Conversational speech · Machine Translation
Conversational Speech Data for Machine Translation
Natural two-party and multi-party conversation recorded with separate channels per speaker, covering the overlaps, interruptions and turn-taking that scripted data never produces. Applied to machine translation, the specification is driven by one thing: human adequacy and fluency scores.
- Service
- Conversational speech
- Use case
- Machine Translation
- Primary metric
- Human adequacy and fluency scores
Required data profile
- Sentence-aligned parallel corpora
- Register-matched to your product
- Enforced terminology glossary
Technical specification
| Parameter | Standard |
|---|---|
| Channels | One channel per speaker, time-aligned |
| Duration | 15-60 minutes per conversation |
| Topics | Scenario cards, free topics, or your domain scripts |
| Overlap | Preserved and tagged, never edited out |
| Metadata | Relationship between speakers, familiarity, topic, setting |
Process
- Scenario design so conversations stay on-domain without becoming scripted
- Speaker pairing by familiarity level as specified
- Multi-channel recording with per-speaker isolation
- Diarisation-ready packaging
- Verbatim transcription with speaker turns and overlap tags
Metrics this feeds
- Human adequacy and fluency scores
- Terminology compliance rate
- Back-translation divergence
Failure modes to design out
- Pivoting everything through English
- Post-edited machine output passed off as human translation
Conversations are checked for naturalness, not just audio quality. Sessions that drift into reading are rejected.
Deliverables
- Per-speaker channels plus mixed reference
- Turn-level transcripts
- Overlap and backchannel tags
- Conversation metadata
Frequently asked
Is conversational speech the right service for machine translation?
It covers sentence-aligned parallel corpora. Most machine translation programmes combine it with at least one other service; we will say so in the scope rather than selling one line item.
What languages are available?
All 14 languages in the network plus Indian English accent bands.
How is the evaluation set handled?
Collected first, from speakers disjoint from the training cohort, so improvement is measurable.
Scope conversational speech for machine translation
Send the metric you need to move.