Cantonese Transcription — yue-CN Audio to Accurate Text
Upload Cantonese audio or video. Musely transcribes it with a dedicated Seed-ASR 2.0 Cantonese model at 94.1% accuracy, outputting Written Cantonese or Standard Written Chinese.
Musely Cantonese Transcription is an AI tool that converts Cantonese audio and video into accurate Chinese text using Seed-ASR 2.0 with a dedicated yue-CN acoustic model. Unlike Google, HappyScribe, and Notta which often misclassify Cantonese as Mandarin, Musely treats Cantonese as a distinct language with its own tonal recognition. It offers Written Cantonese output (preserving 嘅, 喺, 咗, 啦) or Standard Written Chinese conversion (書面語), handles English code-switching common in Hong Kong speech, and includes 4 presets — Clean, Verbatim, Standard Written Chinese, and Interview. Processes recordings up to 2 hours at 94.1% accuracy on clear speech.
Under the Hood
🤖ASR Engine
Transcript Output
Transcribe Cantonese Audio in 3 Steps
Upload Your Cantonese Audio or Video
Drag and drop any MP3, MP4, WAV, M4A, OGG, WebM, or MOV file up to 2 hours long. Musely defaults to Cantonese (yue-CN) for best accuracy. Works with phone recordings, Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp voice messages, and professional recorders.
Pick Written Form and Preset
Choose Written Cantonese (preserves 嘅, 喺, 咗 particles) or Standard Written Chinese (書面語 conversion). Select a preset: Clean, Verbatim, Standard Written Chinese, or Interview. Toggle speaker labels and [MM:SS] timestamps as needed.
Download Your Cantonese Transcript
Review the transcript with English code-switching preserved in Latin script. Download as TXT, DOCX, or Markdown. Optionally translate to English, Mandarin, Portuguese, Japanese, or Korean with bilingual mode.
Who Uses Musely Cantonese Transcription
Convert bilingual Cantonese-English meetings into formal minutes
Our Central Hong Kong team runs meetings in Cantonese with constant English code-switching for terms like term sheet, due diligence, and IPO. Musely keeps English exactly as spoken and converts the rest to Standard Written Chinese I can file with mainland counterparties. Saved me about 3 hours per weekly meeting.
Transcribe press conferences into publication-ready text
I cover Hong Kong politics. Other tools garbled Cantonese as broken Mandarin but Musely's dedicated yue-CN model captures particles and tones correctly. The Interview preset applies 訪問者/受訪者 labels automatically. Translation to English lets me file stories for international wires within minutes.
Transcribe court hearings verbatim for case files
Hong Kong court proceedings require every particle captured exactly. Verbatim preset preserves 嘅, 喺, 咗 and marks pauses with [停頓]. Standard Written Chinese conversion produces parallel formal documents for cross-border filings. Cuts court transcript prep from 6 hours to under 90 minutes per session.
Capture colloquial Cantonese for linguistic analysis
I research Hong Kong Cantonese sociolinguistics. Written Cantonese output preserves the exact colloquial forms essential for my analysis. Musely handles sentence-final particles correctly where other tools drop them entirely. Incredible for field recording transcription.
Generate show notes and subtitles for Cantonese podcasts
I host a Hong Kong tech podcast mixing Cantonese with English terms. Musely outputs show notes that match how my audience actually speaks — 嘅 stays as 嘅, iPhone stays as iPhone. Cuts my post-production from 4 hours to roughly 45 minutes per episode.
Document Cantonese-Portuguese bilingual proceedings
Macau government proceedings require both Cantonese records and Portuguese translations. Musely transcribes the Cantonese accurately, then bilingual mode gives me Portuguese alongside. The 2-hour limit covers a full session and Standard Written Chinese conversion works for our mainland partners.
Musely vs. Other Cantonese Transcription Tools
| Feature | Musely | HappyScribe | Notta | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated Cantonese (yue-CN) Model | ✓ Yes with 94.1% accuracy | ⚠ Often defaults to zh-CN | ⚠ Listed with limited accuracy | ✗ Not specifically supported |
| Written Cantonese Output | ✓ Yes (口語書面語 with particles) | ✗ No (Standard Chinese only) | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Standard Written Chinese Conversion | ✓ Yes (書面語 mode) | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| English Code-Switching | ✓ Preserved in Latin script | ⚠ Partial | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Translation Output | ✓ English / Mandarin / Portuguese / Japanese / Korean | ⚠ Limited | ⚠ Extra cost | ⚠ Paid only |
| Max Recording Duration | ✓ 2 hours per recording | ⚠ Varies | ✗ Pay per minute | ✗ 3 min (free) |
What Cantonese Speakers Say
4.8/5 based on 2,380 reviews
“I work at a Central Hong Kong investment bank. Our weekly strategy meetings mix Cantonese with English finance terms constantly. Musely keeps iPhone, IPO, and term sheet in English while converting the Cantonese to formal Standard Written Chinese for mainland counterparties. Saves me 3 hours per meeting.”
“I tried Google and HappyScribe for my Cantonese journalism work and both produced garbled Mandarin text. Musely's dedicated yue-CN model is the first tool that actually transcribes Cantonese accurately with particles intact. Cut my interview prep from 4 hours to about 30 minutes per story.”
“Our Hong Kong law firm transcribes court hearings weekly. Verbatim preset preserves every Cantonese particle and marks pauses for the court record. Parallel Standard Written Chinese output gives us filings we can send to mainland counsel. Saved the firm roughly 15 billable hours per week on transcription.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Musely Cantonese Transcription leads the category with 94.1% accuracy on clear yue-CN speech using a dedicated Seed-ASR 2.0 Cantonese acoustic model. It treats Cantonese as a distinct language rather than a Mandarin variant, and offers Written Cantonese or Standard Written Chinese output plus natural English code-switching preservation — a combination no other service provides.
Musely uses a dedicated Cantonese (yue-CN) acoustic model, while Google and HappyScribe often default to Mandarin zh-CN for Chinese audio, producing garbled text with wrong characters and missing particles. Musely also offers Cantonese-specific features like Written Cantonese versus Standard Written Chinese output modes and Hong Kong-style English code-switching.
Musely's post-processor detects English code-switching common in Hong Kong Cantonese and renders English words in Latin script while keeping Cantonese in Chinese characters. Technical terms, brand names, and everyday English phrases appear exactly as Hong Kong speakers write them, producing natural bilingual transcripts.
Musely accepts MP3, MP4, WAV, M4A, OGG, WebM, and MOV files up to 2 hours long. This covers phone recordings, Zoom and Teams meetings, WhatsApp voice messages, and professional audio equipment. Exports are available as TXT, DOCX, and Markdown for any downstream workflow.
Cantonese and Mandarin have different tonal systems, vocabulary, grammar, and sentence-final particles. Running Cantonese audio through a Mandarin model produces significant errors — missing particles, wrong word choices, and garbled output. Musely's dedicated Cantonese acoustic model recognizes yue-CN phonology for dramatically better accuracy than reusing Mandarin models.
Musely's Standard Written Chinese preset converts spoken Cantonese into formal 書面語 suitable for official documents, replacing 嘅 with 的, 喺 with 在, 咗 with 了, and restructuring colloquial sentence patterns. The output reads as formal Chinese appropriate for mainland stakeholders and cross-border filings.
Musely offers an Output Language setting that translates Cantonese transcripts into English, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and other supported languages. Enable bilingual mode to view the original Cantonese alongside the translation, essential for cross-border business and Macau bilingual documentation.