OTP Learning Series 08: How to tackle reading-speed issues

This tutorial describes strategies for dealing with reading-speed issues in transcripts and translated subtitles, by extending the duration of a subtitle, reducing the amount of text in the subtitle, and merging consecutive subtitles.

This tutorial features clips from the following talks:
Lekcja wolności z więzienia | Katarzyna Dybżyńska | TEDxYouth@Kraków – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtTwuJdAfUk
Zemlja cuda | Dragana Marjanović | TEDxNoviSad – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsTeszn24m4
David Gallo: Underwated astonishments – http://www.ted.com/talks/david_gallo_shows_underwater_astonishments
The real butterfly effect | Cecylia Malik | TEDxKraków – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKgSnrvDUjU
Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability – http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability

This video has been created for the volunteers working in the TED Open Translation Project. The TED Open Translation Project brings TEDTalks, TED-Ed lessons & TEDxTalks beyond the English-speaking world by offering subtitles, interactive transcripts & the ability for any talk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. Learn more at http://www.ted.com/participate/translate

[How to tackle reading-speed issues]

Because we don't want our viewers
to miss any subtitles,

we always want to maintain
an accessible "reading speed,"

that is, the speed with which the viewer
must be able to read the subtitle

before it disappears from the screen.

The reading speed is a numerical value
of characters per second,

and it may vary depending on
the script used in the subtitles,

with 21 characters per second
as the maximum speed

for languages which use
the Latin alphabet.

If you're having problems maintaining
a good reading speed in your subtitles,

here are some strategies that should help.

First, you can give the viewer
more time to read the subtitle.

To do this, simply click and drag
the end of the subtitle

and extend its duration
until the reading speed is back to normal.

This may also offset
the start time of the next subtitle

but a good reading speed

is always more important
than perfect synchronization.

However, a later start time
for the next subtitle

can create reading-speed
issues in it, too,

so sometimes, you will need
to adjust that subtitle too,

and then the next,

until the reading-speed
correction cascade is complete.

Extending the duration by a large amount
is not always a good idea,

especially if the following subtitle
needs to be closely synchronized

with something happening in the video.

But you can also help the viewers
by giving them less text to read,

and we call this
"compressing" the subtitle.

By compressing, you rephrase a subtitle
to reduce the total amount of text,

but without actually changing its meaning.

There are multiple
compression strategies you can use,

and here are just a few examples.

You can get rid of
non-crucial words and phrases,

like "well," "as a matter of fact,"
or "as I was saying."

You can reduce
repetitions and restatements.

For example, you can change

"It was delivered in this huge,
enormous box."

into "It was delivered in this huge box."

You can reduce explicit references
to what is visible in the video.

For example, you can change

"You are seeing a slide
with the results of our latest test"

into "You are seeing the results
of our latest test."

You can find many more
compression strategies

in our detailed guide on OTPedia.

And remember that you can also
compress text in transcripts,

because a transcript
doesn't have to be word-for-word

if compression is necessary
for a good reading speed.

One additional way
to tackle reading-speed issues

is by combining two subtitles.

Sometimes, you will see one subtitle
with just a little text

that displays for a long time,

followed by another subtitle
with a lot of text

that displays for a short time
and has reading-speed issues.

Merging them can eliminate the problem.

To merge subtitles,

copy and paste the text
of one subtitle into the other,

delete the original subtitle,

and then extend the duration
of the new, combined subtitle

over the resulting time gap.

Remember that you can't join

the end of one sentence or clause
and the beginning of another,

but if the subtitles actually do belong
to one complete clause

and one complete idea,

you can merge them, and get one subtitle
with a good reading speed.

For example, you wouldn't
merge these subtitles,

and that's because
"who he was, and later, I found"

combines parts of two different clauses

and doesn't really express
any coherent, complete idea.

However, you can merge
subtitles like these,

because "and this was the book
that I had been looking for"

is a full clause and does express
a coherent, complete idea.

I will leave you with one important hint.

When tackling reading-speed issues,

always try to combine these strategies.

Compress a little,

and then extend the duration a tiny amount

to completely fix the reading-speed issue.

Remember that by not exceeding
the reading-speed limit in your subtitles,

you can make sure that no part
of the ideas that you are helping to share

will end up being
inaccessible to the viewers.

And for now,

happy transcribing and translating!

And compressing!