To convert Malay audio to text, send the recording to the Potok bot on Telegram. No large-v3 figure was found for Malay, so published tests of others on the earlier large-v2 model, not our measurements, give a word error rate of 8.7. Files up to 2 GB are accepted.
Transcribe a recording
Send your voice message, audio or video to @potok_now_bot on Telegram and the text comes back in the chat.
Open @potok_now_bot in Telegram
Files up to 2 GB · export to TXT, MD, DOCX, PDF, SRT and VTT · speaker labels and timestamps · about 30 languages
Key facts
- The 8.7 comes from the earlier large-v2 model, so the current model may behave a little differently.
- Malay is written in the Latin alphabet, so there are no special letters to worry about in the export.
- It is close to Indonesian, and a few common words differ, so mixed-up vocabulary is the thing to look for.
- Chat-style speech often shortens words, and the text may repeat that shortening.
- Place names and brand names are often written in more than one way, so settle on one spelling for the whole document.
What a transcript looks like
[00:00] Speaker 1: Mari kita mulakan mesyuarat. Pertama, kita semak keputusan minggu lalu, kemudian kita rancang langkah seterusnya.Meaning in English: Let's start the meeting. First, we'll review last week's results, then plan the next steps.
Written by us to show the script and the layout of a transcript. It is not the output of the recognition engine.
Published quality
| Language | Verdict | Published result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malay (Bahasa Melayu) | Recommended | word error rate 8.7% (large-v2, FLEURS) Whisper paper | Published tests show a low error rate for this language. No large-v3 figure was found; the figure is from the earlier large-v2 model. |
These numbers come from published tests by other people, not from tests by Potok. Your own audio, with its noise, accents and microphone, will differ.
How to do it
- Say which Malay you recorded. Note whether the speaker used formal or casual speech. Casual clips need a closer read afterwards.
- Open the bot. Open @potok_now_bot and send the file, or forward a voice message.
- Use the mini app for big files. Up to 2 GB is fine. Use Upload when a chat attachment is refused.
- Read for neighbour-language words. Scan for words that look Indonesian rather than Malay and decide which you want.
- Export. Choose TXT or DOCX for editing, SRT or VTT for captions.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Where it works | Telegram bot @potok_now_bot; large files go through the bot's mini app |
| File size | Up to 2 GB |
| Export | TXT, MD, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT |
| Speakers and time | Speaker labels and timestamps can be switched on |
| Languages | About 30 languages with good published results; a few more with warnings |
| Translation | The transcript is not translated into another language |
| Dictation | A separate Potok desktop app lets you dictate text into any program; it recognises Russian speech |
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Assuming it matches the large-v3 results of other languages | The published number is from an earlier model. | Treat 8.7 as a rough guide. |
| Leaving Indonesian-looking words unchecked | The two languages share most vocabulary but not all. | Read for the words your audience expects. |
| Sending a noisy market recording | Background sound lifts the error count. | Use a quieter take if one exists. |
| Skipping speaker labels in a group call | Turns blur together. | Turn the numbered labels on. |
More
See the full list of languages, the tools and the glossary.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the figure from large-v2?
No large-v3 figure was found for Malay in published tests, so the earlier model's 8.7 is used.
Can the bot tell Malay from Indonesian?
They are close, so check the output for words that belong to the other language.
Does it work on video?
Yes. Video files and YouTube links are read for their sound, within the 2 GB limit.
Do I get real speaker names?
No. Labels are numbers such as Speaker 1.
Is the text translated?
No. The transcript stays in Malay, the same language as the recording you send, and it is never converted into another one.
Sources
Each source was opened by hand on the date shown. Pages change, so open the source if a detail matters to you.
- Word error rate (Wikipedia), Wikipedia · checked
- FLEURS speech dataset (Google, Hugging Face), Hugging Face · checked
- Whisper paper, Table 13 (large-v2 on FLEURS) · checked
Try it on your own recording
Send your voice message, audio or video to @potok_now_bot on Telegram and the text comes back in the chat.
Open @potok_now_bot in Telegram