[LTA MUSIC]
- Hello, Aïda. - Hi, Marcel. How are you?
I'm fine.
Today we will talk about some questions
related to the LiveTextAccess project.
The first question is about...
if we as clients are included
in the planning process of the speech-to-text.
Yeah.
We have different events.
We have events, a "conference" or a "congress",
with 300 or more participants,
but we have also
what you can call "work meetings"
with 30 participants.
Do we like to start with big conferences?
Yeah, that would be fine. Talk about big conferences.
I'm curious how you do it.
How are you involved when there is a big conference
and this is a physical meeting in the room?
Yeah.
In different ways...
Sometimes the organization...
contacted...
me or contacted my organization,
The European Federation of Hard of Hearing People,
or when the event is in the Netherlands,
the Dutch association.
Sometimes they asked me to put them in contact
with speech-to-text interpreters.
Sometimes
they...
Another thing that happens most of the time is that
they contacted me or us
not in the planning process of the big event.
They do that by themselves.
They know that deaf and hard-of-hearing people participate,
so they organise it by themselves
the sign language interpreters or the speech-to-text interpreters.
Then in the registration form,
you can click or write
what you need related to speech-to-text
from interoperability
to the possibility to ask for...
another language.
For example, when the conference is in English,
I ask for the Dutch translation.
But most of the time,
that is not included in the registration process,
so you need to write it as a comment
or ask that separately to the organisation.
So when there is a big event, a seminar or something,
you can actually...
during registration, you can tick that you need speech-to-text?
Yes. Sometimes it does not happen.
At different times, it has not happened
and you need to knock on the door
and ask for this kind of service.
When it is already possible,
during registration, to tick the box,
who will then pay for the service?
In general,
the host of the conference or the organisation of the conference.
OK. That is a very big difference from how it is for me, you know,
because here they are very...
They look very much into who will need this service,
and then it must be billed to my name
because I am the user,
but it makes it also difficult to be part of the planning.
Yeah. You have here a good topic.
But maybe it is nice to make it concrete.
I participated different times
in conferences for the European Disability Forum,
and sometimes
they are conferences for 200 or 300 people.
They organise the speech-to-text interpreters
and the sign language interpreters,
and they are paid by EDF, the European Disability Forum,
by themselves.
When it is an event in the Netherlands
and I am the only hard-of-hearing participant,
then...
it can happen that the organisation asks me:
"Oh, would it be fine
if you bring your own speech-to-text interpreter with you."
Then I have the possibility
to pay for it as a service for my personal hours,
or for my work hours.
It needs to be related to the conference,
work-related
or a more personal,
or volunteer work, conference.
But when it is work-related,
and I am the only hard-of-hearing person,
then most of the time,
I need to organise the speech-to-text interpreter by myself.
But then,
the positive element about that
is that when I organise it by myself,
I can look for quality...
for a good speech-to-text interpreter who works very well
or a speech-to-text interpreter that I know.
When the interpreter knows me,
he or she knows what I need.
It is also easier for me
to inform the speech-to-text interpreter
about the agenda,
about the papers of the meeting,
so that the speech-to-text interpreter can prepare
the work before the event.
So your speech-to-text interpreters
also prepare themselves before an event where they would be working?
Oh, yes. Yes, that happens
with speech-to-text interpreters in the Netherlands,
but it also happens with speech-to-text interpreters
for EDF meetings.
And also,
when I do not give the papers to the speech-to-text interpreter,
most of the Dutch speech-to-text interpreters
would send to me an email:
"Hello, Marcel, do you have the agenda for me?"
Or "do you have the papers?",
or "do you have the list of the names of the people who participate?"
So that they can put a lot of information in the computer.
That makes it easier for them
to do the job
and also to do their work with a higher quality.
That is really nice to hear. Very nice.
Good. It sounds really great.
Yeah, and...
Do you have any experience...
of how you can talk with a speech-to-text interpreter
about technical issues?
For example, talking about the colour of the text.
That is not an option for me.
I'm Danish.
What I can choose is if I'd like to have the speech-to-text on a big screen,
if this is a conference,
and I could have the speech-to-text on a big screen
next to the PowerPoint presentation.
Or if I prefer to have a tablet
and have the speech-to-text right in front of me.
That is what I can choose.
Of course, if I have a tablet, I can do something,
but it is very limited what I can do.
I can enlarge or reduce the size of the text.
Those are the options that we have here.
I cannot change colours if I need that.
Of course, if I meet up soon enough,
maybe it's possible for me to go to the speech-to-text interpreter
and ask: "Could we have it so and so?"
Of course I would meet that requirement.
But then, usually, we are not really involved in that.
So it sounds very nice what you're saying. Very nice.
When you use the tablet,
can you ask for bigger letters?
Yes, yes.
We can say, "Can we have bigger letters?",
but on a tablet you can do something to the screen yourself.
Yes.
And when the speech-to-text interpreter is in the meeting or in the conference,
of course you can easily contact them.
That is possible.
Do you have the possibility,
before the meeting,
or a short time before the meeting,
to test it?
Or to try it?
They usually write "test, test, test"
and you can see that there is a connection.
Yes, you can do that, so you see that they're working.
It is working for them, you can see that. Yes.
But you don't have, for example,
15 minutes before the conference starts,
any contacts with the speech-to-text interpreter
to control that everything is working well.
No, you don't plan that.
I usually get there in good time,
so that I manage to have it settled.
For Danish speech-to-text interpreters, they also have no time to prepare.
Their asking for the agenda before a meeting,
it is rarely used here.
So I see we can improve something.
Maybe you have also the same experience.
I see that one of the most important things
is the quality of the Internet connection.
It is very important during a conference
that the conference centre,
and also the room,
has a Wi-Fi for the Internet connection in the room
that is strong enough for the speech-to-text.
That is also important in smaller meetings.
I think actually that our speech-to-text interpreters
mainly work via radio,
so they're not connected to the Internet,
when they do speech-to-text interpretation.
But of course when we go online, they need to be on the Internet,
that is obvious.
In a conference where we're in a room,
they will work primarily via radio, as it is now.
OK.
And do you have any experiences
with remote speech-to-text at events?
Not at national level.
Now...
Over the last year,
with Corona and things, we have had online meetings,
and that is of course also remote speech-to-text.
And then...
For now, the speech-to-text interpreters
will send out the link and be the host of the meeting.
So it also means, if I chair a meeting,
I'm not the host, I don't have all the keys,
for instance in the Zoom platform,
to control how the meeting goes.
I know this is a different topic,
but still. these are tools that you use to set a meeting.
And when using shared screens for the speech-to-text,
it just makes it difficult to share a PowerPoint presentation
or if in a meeting you would like to discuss the budget
and show the Excel sheet,
then we need to change settings.
Actually, it interrupts the communication
when we change settings.
So...
What I see at international level...
I have learned a lot from that
and hope that we can also benefit from that in my country.
Back to working by remote.
Before Corona,
I sometimes used
remote speech-to-text at my work,
but I prefer
that the speech-to-text interpreter is live with me
in the same room,
because I see
that many times the Internet connection
was not strong enough.
Or there were no mikes in the room,
so that...
it was difficult for the speech-to-text interpreter
to hear or to understand what was being said.
That happens when you are working with a big group,
for example 25 or 30 people.
And...
When the speech-to-text interpreter is not in the room,
it is sometimes difficult for the speech-to-text interpreter
to understand what is happening in the room.
The speech-to-text interpreter
cannot see the non-verbal communication
of the other participants in the meeting.
So at work, I prefer the speech-to-text interpreter
to be with me.
Of course, in a small meeting,
it is more possible
to use a speech-to-text interpreter remotely.
But now...
in online meetings, it is different.
In the Corona period,
we have now a lot of experience with working online,
because we have now many more online meetings
via Zoom, via Teams, via Skype.
We have a lot of new knowledge
about working with speech-to-text interpreters online,
That is very fine.
You also see examples when you use the Zoom platform
that is working very well.
For example, a meeting with five people,
or you have an webinar with 60 or 75 people,
the speech-to-text works very well.
There is no difference how big the group is.
And you have different options to read the text.
On the screen, or below the screen...
Or you have more possibilities with Text-on-Tap
or Text-on-Top.
Do your work sometimes with Text-on-Top?
Yes, I do actually,
because I have been introduced to this Text-on-Tap.
First it was Text-on-Top and now there's also Text-on-Tap.
Since I was elected the Secretary
of the European Federation of the Hard-of-Hearing,
I have learned about these things.
And it is amazing, for instance, to go to the EU Commission.
You can just have a tablet
and you can have the language, my native language Danish,
you can have it simultaneously translated into Danish.
That was a huge experience
back in 2016, I think it was,
to have this done and that it is possible.
If I am to interact in the meeting
and ask questions and comment,
I think I prefer to have the text in English
because then I'm in that language which they are speaking
and I will also be referring to the same vocabulary, of course.
But it is good to know that this possibility is there,
and I would also give this advice to others
if they think,
"Oh, it is difficult for me when I have to listen to English
"and it is a long time since I last spoke English,
so maybe I cannot follow."
Then it is possible to say, "Yes, you can ask for your own language."
So I think that is a good experience.
But I think also my experience is that
the speed of the typing,
the way the words appear on the screen, is faster,
so it is closer to what is being said.
It follows better the spoken word.
So it is easier for my brain
because it doesn't have to split up in what I hear and what I read
to support what is being said
by whoever is talking or giving a presentation.
So that is a relief to have this closer to each other.
That has been a good experience for me.
What do you prefer when you read the speech-to-text,
that the text is word by word,
or that the text is in one line?
Sometimes I have tried that some sentences
are just on the screen.
"Welcome to this meeting", for instance.
That is fabulous, instead of getting W-E-L-C-O-M-E,
letter by letter, because it takes ages.
When it takes ages,
it also means that in other parts text will be cut out
because otherwise the gap will be far too big.
So that has been fabulous to have whole sentences
and also word by word or parts of sentences
because there is linguistic work in this,
at a very high professional level, which I really enjoy.
So that has been a really good experience for me.
What are your experiences with automatic speech-to-text?
It is often wrong. It is very confusing.
Not long ago, I participated in a seminar
for a whole day.
It was very much about cochlear implants.
I don't think it got it right more than twice during that day.
Because when it is in the middle of a sentence,
and then different syllables are stressed,
then it just did something to the cochlear implant.
So...
Do you know if it is possible to have automatic speech-to-text
in other languages besides English?
It is. You can buy it, but I have not tried it out.
But it should be possible via Speechlogger.
You can have an account on it.
I think also with Microsoft 365.
I saw at the Microsoft workshop,
a man giving a PowerPoint presentation, and he was wearing a microphone,
and it was automatically subtitled.
That was in English, but I have seen later,
that it was done by a Norwegian man.
Then the subtitles came there in Norwegian.
I understand Norwegian.
So it is possible.
OK.
Aïda, do you have more questions for our interview?
I'm just thinking now...
When you are able to book the same person,
the same speech-to-text interpreter,
this means that long ago, you have settled your needs,
this is what you need,
so the speech-to-text interpreters that you use,
they know what you need.
So, really, now you don't need to meet up very early every time
to have this set before, is that right?
Because they know you.
Yes, that is right.
The speech-to-text interpreter that I use for my work,
he knows the organisation,
he knows the people
related to the meeting.
Sometimes the speech-to-text interpreter
can say "when do we have the coffee break?"
or "when do we have another break?",
so that the speech-to-text interpreter has time to relax.
Yeah, that is also important.
Yeah.
- I have... Sorry. - But they are more...
The breaks for the speech-to-text interpreters at big conferences
are a little difficult.
That needs to be in the agreement
between the speech-to-text interpreter
and the organisation that organises the conference.
Yeah, I think that it is important also
that it should be within the organising team
to see to it that the speech-to-text interpreter also has breaks.
Yeah, or that the speech-to-text interpreter is not working alone,
but with another speech-to-text interpreter.
So they are a duo
and they can switch.
That is the way it is done in Denmark.
They always come in pairs.
In the Netherlands it is not so common.
For example, at the EDF conference,
most of the time there is only one speech-to-text interpreter.
- Yeah. - But there are also...
There are also different conferences
where there are more speech-to-text interpreters
or there is a team of speech-to-text interpreters.
This is also related to how big the conference is.
Yes.
Have we been through it?
Different conferences regarding the duration.
Is it a conference for two hours, or for three days?
That makes a big difference.
Yes, sure. Yes, it does.
Yes.
Ok, I think that we got it already.
Yes, I also think this is it.
[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.