Developing Live Subtitling in Finland: Moving from manual subtitling towards respeaking

Respeaking with speech recognition software is the preferred way of producing live subtitles worldwide, but it is not used at all in Finland. All live subtitling (the intralingual subtitling of live programs) in Finland is done manually. This paper presents a pilot study on respeaking in Finnish, comparing authentic manual subtitles to simulated respoken subtitles and assessing their accuracy through the NER model. While the accuracy rate of respeaking does not reach the ideal 98%, it is found to be higher than that of manual subtitles, which suffer from significant loss of content. With trained respeakers and some improvements to the speech recognition software, respeaking in Finnish could reach 98% accuracy, and is worth pursuing further

Hyvää iltaa Yle Uutisista. : Digiajan uutistekstitys Suomessa

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten uutistekstitystä eli suomenkielisten televisiouutisten ohjelmatekstitystä Suomessa tehdään. Tutkielman kirjoittamisen aikaan uutistekstitystä tehtiin ainoastaan Yleisradiossa. Tutkin uutistekstityksen työprosessia oman työni kautta. Lähdin liikkeelle perusmallista, jossa uutisteksti kulkee uutistoimitukselta uutistekstitykseen, missä se muokataan lähetettäviksi repliikeiksi, ja siitä edelleen repliikkien muodossa ohjelmatekstitystä käyttäville katsojille. Materiaalina olivat yhden työpäivän aikana lähetetyt tekstitetyt uutislähetykset sekä työn ohessa tekemäni muistiinpanot, joiden avulla tarkastelin työvaiheita retrospektiivisesti työajan ulkopuolella. Pyrin kuvaamaan työn eri vaiheita sekä yleisellä että osin myös repliikkitarkalla tasolla sekä tunnistamaan työn merkittävimpiä haasteita ja ongelmakohtia. Analysoin valikoituja uutisia työvuoron ajalta kahdessa eri pääkategoriassa, esimerkkeinä rutiinityöstä ja poikkeustapauksista. Kävin osan esimerkeistä läpi repliikkitasolla ja pohdin materiaalien pohjalta erilaisten ratkaisujen syitä. Kiinnitin huomiota myös siihen, montako kertaa mikäkin uutinen oli työn alla ja paljonko repliikkien muokkaukseen käytettiin aikaa. Poikkeustapausten kohdalla analysoin tapahtumien kulkua ja tarkastelin uutistekstittäjien toimintaa poikkeusten kohdalla. Tarkastelin myös uutistekstityksen työmäärää muuhun ohjelmatekstitykseen verrattuna. Analyysissa uutistekstityksen ongelmakohtina tai haasteina esille nousivat ajankäyttö ja turhaan tehty työ, spontaanin puheen ja käsikirjoittamattomien osuuksien tekstittäminen sekä tiedon kulku uutistoimitukselta uutistekstitykselle. Sama uutinen saattaa olla työn alla päivän aikana montakin kertaa, vaikka lähtötekstissä ei ole muutoksia. Tarkastuksia on kuitenkin tehtävä. Ajankäytön haasteessa avuksi voisi olla parempi kommunikaatio uutistoimituksen kanssa. Analyysissa nousi selkeästi esiin, että tiedonkulussa uutistoimitukselta uutistekstitykselle on huomattavasti parantamisen varaa. Tutkimus osoitti myös, että lähtökohtana pidetty yksisuuntainen malli ei täysin pidä paikkaansa. Todellisuudessa uutistekstityksellä on esittämääni perusmallia enemmän vuorovaikutusta uutistoimituksen kanssa. Koska uutistekstityksessä luetaan kaikki uutiset läpi niiden valmistuttua, se toimii oikolukupalveluna uutistoimitukselle, ja uutistekstityksen palautteeseen reagoidaan uutistoimituksessa. Täten uutistekstitys tuottaa lisäarvoa uutistoimitukselle ja myös tekstittämättömien uutisten katsojille

Kuka ohjelmatekstityksiä katsoo?

This article presents the results of a reception study designed to map out different groups who use subtitling for the deaf and the hard of hearing (SDH) and to examine their expectations and preferences regarding the subtitles. The study also covered people who do not use SDH, with the aim of discovering how widely the service is known and why people choose not to utilize it. Most research about SDH in Finland has focused on the primary target group, but the scope of this study was wider. The data was gathered via an online form, distributed through email and social media in cooperation with the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle. Out of the 363 respondents, 144 used SDH and 219 did not. Out of the 144 users of SDH, 59 were deaf or hard of hearing and 85 were not. These two groups of users had different reasons for using SDH and different emphasis concerning quality criteria. Many of those who did not use SDH would use them if they were more accessible. Accessibility was also an issue with online and mobile services; SDH users watched more programming on television, while non-users watched more programming online.This article presents the results of a reception study designed to map out different groups who use subtitling for the deaf and the hard of hearing (SDH) and to examine their expectations and preferences regarding the subtitles. The study also covered people who do not use SDH, with the aim of discovering how widely the service is known and why people choose not to utilize it. Most research about SDH in Finland has focused on the primary target group, but the scope of this study was wider.The data was gathered via an online form, distributed through email and social media in cooperation with the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle. Out of the 363 respondents, 144 used SDH and 219 did not. Out of the 144 users of SDH, 59 were deaf or hard of hearing and 85 were not. These two groups of users had different reasons for using SDH and different emphasis concerning quality criteria. Many of those who did not use SDH would use them if they were more accessible. Accessibility was also an issue with online and mobile services; SDH users watched more programming on television, while non-users watched more programming online

MT for subtitling : User evaluation of post-editing productivity

This paper presents a user evaluation of machine translation and post-editing for TV subtitles. Based on a process study where 12 professional subtitlers translated and post-edited subtitles, we compare effort in terms of task time and number of keystrokes. We also discuss examples of specific subtitling features like condensation, and how these features may have affected the post-editing results. In addition to overall MT quality, segmentation and timing of the subtitles are found to be important issues to be addressed in future work.Peer reviewe

MT for Subtitling : Investigating professional translators’ user experience and feedback

This paper presents a study of machine translation and post-editing in the field of audiovisual translation. We analyse user experience data collected from post-editing tasks completed by twelve translators in four language pairs. We also present feedback provided by the translators in semi-structured interviews. The results of the user experience survey and thematic analysis of interviews shows that the translators’ impression of post-editing subtitles was on average neutral to somewhat negative, with segmentation and timing of subtitles identified as a key factor. Finally, we discuss the implications of the issues arising from the user experience survey and interviews for the future development of automatic subtitle translation

User perspectives on developing technology-assisted access services in public broadcasting.

The growing demand for accessible media content in the Creative Industries and increased pressure to produce more content at lower costs has led the industry to look for technological support for creating and managing audiovisual content. In order to design truly accessible technology-assisted solutions and services, it is crucial to center the knowledge and experience of the intended users –both the consumers and the professionals involved in producing the content and services. This article explores potential technological solutions for audiovisual media access services addressing intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic access in public service television broadcasting. We introduce an ongoing research project taking a user-centered approach, and present work carried out on automatic and semi-automatic methods involving intralingual and interlingual subtitling, and description of visual content. Based on themes raised in individual and focus group interviews, we discuss how potential user groups respondto technological solutions at differing levels of maturity. We examine conceptualizations of quality, trust, and accessibility emerging in the users’ comments, and chart the differences and similarities between different stakeholders. The article demonstrates how diverse user perspectives can inform research and development andenhance our understanding of the role of technology in promoting media accessibility.</p

User perspectives on developing technology-assisted access services in public broadcasting

The growing demand for accessible media content in the Creative Industries and increased pressure to produce more content at lower costs has led the industry to look for technological support for creating and managing audiovisual content. In order to design technology-assisted solutions and services that are truly accessible, it is crucial to center the knowledge and experience of the intended users - both the consumers and the professionals involved in producing the content and services. This article explores potential technological solutions for audiovisual media access services in the context of public service television broadcasting. We introduce an ongoing research project taking a user-centered approach, and present work carried out on automatic and semi-automatic methods involving intralingual and interlingual subtitling, and description of visual content. Through experiments and interviews, we examine how different potential user groups respond to technological solutions at differing levels of maturity. We discuss conceptualizations of quality, trust, and accessibility emerging in the interviews, and chart the differences and similarities between different stakeholders. The article demonstrates how the diverse user perspectives can inform research and development, and enhance our understanding of the role of technology in promoting media accessibility.Peer reviewe

Exploring the gaps in linguistic accessibility of media: The potential of automated subtitling as a solution

Linguistic accessibility presents a challenge for public broadcasters. While demand for multilingual content to support accessibility is growing, limited resources do not allow translating to a wide range of languages. One possibility to increase linguistic accessibility in media would be to provide automated translations into languages that cannot be served otherwise. However, implementing automation with the objective of supporting linguistic accessibility requires careful, proactive investigation together with the prospective audience. This article explores automated interlingual subtitling from the audience's perspective, based on focus group discussions and an online survey conducted in association with the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. We investigated English-speaking viewers’ reactions to automated English subtitles in Finnish-language news and current affairs video clips. Our analysis indicates that while viewers are able to understand the gist of a programme with automated subtitles, shortcomings in the quality of automated speech recognition, translation and timing of subtitles result in significant cognitive load that limits the usability of the subtitles. Participants expressed clear interest in automated subtitles for breaking news and other important local content, as well as to facilitate access to local culture and entertainment. However, quality improvements are required before automated subtitles can be deployed.Peer reviewe