Language code: ru

Russian speech-to-text API (русский)

KolWrite transcribes Russian audio and video into Cyrillic text with one REST call: send "language": "ru" and get segments with word timings and speaker labels as JSON, TXT or SRT. Oracle models translate Russian into English, Hebrew or 98 other languages in the same job.

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Transcribe Russian with one request

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

Translate Russian 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-ru.m4a", "model": "oracle_mini", "language": "ru", "translate_to": "en", "output_format": "srt"}'

Russian at a glance

PropertyDetails
API coderu
Native nameрусский
Writing directionLeft to right
Automatic detectionYes: omit language or send "auto"
Translate Russian audio intoAny of the 100 supported languages, on Oracle models
Translate other languages into RussianYes: translate_to: "ru" on Oracle models
OutputJSON (segments, word timings, speakers), TXT, SRT
PriceUS$0.48 (Base) to US$3.60 (Oracle Max) per audio hour; US$1.44 on Oracle

What to know about Russian transcription

  • Russian uses Cyrillic. The letter ё is often written as е in everyday text; normalize ё/е before search or comparison.
  • Speakers from Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Israel mix Russian with their local language. Set ru when Russian dominates; Ukrainian (uk), Belarusian (be) and Kazakh (kk) have their own codes.
  • Russian inflects names and numbers. If you extract entities from transcripts, lemmatize before matching.

Where teams use Russian transcription

  • Research and journalism interviews, translated with translate_to: "en".
  • Russian-speaking communities in Israel, Germany and the US: community media and call recordings.
  • Lectures and webinars published with Russian subtitles.

Choosing a model

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

Questions and answers

Can KolWrite translate Russian audio to Hebrew?

Yes. Use an Oracle model with translate_to: "he"; any of the 100 codes works as a target.

Does it handle speech that mixes Russian and Ukrainian?

Each job takes one language code. Send the one that dominates the recording; test mixed recordings on your own audio.

What does an hour of Russian cost?

From US$0.48 per audio hour on Base to US$3.60 on Oracle Max; Oracle is US$1.44.

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