[EASIT intro music]
EASIT. Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.
This is Unit 3A. Easy to Understand and subtitling.
Element 1, processes.
Sample 4, other video:
creation of easy-to-understand subtitles for the opera;
Spanish subtitles.
My name is Rocío Bernabé Caro
from the Internationale Hochschule SDI München, in Germany.
I have created this video lecture in collaboration with Piero Cavallo.
Please do not stop the video at the end of my explanation,
because the video sample
with the subtitles will be shown right after.
This video presents a case study that concerned the creation
of easy-to-understand interlingual subtitles
for opera for a virtual reality context.
The original piece, Roméo and Juliette, was played
at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, in Spain.
Our sample is about 4 minutes long.
The original is in French
and the subtitles are in simplified Spanish.
We thank Mario Montagud and Sergio Fernández
for granted us access to the video,
which is also accessible in Zenedo.
The DOI is:
10.5281/zenodo.3909280
You can find an article about the project on virtual reality and accessibility
in the reading list of this unit.
We created the subtitles following the Easy-to-Read guidelines,
Information for All,
published by Inclusion Europe
and added colours for identifying speakers.
We used the colours according to the prioritisation
provided in the Spanish standard UNE 153010:2012.
That is, in this order, yellow, green, cyan, magenta, and white.
The subtitles are not surtitles.
This means that they do not appear above the stage
but in the standard lower-bottom position.
We chose this position because the video clip was shown
and tested in a digital format and not live at the theatre.
Surtitles in opera often cater for the needs of hearing audiences.
In this case study, however, we assumed
that simplified subtitles could also facilitate access to opera
for other parts of the population.
For instance, for people who do not have the necessary language skills
and for those who might have cognitive difficulties.
The latter can be persons with intellectual disabilities,
learning or reading difficulties,
or persons who might have experienced some type of cognitive loss
upon ageing as described by Murman (2015).
The aim of the case study was to explore
the reception of easy-to-read subtitles and users' preferences
between two subtitling options:
subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, in short SDH,
and Easy-to-Read subtitles, in short E2R.
Altogether the subtitles were tested by four validation groups
of persons with reading and learning difficulties
as well as one group of 8 participants aged 50 to 79.
Participants from the groups
with reading and learning difficulties were organized by Plena Inclusión Madrid.
The demographic distribution was 15 female and 7 male participants
with ages ranging from 24-57 years among female participants
and 29-41 among male participants.
The level of disability ranged from 36-77%
and 52-81%, respectively.
As a reference, you should know that in Spain
a disability level between 50-75% is considered very severe.
The group of persons aged 50 to 79 included
5 female and 3 male participants.
Participants did not have a recognized intellectual disability.
However, some reported mild hearing or sight loss.
The participants with reading and learning difficulties described
the following parameters as key enhancers of understandability:
large font-sizes and simplified vocabulary,
and longer display times on-screen.
Conversely,
some participants found it difficult to understand the colours
assigned to the characters.
This might be because the participants did not have
a sensory disability
and, therefore, are not used to this SDH convention.
Lastly, several participants reported difficulties in resolving who is speaking.
To solve this, participants suggested using labels with names.
This suggestion is very interesting
because it is also the way forward in SDH subtitling
in cases where colours alone are not enough to resolve ambiguity.
Altogether, participants with reading and learning difficulties found
the easy-to-read version more accessible
than the SDH subtitles.
The main hindering factor identified by the participants was the vocabulary.
Some examples of the expressions and strategies used to simplify were:
The use of more common and concrete words,
e.g., the verb "cantar",
"singing", was used instead of "arrullar",
which is the sound that pigeons make.
And also because this verb was used metaphorically
in the original version
or in the original translated version.
Then less explicit expressions were replaced by more explicit ones.
For instance, the euphemisms "¡Pardiez!",
similar to "by gad!",
or "¡tener una lengua ligera!", similar to "to have a loose tongue"
were changed.
These two polite, old-fashioned,
indirect expressions were replaced by more explicit and common ones,
i.e. "[…] No, no me gusta", "I do not like it.",
and "Señor, usted habla mucho.", "Sir, you speak too much."
Lastly, less common expressions,
such as "ser en vano", "to be in vain", were changed
to more common ones.
In this case: "no servir de nada", "not to be useful."
Most participants from the group aged 50 to 79 preferred the simplified version.
They explained that the E2R version was shorter
and easier to read,
which gave them more time to focus on the visuals.
Conversely, those participants who preferred the SDH version argued
that the language in the SDH language was more specific and accurate
as compared to the E2R ones.
You can find two peer-reviewed articles
about this topic in the reading list of this Unit.
The article "Validation of Easy-to-read Subtitles" (Bernabé, 2020)
also provides you with a complete list
of the adapted expressions and vocabulary.
Let's watch the video now.
This video lecture has been prepared by Rocío Bernabé Caro and Piero Cavallo
from the Internationale Hochschule SDI München, in Germany.
You can reach me at rocio.bernabe@sdi-muenchen.de
The project EASIT has received funding from the European Commission
under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education programme,
grant agreement
2018-1-ES01-KA203-05275.
The European Commission support for the production of this publication
does not constitute an endorsement of the contents,
which reflect the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible
for any use
which may be made of the information contained therein.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Partners of the EASIT project:
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Università degli Studi di Trieste.
Universidade de Vigo.
Stiftung Universität Hildesheim.
SDI München.
Dyslexiförbundet.
Radiotelevizija Slovenija.
Zavod RISA.
[EASIT outro music]
EASIT. Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.