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Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by crazygringo on Friday December 23, 2022 @10:52AM (#34107111)
Sure, but the closed captioning is still extremely good. The typists use chorded keyboards for speed and yes they occasionally make mistakes but everything is generally quite clear and accurate.

On the other hand, signing involves actual translation, not just transcription, which is much more likely to drop meaning or introduce confusion. Translation is already hard enough, and live translation is a whole other level of difficulty.

Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by enkid on Friday December 23, 2022 @11:42AM (#34107783)
I don't know much about sign language. Does it use a different grammar from English?
Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by IanCal on Friday December 23, 2022 @12:11PM (#34108204)
Yes, it's best to consider it an entirely different language rather than replacements of words.
Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by stevenwoo on Friday December 23, 2022 @06:39PM (#34111989)
I learned UK and USA use incompatible versions of sign language from online discussion of a recent television show.
Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by blowski on Friday December 23, 2022 @11:40AM (#34107739)
* * *
Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by dfee on Friday December 23, 2022 @01:00PM (#34108747)
Yes, but.

Now, you’re getting the inflection of the interpreter and not the speaker (derivative). Certainly you’re not hearing inflection on the original orator, either, so maybe it’s a mixed bag.

Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by zdragnar on Friday December 23, 2022 @09:12PM (#34113142)
Sign language (at least ASL) involves a lot of facial expression in addition to using your hands. There's a lot of room to creatively translate the unspoken message in a vocal inflection into signed message.

Subtitles in general, and live captioning especially, avoid editorializing or taking creative license- they're literal translations of words without other cues added in.

One nice exception to this has been the community subtitling work involved in various Taskmaster spinoff series, where explanations for cultural jokes or idioms are added into the subtitles for foreign audiences, especially when the joke is a pun or relies on a mispronounced word to make sense.

Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by IanCal on Friday December 23, 2022 @12:10PM (#34108192)
Transcription can lose meaning, as text is not a 1:1 replacement for speech. You lose cadence, stress and emotion.
Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by M2Ys4U on Friday December 23, 2022 @12:12PM (#34108205)
>Sure, but the closed captioning is still extremely good. The typists use chorded keyboards for speed and yes they occasionally make mistakes but everything is generally quite clear and accurate.

Live subtitling (on the BBC at least) is mainly done using re-speaking and voice recognition, rather than typing.

Re:BBC Subtitle Guidelines by tshaddox on Friday December 23, 2022 @01:43PM (#34109234)
But it's being done by professional translators, right? That might be more expensive than having a human do live subtitle transcription, but I bet it's not a huge difference especially relative to the production costs of any broadcast to a large audience, and based on the live subtitles I've seen (mostly on national sports and news broadcasts, so I don't know if that's automated or done by a human) it's hard imagine the quality achieved by professional signers wouldn't be significantly better.