On completion of this training sequence,
you will be able to discipline yourself to practice and improve skills,
like editing while subtitling an event
before and after subtitles appear on screen.
In particular, you are going to learn about how professionals do it in different settings,
like a congress,
the workplace or an educational setting,
television and the parliament.
Then, we will see what happens in case of self correction,
and how to work with a live editor.
Finally, I will also provide you with some tips and tricks.
This is the agenda.
We will first look at editing before the subtitles are on air
in different settings.
Then we will see what to do to correct subtitles once they are on air.
Finally, I will provide you with some tips and tricks.
Depending on the situation or setting of where you provide the real time subtitling,1 37 07
the way you edit a text you are respeaking may vary a lot.
When you are subtitling a conference speech, you usually have one speaker in the front,
and a Powerpoint showing on a big screen.
The text of your subtitles appear either on a second screen,
or as two liners on the same screen as a presentation,
if you use software programs like Text on Top.
Alternatively, users can have the subtitles directly on their tablets or mobiles.
As a subtitler, I always prefer to sit as closely as possible to the speakers.
So, in the front of the room.
That way I can see most of the speakers speak,
see the Powerpoint,
and have close contact with what's going on during the meeting.
And, if needed, interact.
Even though Powerpoints can be sent beforehand,
you usually don’t have the opportunity to go through a printed version of it,
or show it on a second laptop.
Therefore, it is easier to watch it
as it is being shown by the presenter.
And then you can often also see the correct spelling of the words.
When subtitling for a bigger audience,
it is more important that words and names are spelled correctly,
and that sentences are complete.
Especially when using the Google Translate option of Text on Top,
which is also something that you are going to deal with,
in a separate video lecture.
Because if incomplete sentences are being translated automatically,
then the mistakes will be even bigger.
When working in the workplace or in an educational setting,
the support of communication is most important.
Most of the time the service is being provided for one hearing impaired person.
And very often that person already knows a lot of the subject.
More than you, probably.
Be it in the workplace or in educational setting.
Therefore, the exact correct spelling is not always so important.
For example, a term that is spelled incorrectly is not a big mistake,
as long as the reader knows what it means.
Same is for the names.
Because he or she usually knows who is meant,
or it can be looked up later in the materials.
In contrast to a congress or subtitling for the television,
in these more informal settings,
it is usually possible to ask the speaker to repeat something that was said.
For example, if it was not understood by the subtitler,
and he or she thinks it is relevant in the communication.
Because of the social aspect of participating for all people,
in these cases, it is also very relevant to try to produce text
when jokes or casual comments are made.
Things that you normally would omit.
People feel left out if everyone is laughing because of a joke
and they were not able to hear or follow it.
The difficult in television subtitling
is that the text is related to what is shown on television.
By definition the live subtitles are always lagging behind.
But the aim is to keep this lag as short as possible.
Especially when speakers are quick and the subjects are changing quickly,
it is a challenge to try to catch the core of the message.
In those cases, you should comprehend the text,
and write the subtitle as compact as possible,
but still getting the meaning across.
It is also important that subtitles don’t cover visual information on the screen.
So, for example, when the name of a speaker appears,
or when there is translated subtitling.
Usually, in those cases,
the software enables you to move the subtitle upwards,
or quickly delete it from the screen.
When subtitling for the parliament,
you may face the same challenges colleagues in other contexts face.
This is the case for specific words that you don’t understand,
or sentences that are too quick to fully report.
However, because MPs are always in a hurry,
and the form of the language plays a very important role,
subtitles are required to be as verbatim as possible.
This means you cannot adopt all the solutions that have been just mentioned.
For example, you are allowed to omit some words
to reduce your workload or the subtitles delay.
But you are generally not allowed to reformulate what an MP says,
and, of course, you cannot correct their bad grammar,
or complete their sentences.
Another thing that would not be understood
is to use captions to say that something was inaudible.
Because you are normally part of a team,
and that the quality of the input is always very good,
that would be difficult to explain.
Furthermore, in many cases you may have a live editor,
somebody that corrects your input, before airing it.
In this case you can rely on his or her help,
and can avoid adding further stress to your job.
As monitoring the text while respeaking is always a huge challenge,
and this is all the more true in parliament.
However, don’t relax too much.
The live editor may need your help when it comes to some specific words
that you are likely to be more acquainted with.
In this case you can either hope the software understands that word,
or you can type it down on a specific part of the software,
so that the live editor can spot it and use it.
Finally, because the subtitles can lag behind a lot depending on the speaker,
one solution is to always insert the name of the speaker,
or his or her initials,
before writing down what they say.
So that you are sure the audience understands who is speaking.
This will avoid that subtitles appear under the picture of the wrong politician.
So far we have seen how to avoid that mistake appears on screen.
We are now going to see what to do if we spot a mistake
in the subtitles we have produced.
Even the most talented and experienced professional makes mistakes.
Before telling you how to correct mistakes that have already appeared on screen,
let me say that there are basically two situations.
One where the respeaker himself or herself does the correction.
The other one where a live editor does the job.
The first one is also the most common situation,
especially in the case of subtitling a conference, a meeting, or a class.
In these cases, the respeaker has to constantly monitor his or her output,
and check he or she is providing good quality subtitles.
When a mistake appears on screen,
he or she has to decide whether to correct it or not.
If it is a minor mistake,
and you, the respeaker, think the audience can easily understand what it stands for,
then it can be left there,
as the action of correcting takes a lot of energy.
In case it is important for comprehension, then you have to correct it.
One way of doing this is the standard one,
that is you stop dictating, select the mistake,
and replace it with the correct one by dictating the correct word or by typing it.
I usually go for the latter,
to avoid to correct it a second time or a third time.
This is an option when the mistake is close to the end of the sentence.
If it is far from the end of the sentence,
it may be more useful to opt for signalling the presence of a mistake,
and provide the correct sentence.
A common way of doing this is to interrupt the sentence
by means of two dashes.
If the mistake and the context allow for it,
you can always think of an alternative solution.
This is an option in the case of mistakes that do not provide false information
or the opposite meaning.
For example, if the speaker says that today is a good day,
and you write that today is Wednesday, or that today is a bad day,
you can only correct the mistake.
But if you say that today is a sunny day,
you can always add "metaphorically speaking" into brackets,
or "because it is a good day".​
If you work with a live editor,
then you can either ignore what is going on on screen,
or you can collaborate and monitor your output.
If you realise you are making many mistakes,
maybe you need to better enunciate your output,
so as to facilitate your colleague's job.
Also, you can help the live editor,
suggesting what the correct word should be,
out of the mike.
Or you can even do it yourself,
if you think the correct word is more your cup of tea,
than that of the editor.​
Typing names correctly will always remain a challenge.
If possible, try to get the names before the meeting,
and write them on paper,
or include them in your shortformlist or dictionary.
If you didn’t get them beforehand,
see if you can find them in the texts or on the Powerpoint.
If you didn’t catch the name the first time you can rephrase the text,
in such a way that you might hear it well the next time,
and write it correctly then.
But this could be tricky if the name is not mentioned again,
and still is relevant in the text.
In the end, you can also just indicate you didn’t hear it.
For example, you can write: INAUDIBLE.
Alternatively, you can try to write the name only,
or try to also write the surname.
However, this depends on the setting,
as on TV and in parliaments
this can have consequences that you don’t want to know.
Depending on the work situation,
the speed of the speaker and the difficulty of the topic,
you will need to rephrase sentences.
At that moment,
don’t concentrate as much on the exact words and order of words,
but much more on the meaning and content of what was said.
It could even be smart to wait just a bit longer,
until a complete sentence is pronounced,
before starting to produce the subtitle.
Try to focus on the names, the numbers or dates,
and main nouns and verbs of a sentence.
When difficult or complex words are being used,
try to look for simpler synonyms or describe the words.
Especially if you are not sure about the spelling
and don’t want to make a mistake.
When you don’t understand a word, name or part of a sentence,
you can try to work around it.
You can wait a bit longer until something is repeated again,
and then write it correctly.
Or you can write down what you have understood,
the general meaning of the sentence.
In some settings, you are able to ask the speaker to repeat it,
such as in workplace or education.
When you don't understand something and still think it is relevant in the message,
you should indicate it, or describe why it is not understandable.
For example, write: INAUDIBLE or TOO MUCH NOISE.
On TV or in parliaments you cannot talk to speakers,
and you cannot use similar captions.
Finally, if you omit a sentence or some words in a sentence
always make sure that the result is coherent and cohesive.
For example, you can cut some elements of a list,
or an adjective, or an adverb,
or a complement in a sentence, or even an incidental clause.
In this case, you normally don't have much to worry about.
But if you omit a whole sentence,
then you have to make sure
that the following sentence is related to the previous one.
In this videolecture we have seen how to peri edit while subtitling,
either before the subtitles appear on screen,
or after that.
In particular we have first seen what happens in each working context
to avoid that a mistake appears in the subtitles.
And then, we have seen how to correct mistakes that appear on screen
and you manage to spot them before they disappear from screen.
We have seen what to do when you have to do this alone,
and what you have to do if you have a live editor assisting you.
Finally, we have provided some tips and tricks in specific cases.​