Training for real-time intralingual subtitlers
Unit 2. Linguistic competence
Element 2. Strategies to acquire and develop specific thematic knowledge.
Terminology preparation, management and implementation.
Created by UAB and SSML
The learning outcomes for this unit are: search terminology,
identify reliable sources, generate specific glossaries
manage terminology
and implement terminology in real time working situations.
In this unit we will be dealing with the following points:
terminology definition, terminology in real time subtitling,
terminology preparation and main challenges.
We will finish with a summary.
Terminology
Terminology is a key aspect of the real-time intralingual sublitler's job
to ensure the quality of the subtitles.
According to Cabré: "Terminology is the set of units of expression
and communication which allow specialised knowledge transfer."
Terminology is not limited to science and technology.
Politics, which very few would classify as scientific,
has a rapidly evolving specialised terminology,
and can be one of the most challenging specialised fields
for a real-time intralingual subtitler, often due to mentions to legislation.
Even sports, the domain of supporters and emotion
has specialised vocabulary.
In terms of operation for a particular working context
the real-time intralingual subtitler
should try to build up as many concepts
and establish as many relations as possible
in order to facilitate and speed up the subtitling process.
Knowledge will not be limited to the topic matter per se,
but it will also be extended to how the topic is discussed,
and to what end, by whom, and from what perspective.
The more the real-time intralingual subtitler knows,
the more he and she can predict,
the better his and her knowledge is of any given topic
and the faster he and she can predict the results.
The real-time intralingual subtitler cannot restrict him or herself
to learning words without seeking to find what they express
Well, each working context contains a source text
with both neutral and difficult speech segments.
The following example shows segments
classified as difficult in square brackets and bold type
and as neutral in italics.
For instance, part of neutral language would be:
"Today psychiatrists are stuck with a distinction
that started over 100 years ago."
This would be part of neutral speech.
However, as specified in square brackets and bold type
"Psychiatrist Emil Kreplin" which is a proper noun
or "Dementia precox", or "Schizophrenia",
would be terms specific and classified as difficult speech segments.
Terminology in real-time intralingual subtitling.
Terminology in real-time intralingual subtitling
it's a highly cognitively demanding task.
Professionals have to struggle with unfamiliar concepts
that have to be previously prepared
also there are fast-paced speakers with difficult pronunciation
specially in the case of non-native speakers.
There are the memory constraints, the human short-term memory.
So there is a consistent recall of specific terms
uttered by the speaker
that professionals have to manage for providing the output text.
Terminology preparation
Each working context has its specificities,
but common tasks in all working contexts are:
to know the topic of the speech, to search for specific terms,
to familiarise with specific terminology and to introduce terms in the system.
Once the real-time intralingual subtitler knows what sort of topic will handle,
and once she or he has the specifics of the working context,
it's time to search for specific terms as well as other words
that will be used in a specific working context.
This process allows the professional to familiarise with specific terminology
and the last step is to introduce the detected terms in the system.
Information sources.
Terminology preparation will depend on the working context as mentioned.
But there are three main common sources of information
that apply to all working contexts.
First of all the World Wide Web,
which is the most common used information source.
Also depending on the context there is the documentation,
such as a list of speakers, program or agenda
that is usually provided in conferences.
Another information source can be background information
and terminology resources that depending on the type of job
our customer or employer can provide us.
It can be papers on the subject and organisations involved
and documents to be discussed, text of speeches to be delivered,
powerpoint presentations, and speakers notes,
summaries or minutes of previous meetings
bionotes of speakers.
Those are relevant information sources
that we can obtain and request from our customers.
In terms of tools they have the ability to manage terms
previously introduced by professionals in the system.
Such as, proper names, numbers, acronyms and entities.
Once the terminology is extracted from the information sources,
it should be introduced in the system in order to have a proper management.
Glossaries, after all this terminology preparation
the final product is usually a glossary that contains specialised terms.
The main aim of this terminology preparation
is to reduce the cognitive load on real-time intralingual subtitlers.
Because, such systems have the potential
to reduce the cognitive load of real-time intralingual subtitlers
by allowing professionals to concentrate
on fluent and accurate production of the target message.
Main challenges
Main challenges.
We cannot forget that all this terminology preparation,
and management and implementation has some added challenges.
Some of them are: when no material is available,
the terms are too technical.
There's also the common problem which is the time pressure.
The collection is mainly done manually so it's a very time consuming task.
And preparing terminology alone cannot guarantee a successful retrieval
during the real-time intralingual subtitling practice.
Summary
As a summary we would like to stress the following points:
First terminology occurs in context,
which means that we have to be familiarised
with the overall terminology, not only to specific terms.
Second, advanced terminology preparation
supports the real-time intralingual subtitling process.
Third, terminology preparation helps professionals
to reduce the cognitive load during a work.
And lastly, preparing terminology alone cannot guarantee a successful retrieval
during the real-time intralingual subtitling job.
Exercises
The exercises for this video lecture are in the trainer's guide
and powerpoint file.