East Africa · Latin · Soomaali
Somali subtitle generator
Use this Somali subtitle generator to transcribe Soomaali audio locally in your browser, review the Latin cues and wording, then export SRT, VTT or TXT. The draft needs a fluent human review, and no account, upload or paid API is required.
By Abdul Samad · Last updated
Generate subtitles
Runs Whisper in your browser. No upload, no account, no credit card.
Choose a video or audio file
Drop it here, or click to browse. MP4, MOV, WEBM, MP3, WAV, M4A and similar formats.
Your file never leaves your device
Up to 500 MB. Files over 100 MB can be slow on phones.
Only transcribe media you own or have permission to use. VoiceToTextFree does not download media from other sites.
Auto-detect works for clear speech; choosing the language is faster and safer for accents.
Limits: 500 MB per file; speech must be audible; Whisper can struggle with music, overlapping voices and very noisy recordings. VoiceToTextFree does not upload files or send audio to a paid API.
Key facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Language code | so |
| Native name | Soomaali |
| Script | Latin |
| Direction | Left to right |
| Region | East Africa |
| Output | SRT, VTT and TXT |
What Somali transcription looks like
Somali is written in a Latin alphabet introduced in 1972, with distinctive letters such as c, q and x and doubled vowels that mark length. It is spoken across the Horn of Africa and in a large diaspora, where Italian, English and Arabic influence appears in everyday speech. VoiceToTextFree drafts Somali cues locally, then you review spelling, vowel length and names before export. Names and code-switching also need a careful review.
Script and punctuation in Somali
Somali uses a Latin alphabet introduced in 1972. It includes the letters c, dh, kh, q, sh and x, and doubled vowels mark length; tone is not normally written. Punctuation follows Latin practice. Arabic script and the historical Osmanya script are not the default Whisper output. Loanwords keep their source spelling.
Common Somali transcription pitfalls
The letters c, q and x stand for sounds that English does not have, and the model may replace them with k or other letters. These letters are meaningful, not decorative. Vowel length is written by doubling, but the model can collapse aa, ee, ii, oo and uu into a single vowel. Length is part of the word. Somali names and clan names have variable spellings, especially when transliterated through Italian or English. Arabic, Italian and English loanwords may appear in several forms, and code-switching is common, so keep one form consistently. Dialect differences between northern, central and southern varieties affect vocabulary even when the script is standard.
Tips for cleaner Somali subtitles
- Restore c, q, x, dh, kh and sh where the speaker uses them, rather than accepting an English-like substitute.
- Check doubled vowels carefully because length can distinguish words, and compare each one with the audio.
- Keep a glossary of personal, clan, town and organisation names with one agreed spelling and confirm them locally.
- Leave established loanwords in the form your audience uses, apply it consistently, and check each occurrence.
- Verify numbers, times and dates; Somali broadcast speech often mixes digits with spelled-out forms.
- Break cues at clause boundaries and avoid splitting a long word across two captions. A split word is hard to read.
Line length and timing for Somali
Somali words can be long, and doubled vowels make them visually distinctive but not shorter. Keep captions to two lines, break at natural clause boundaries and avoid splitting a word. Test the longest cue on a phone and check that the player's font shows doubled vowels clearly. Never split a doubled vowel.
Who this Somali workflow helps
Useful for diaspora news videos, humanitarian and health briefings, religious teaching, school material and YouTube interviews that mix Somali with English or Arabic. Editors can draft locally, then correct vowel length and names before publishing a reviewed caption track. They also suit diaspora community archives.
A Somali cue with its English meaning
A short line transcribed as native script. Whisper generally returns the language's normal script, not a romanized version.
1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000
Subax wanaagsan, sidee tahay?
2
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:08,000
Shirku wuxuu bilaabanayaa saacadda sagaal.Frequently asked questions
Does Whisper use the Somali Latin alphabet?
Yes, the normal output is the Latin alphabet introduced in 1972. It does not promise a romanized conversion because Somali is already written in Latin, but it may still substitute English-like letters for c, q or x.
Why are Somali doubled vowels missing in my subtitles?
The model may shorten aa, ee, ii, oo or uu to a single vowel, even though length can change a word. Compare doubtful words with the audio and restore the doubling during review.
Should I use Arabic script for Somali subtitles?
Not unless your audience specifically expects it. The standard output and most online Somali text use the Latin alphabet. Arabic-script Somali is a separate editorial decision and would require a deliberate conversion.
Can I export Somali subtitles as SRT or VTT?
Yes. Edit the cues, then download SRT, VTT or TXT. Check names, vowel length and any mixed English or Arabic lines in the player before publishing.
How do I handle Somali dialect differences?
Choose the variety your audience expects and keep vocabulary consistent. A northern speaker, a southern speaker and a diaspora speaker may use different words for the same idea, so a reviewer should confirm local usage.
How accurate is Somali transcription?
We have not recorded a reviewed Somali sample, so this page does not claim a tested accuracy level. Accent, dialect, audio quality and code-switching affect results, and the page remains excluded from search until review is complete.
Sources and further reading
Abdul Samad — Creator and maintainer. About Abdul Samad.
Last updated · Published
Related guides
- How to improve Whisper accuracy for cleaner subtitlesHow to improve Whisper accuracy with better audio capture, explicit language selection, measured model sizes, overlap handling and a practical human review workflow.
- Right to left subtitles and non-Latin scripts: a practical guideRight to left subtitles need UTF-8, bidirectional text, correct punctuation, suitable fonts and player testing. A practical guide to RTL SRT and WebVTT.
- Subtitle best practices: a practical guide to cleaner captionsSubtitle best practices for real playback: clause-level segmentation, two-line limits, reading speed, punctuation, speaker IDs, SDH and a clean review pass.
Other languages
Languages in the picker: 99. The list is checked against the Whisper tokenizer by a unit test.