Indian Language Transcription QA Checklist
Whether you are reviewing your own AI-generated transcript or receiving work from a transcription service, a systematic QA checklist catches issues that casual reading misses. This checklist is designed specifically for Indian language transcripts - addressing script-specific issues that generic English QA processes overlook.
By CapsAI · Updated 19 August 2026
Key takeaways
- Use this checklist as a final gate before publishing or delivering any Indian language transcript.
- Script rendering issues are invisible in text editors but appear in published output.
- Timing accuracy matters for subtitles but not for pure text transcripts - check only what applies.
- A 5-minute checklist pass catches errors that would embarrass you in published content.
Accuracy checks
These verify that the transcript correctly represents what was said. Listen to at least 3 random 30-second segments and compare against the text. Check that proper nouns are spelled consistently throughout. Verify that numbers and dates are correct - AI frequently confuses similar-sounding Hindi numbers (तीन/thirteen vs teen/three).
For Hinglish content: verify that English words are in Latin script (not transliterated to Devanagari) unless you deliberately chose otherwise. Check that code-switching boundaries are sensible - no broken words split across scripts.
- Random segment accuracy check (3 x 30 seconds minimum)
- Proper noun consistency across the document
- Numbers, dates, and amounts verified against audio
- Script boundaries correct for code-switched content
- No missing segments or unexplained gaps
Script and encoding checks
These catch rendering issues that look fine in your editor but break elsewhere. For Devanagari: check that conjuncts render correctly (no visible virama between consonants that should combine). For Tamil/Telugu/Kannada: verify that vowel markers attach to the correct consonant. For Urdu: confirm RTL rendering with embedded English words in correct position.
Run the text through a Unicode normalizer (NFC). Open the file in a different application than you edited in - rendering differences reveal hidden encoding issues. If the transcript includes timestamps, verify they do not contain invisible Unicode characters that could break parsing.
- Devanagari conjuncts rendering properly
- No visible virama characters between merged consonants
- NFC Unicode normalization applied
- Test rendering in a second application
- RTL order correct for Urdu (embedded LTR in right position)
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Formatting checks
Verify paragraph breaks are at topic boundaries, not random positions. Check that speaker labels (if present) are consistent in format throughout. Verify punctuation: purna viram (।) for Hindi, appropriate punctuation for other languages, question marks on questions, quotation marks for direct speech.
For subtitle-destined transcripts: check that no single cue exceeds 2 lines, that line breaks fall at phrase boundaries (not mid-word), and that the text is horizontally centered appropriately for the intended platform.
- Paragraph breaks at logical topic changes
- Speaker labels consistent (format, naming, punctuation)
- Language-appropriate punctuation used
- No orphaned single words on a line (for subtitles)
- Consistent formatting of timestamps if present
Timing checks (subtitles only)
If the transcript will become timed subtitles: verify that each cue appears and disappears close to when the words are spoken. Check minimum display time - at least 1 second per cue, 1.5 seconds for Devanagari. Verify no overlapping timestamps (cue B starts before cue A ends). Check reading speed does not exceed 21 characters per second.
For Indian language subtitles specifically: verify that longer Devanagari/Tamil/Telugu words have proportionally more display time. A single long agglutinated Tamil word needs more reading time than a short English word.
Accessibility and delivery checks
Final verification before delivery: open the file on a mobile device to check rendering. Verify the file encoding is UTF-8 (not Windows-1252 or ISO-8859). Check file format matches requirements (SRT, VTT, plain text, or HTML). If delivering as HTML, verify that lang attributes are set correctly for screen readers.
For web publishing: confirm that the page's meta charset is UTF-8, that the content renders without fallback font squares (□), and that copy-paste from the page produces correct Unicode characters.
- Mobile rendering verified
- UTF-8 encoding confirmed
- Correct file format for intended use
- No missing glyph squares (□) in rendered output
- Copy-paste test produces correct characters
Frequently asked questions
How long does a full QA pass take?
For a 10-minute transcript: 5-8 minutes if you follow the checklist systematically. The random accuracy spot-checks take the most time. Skip timing checks if the output is text-only.
Should I QA check even for informal internal use?
A quick check (accuracy spot-check + proper nouns) takes 2 minutes and catches embarrassing errors. Full QA is for published or delivered content only.
What is the most commonly missed issue in Indian language QA?
Script rendering differences between editor and published output. The transcript looks perfect in your text editor but displays with broken conjuncts or wrong RTL order on the actual publishing platform.
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