[LTA MUSIC]
LiveTextAccess: Training for real-time intralingual subtitlers.
This is Unit 3, IT competence.
In this presentation, we will be dealing with Element 1: Input tools.
The topic of this presentation is “editing software”.
This video lecture has been created by Sub-Ti Access,
an accessibility service provider from Italy.
My name is Enrico Pigliacampo and I work for Sub-Ti Access.
I am an Italian guy with short hair, a beard and I don’t wear glasses.
I will be displayed in a box at the top right corner of each slide.
The learning outcome for this presentation
is that the trainee can use editing software for both verbatim and sensatim.
In this video lecture we will see how editing software works
and I will give you a list of editing software programmes
as an example of what you can find on the market.
Editing software for verbatim and sensatim.
In this video lecture we will try to identify
some characteristics that editing software should have.
The first general characteristic
is that text editing should be fast and easy.
In real-time intralingual subtitling is important to go fast
in order to keep up with the pace of the incoming speech
and the editing software should not be an obstacle,
but facilitate the process.
More than one person should be able to work on the text at the same time.
In many situations both a respeaker and an editor, or more than one,
work on the text at the same time.
The editing software should make it easy for them to work together
without creating conflicts.
It should make it possible to change text size and font,
which varies in different events
depending on the specific needs of the end-users.
The software should also be highly customisable,
to meet the needs of professionals and help them in their work,
and to adapt the output text to the needs of the end-users.
Editing software should make it possible to create a list of names,
places, acronyms and any words
that are likely to be used frequently during the event in which you will be.
The list should include any words that are likely to be frequent
in your assignment
and that the speech recognition software
would not be able to recognise in respeaking.
When you are producing real-time intralingual subtitles,
the editing software should make it possible
to quickly select and edit any error.
As it is quite common for two people to work together in real-time subtitling,
the editing software should make it easy for them to work together.
Usually there is a respeaker or velotyper and an editor.
The editor must be able to edit the text
at the same time as the subtitler is respeaking or typing.
Many programmes also enable you to search words online
if you need to check
the correct spelling of a name or place, for example.
When there are many speakers and it’s difficult to identify them,
especially when interactions are really fast
and there is a little delay in the appearance of the subtitles,
colours are the best solution to identify them.
Editing software should make it easy to change colours
and have the option of having the list of speakers and their matching colours
always available to the subtitler,
so that they don’t have to think about which colour to use.
This is also useful if you need the text after the event for reporting purposes,
so you can always identify who said what.
The text should be editable after the event too
and it should be possible to save it
in different formats for different purposes,
for example for meeting reports, to give it to clients,
to send it to the students and so on.
Please remember that in some countries the text produced by the subtitler
cannot be made available to clients after the event.
You should check the legislation of the country where you are working.
Verbatim and sensatim
are related to the way the professional creates the subtitles,
and not to software characteristics,
which are usually very similar for both.
Verbatim subtitles are a word-for-word transcription of the speech
without features of orality,
while sensatim subtitles are more focused on the content of the speech
than on the words used.
Whether you are aiming to produce verbatim or sensatim subtitles,
there are some technical features that may help the subtitler in their task.
An editing software with a good automatic speech recognition option
is very useful for the creation of verbatim subtitles.
Since the subtitles need to reproduce the speech word for word,
an ASR tool gives you the opportunity to focus on editing.
By contrast, if you want to produce sensatim subtitles, instead,
a subtitler is necessarily involved in the process,
so the software must be compatible with several input tools,
which depend on the specific technique you will be using, respeaking or typing.
In some contexts, such as TV shows, cultural events, ceremonies and so on,
part of the event follow a script.
In such cases, it is often possible to receive the script before the event
and prepare the subtitles in advance for the parts that follow the script.
This is what semi-live subtitles means.
Semi-live subtitles are prepared before the event
and synchronised live during the speech or broadcast.
Real-time subtitlers step in to produce real-time subtitles
for improvisations and when there are impromptu moments,
such as speeches by award winners during an award ceremony.
The editing programme must make it possible
to prepare the semi-live subtitles in advance
and easily add real-time subtitles during the event.
Nowadays, multicultural events are very common and are a challenge to subtitle.
Usually, English is the common language used in this kind of events,
but many people find it difficult to follow the subtitles in English
when this is not their mother tongue,
especially if the subtitles are very fast.
On the other hand, it is not always possible
to have real-time interlingual subtitlers,
especially if users come from several countries.
Some editing programmes offer
an automatic translation option via machine translation,
so that the users can choose their own language
and read the subtitles more easily.
Bear in mind that the quality of this automatic translation option
may vary widely, depending on the language pair involved,
sound quality, speaker’s accent and speed, topic
and frequency of out-of-vocabulary items, and so on.
This is a screenshot of an editing software programme.
On the left, you can see the pre-editing section.
In the first column there are all the proper names
and difficult words to recognise
that can be grouped into different categories.
The second column has a list of articles and pronouns.
In the upper section of the middle part of the software
there are three buttons:
the menu button, start demo and respeaking on or off.
In the middle there is a square
where you can check the images and see how the subtitles will be displayed.
Underneath this section, there are several forms of the most common verbs,
to be and to have.
Under this list, there is the punctuation area,
with all the punctuation marks you usually find in subtitles.
Under this section of the software, there is the text you are creating.
First the subtitles that are being edited
and then the text to be edited.
In the bottom part of the screenshot,
there is the post-editing part of the software
which shows names and pictures of the speakers.
Finally, on the right there is a column with commands:
enter, delete subtitle, unselect and delete.
The last column on the right
shows a list of words similar to the one that is being edited.
Examples of editing software.
This is a very short list of available editing software on the market.
There are many more,
but we chose to include the ones we use the most in the LTA project.
Text on top is a very versatile software programme
which can be used in many different situations.
It offers a good automatic translation option
which makes it very useful in multicultural events.
FAB Subtitler LIVE is mostly used in the subtitling of TV shows,
it connects easily with the equipment used by broadcast companies.
WinCaps Q-LIVE is also very versatile
and can be used in different work environments.
PerVoice offers a complete subtitling workstation
to create real-time subtitles and edit them.
It also has an automatic speech recognition option,
which is very useful to create verbatim subtitles.
Respeakers Online has been created by Swisstxt
for real-time subtitling in the classroom.
It enables students the possibility to add notes
to the text produced by the subtitler and the text can be saved afterwards.
Google Docs can also be used as a platform
to create and share documents.
It also has a speech recognition option that you can test.
Summary.
To sum up, the suggestion is always the same
when talking about software programmes.
Try out several solutions
and find the one that works best for you and your needs.
Exercises.
Exercise 1.
Visit the webpages of the editing software programmes cited on slide 16
and identify the most suitable software for each working environment:
cultural events, parliamentary assemblies,
broadcast, workplace, education.
Exercise 2.
Download the demo version of at least one editing software
from among the ones presented in slide 16
or one of your choice and try out its functionalities.
[LTA MUSIC]
LTA, Live Text Access.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
SDI, Internationale Hochschule.
Scuola Superiore per Mediatori Linguistici.
ZDF Digital.
European Federation of Hard of Hearing People, EFHOH.
Velotype.
Sub-Ti Access.
European Certification and Qualification Association, ECQA.
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
Erasmus+ Project:
2018-1-DE01-KA203-004218
The information and views set on this presentation
are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion
of the European Union.
Neither the European Union Institutions and bodies
nor any person acting on their behalf
may be held responsible for the use
which may be made of the information contained here.