EASIT
Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training
This is unit 3B,
Easy to understand (E2U)
and audio description (AD).
Element 1: Processes.
Other video:
Easy-to-understand audio introductions (AIs):
A sample.
This is Elisa Perego,
from Università degli Studi di Trieste.
This sample video is about
simplification of audio introductions.
Given their communicative purpose,
audio introductions,
or introductory notes
in the shape of
“pieces of continuous prose" (Fryer 2014),
can be successfully used
in E2U scenarios, if adequately adapted.
AIs set the scene
and add information missing in ADs:
for instance,
relevant details,
the style of the product,
cast and production credits,
fuller descriptions of visual details,
and much more.
Standard AIs guide users
through the text to come.
When adapted into E2U texts,
they become easification tools,
as Bhatia (1986)called them.
That is, extra-textual devices
that make the text
more comprehensible and usable.
We will focus on excerpts
from Fryer’s AI to the film
Slumdog Millionaire.
The opening, read Fryer,
is very rich in details:
Welcome to this AI to Slumdog Millionaire
directed by Danny Boyle in 2008.
It is based on the novel Q&A
by Vikas Swarup,
with screenplay by Simon Beaufoy.
It has a running time of 2 hours,
and stars Dev Patel
and Frieda Pinto.
Do we need so many details
in an E2U scenario?
Can we prioritize what is central
and easier to remember?
Shall we stick to the principle
“less is more”?
Look at what we can do.
Adding the word “film”
gives a clearer context
for some users.
Repeating it
or using an anaphoric pronoun (“it”)
could give coherence
and linearity to the text
without repeating the film title.
The name of the director
and the production date are crucial,
but the name of the author of the novel
on which the film is based,
or the screenwriter’s name
are secondary.
We need to select.
We can substitute the verb “to star”
by a longer but clearer sentence,
with a subject,
a copular verb
and a complement,
and introduce the noun “actors”.
We should start each sentence
on a new line,
especially if we want to use AIs
as printed documents
that can be read rather than listened to,
based on the situation
or the preference of the user.
If we do so,
non-linguistic elements
such as a picture of the film poster,
or of the actors
can improve the usability of the written text
and comply with
most Easy Language principles.
Not all users like,
can or wish to consume texts aurally,
so when working with AIs,
creating a written version
and making it available online –
as an accessible PDF
or as a printable brochure –
might be a good idea.
Now, let’s listen to the E2U AI
read by Christopher Taylor.
Welcome to this AI
to the film Slumdog Millionaire.
The film was directed by
Danny Boyle in 2008.
The film is based on a novel.
It lasts 2 hours.
Its main actors are Dev Patel
and Frieda Pinto.
Let’s move to a more descriptive
and detailed passage of the AI,
read by Louise Fryer.
Their home is a shack –
one of thousands
made of sheets
of corrugated iron,
painted wooden planks
and scavenged cardboard
in the teeming Juhu slums –
sandwiched between an airport runway,
a vast rubbish tip
and railway tracks
at the edge of the city.
Rubbish litters
the slum’s passageways.
It is a patchwork
of poverty, but rich
and lively,
and full of colour
walls are daubed in
blue and yellow.
The women wear saris
of every hue,
fruit and vegetables are for sale
at outdoor stalls,
and painted statuettes of gods
set up in home-made shrines.
Though beautifully written,
and read,
and close to literary style,
this text needs
major simplification
to become E2U.
A quick look at
the most uncommon words,
though really vivid,
shows there are a great many:
shack which is a primitive shelter;
cobbled meaning
"paved with small stones".
But also
corrugated;
planks;
scavenged;
teeming;
Juhu,
which is an upmarket neighbourhood
of Mumbai.
Perhaps even
slums – or poor areas in a city;
rubbish tip;
tracks;
edge;
litters;
passageways;
patchwork;
throbbing;
daubed meaning
"carelessly painted";
patterned;
the cultural borrowing saris.
But also
hue - for colour or shade;
stalls;
statuettes –
a derived word
exploiting a diminutive suffix;
and to conclude shrines.
The text is long,
101 words,
but only three sentences.
Its readability is too low –
with a Gunning Fog index
that tells us that a reader needs
over 16 years of schooling
to understand the text.
Let’s try to do something.
The compression work is not easy,
and details can be lost.
The following E2U version,
read by Christopher Taylor,
is just a proposal:
Their home is small
and made of iron sheets
and cardboard.
Their home is
in a very crowded area
of the city.
It is located between an airport,
a rubbish tip,
and the railway.
Rubbish is all over.
Poverty is all over.
But, a lively atmosphere comes from
the colours of the walls;
from the women’s traditional dresses;
from the fruit and vegetables for sale;
from the painted statues of gods.
The text is still informative,
but shorter: 71 words
and 6 sentences.
You need only
7 years of instruction
and not 16 to get it.
The idea of the slum,
of the poverty
and its liveliness are not lost,
and an engaging tone of voice
makes up for what had to go.
This video lecture was prepared by
Elisa Perego
and produced by
Martina Atzeri
from Università degli Studi di Trieste.
The original AIs were created
and read by Louise Fryer
from Utopian Voices.
The E2U AIs were prepared by
Elisa Perego
and read by Christopher Taylor
from Università degli Studi di Trieste.
You can reach me at:
eperego@units.it