast, YouTube and e-learning.
• Public-sector and corporate meeting minutes in France and Canada.
• Bilingual Canadian content translated with translate_to: "en".

Choosing a model

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

Questions and answers