Now we welcome
Katrina.
Who did?
I'm going to read some of your bio.
Katrina.
Dr. Katrina, who is a scholar in the field of translation
studies with a focus on the visual translation.
Currently serving as a lecturer of
at Aristotle University at Thessaloniki.
Excuse my Greek.
She teaches courses both at undergraduate
and postgraduate level that cover a wide range of topics,
including cultural studies, translation, theory and practice.
Her research interests center on cultural
aspects of education, audiovisual translation and reception
studies on multi and bilingual subtitling.
She's lately participated in the EU funded program
entitled Implementing Audiovisual Media in Education,
Evaluation and Application of Eye Tracking Data.
Perhaps that's why you were so curious about Lynch,
Lynch and future research.
And in addition to her academic work, Dr.
Gulati has been an active professional translator and translation
project manager, working on projects for a range of of clients,
just like Greek state television broadcaster Niarchos Foundation,
as well as several films, film and documentaries, festivals.
Her translation portfolio also includes translation of notable
books, both literature and nonfiction, for several publishing houses.
So the floor is all yours.
And if you're.
Not, hear it.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
It's it's a really pleasure to be here in Canada.
My topic is on bilingual subtitling and streaming media.
In recent decades, the field of audiovisual translation
has been swept by a series of changes that have had a profound
and multifaceted impact on audiovisual industry.
Practice.
From new devices and mediums
to novelties in the patterns of production and consumption, AVP
has been established as an integral part
of video streaming, as it helps broadcasters reach larger audiences
and expand their international customer base.
At the same time, due to the globalized and digitalized presence,
streaming platforms are marked by a need tool for several options
with customize and tailor viewing according to user preferences.
In order to achieve this transnational appeal,
viewers are now able to choose between different subtitled versions
rendered either in the foreign or in their domestic language.
Viewers are also offered the choice to switch between
a wide variety of different language audio streams.
This presentation sets out to explore one of this available modalities.
The relatively under-researched mode of bilingual subtitling
and its role in the ever evolving landscape of global media streaming.
Its practical implementation appears in different contexts
from PC based tools and amateur video sharing websites
to online channels with open subtitles embedded in the videos.
Educational platforms further focus on the pedagogical implications
of this mode.
Specific examples will be presented along
with several deviations from conventional subtitling norms.
In terms of subtitling appearance and viewer's reception,
special emphasis is also placed in the ways
used to promote the active participation of other learners.
Bilingual subtitling
refers to a process with two sets of subtitles
in two different languages coexist constantly occupying
the two balls available for subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
Although the term is mostly used to denote a language combination
that includes the written transcription
of the original audio track, they may occasionally include
a pair of two inter lingual subtitles in different languages,
neither of which is in the program's audio language.
A further distinction
can be made according to the language of the original audio.
Garcia uses the term intra bilingual
when the audio of the content is in L1 and the subtitles in L1 and DEL to.
Similarly, the term inter bilingual is proposed
when L2 is the language heard in the oral dialog
originally used for cinema productions
as a means of rendering a foreign language in two domestic languages.
Bilingual subtitles have been distributed in geographical areas
where two or more languages are spoken,
as in the cases of Finland, for Finnish and Swedish
and Belgium for asylum use in France.
The adoption of bilingual subtitles has also been dictated
occasionally by financial incentives, as in the case of Hong Kong.
While unlike any other Chinese language cinemas,
the practice has been the norm since films
had to appeal to a local English speaking audience.
International film festivals are another example where organizers
have resorted to bilingual subtitles to enable
local audiences towards the films translated into the local language.
Rapid transformations had also been taking place in the way Surtitles
are being delivered for theater festivals and operas worldwide.
Bilingual subtitling is now rapidly catching on in the global streaming
media arena, and apart from the obvious gains in terms
of the marketability of bilingual subtitled videos, researchers test
whether they can be used for language learning purposes.
Bilingual subtitling has been promoted as a pedagogical tool
that matches the expectations of contemporary learners,
especially the new generation of digital natives.
That is, people who have grown with the Internet
and who use their familiarity with digital spaces to acquire
new knowledge and skills within the context of edutainment and e-learning.
The extra language elements being added onto this register
is tripling
the verbal channels of information and thus forming a unique type
of multi semiotic construct, constituting a new graphic register
for concurrent exposure to both in draw and in the bilingual subtitles
on. Along with the original multimodal audio,
visual and textual information provides a rich language environment
that can help students acquire language
skills incidentally through context, including new vocabulary.
According to research,
students also express their confidence in the ability to learn new words.
Bilingual Subtitles Integration in foreign Language Learning curricula
in is also in line with the famous clinical methodologies
content in language integrated learning where learning literacy
is also acquired by viewing multi thematic content
videos, especially during the last decade.
Scholars have been conducting reception studies
using experimental research methods such as eye tracking
to empirically test
whether bilingual subtitles impede the learning process due
to the extra cognitive load imposed compared to monolingual subtitles.
The investigations have sought to analyze the levels of redundancy,
the patterns of visual attention, distribution and cognitive load,
as well as the user's general comprehension of the content screened.
To a large extent,
there seems to be a consensus among these scholars
that the foreign language gains provided by watching bilingual
subtitled material exceed those authored by monolingual,
or at least are as effective as subtitles or captions aloud.
And here is a very short
extracts
from our eye tracking experiment when you can see
the bilingual subtitles screen on a BBC documentary streamed.
And these are the fixations from them learners to the use of students
and how they focused on particular areas
where bilingual subtitles have been screened.
Especially. Yes.
So there has been this rapid spread of bilingual subtitling tools
that they were originally embedded in video players to enable
the simultaneous activation of two or occasionally more subtitle tracks.
In practice, this have been developed to merge subtitles
from different language certifiers into one single file.
The material used consists of ready made subtitles
in different languages or transcripts of dialogs found online.
They are retrieved from massive online subtitles, libraries,
mainly fonts of web pages
or specific content catalogs, as in the case of TEDTalks.
When users are unable to find the language trucks of their choice,
the program allows them to manually upload
a subtitling file from their personal files.
Link player and Flix player have been two of the forerunners.
The first these downloadable programs to include this practice
and have paved the way for the creation of more.
Contrary to the standardization and harmonization norms
dictated by the industry, several of these programs allow viewers
to fully customize the bilingual subtitles in terms of appearance,
text, stroke or positioning, as in the case of dual subwoofer
within the right part of the screen, users also download
the latest releases of online versions that run as Google
Chrome app extensions.
In this case is subtitles are automatically retrieved
from videos on demand platform databases,
and the material
is predominantly driven by platforms focusing on entertainment content
such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.
But one can also make use of online
learning platforms like Udemy or consider using.
Users can thus opt for their preferred bilingual set,
choosing among the available intra lingual and into lingual
subtitles found in the language options select section.
The inclusion of this category has turned into a trend
which is usually enriched with new extensions
such as Netflix, multi sub and language React, an application
formerly known as two separate toolboxes,
the one with the name language learning with Netflix
and the better version of language learning with YouTube that enabled
the simultaneous provision of subtitles in two languages.
The policy methodic nature of the audiovisual content combined
with a list of interactive features.
You can see some examples such as the adjustable playback
speed for dictionaries or personalized phrase.
Books may also be extremely appealing to technology.
Say Save netizen Learners.
The application's functionality expands
to allow users to further customize their learning experience
via bilingual subtitles
by choosing the language level of their preference, words
that correspond to the selected language level are highlighted
and stay marked up whenever they reappear in subsequent subtitles.
Viewers can now What's endless video content on YouTube
with machine created subtitles by a language react
or in different language combinations?
Of course, we need to
specifically say here at this point that in order
for these subtitles to be included in the educational process,
instructors, instructors must check beforehand
the quality of the machine translated versions, because it is likely
that the results are often erroneous or inaccurate to avoid.
However, this extra effort necessary to quality check video materials,
higher quality multilingual versions of human made subtitles
are offered as language options
on different channels with educational content
such as Pedowitz Talks, Khan Academy, or even channels from official
institutions such as European Commission and United Nations.
The appeal of this novel practice is a global phenomenon, noticeable
in the way video streaming platforms with Asian content
that have similarly integrated bilingual subtitling features features
animal on is described in the bottom part of the screen
by its
creators as a nonprofit streaming platform where viewers can learn
Japanese by watching anime content with the option
to select only two of the three layers of subtitles In Japanese
Romanzi and Inglis, users
can choose to look phrases, keep dialogs
among other features, text exercises and interactive multi
multiple choice segments with final score results
are additionally kept as records to keep track of the user's progress.
Rakuten Viki, on the other hand, works as a train of online translation
practice, including bilingual subtitling, which allows both
the volunteers through practicing language transfer skills
as well as the viewers themselves, by coming into content with authentic
discourse, learning with the context of their favorite TV shows
to acquire or solidify their foreign language competence.
Once the video is uploaded on the platform, the Learn mode toggle
is made available in the Settings menu for the time being
and includes Korean, mainland Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese shows
that have at least 50% subtitles in the original language.
Users have the option to turn this mode on.
And then what's the content selected in both the original language
and their preferred second language? Subtitled Tracks.
Bilibili is also a Chinese video on demand streaming service platform,
focusing on anima video and mobile games,
which also allows for the insertion of bullet titles
that can be overlaid on the top of the video.
Contrary to traditional subtitling conventions, these text snippets
do not have to comply with time or space constraints,
and the content can also include pictorial graphics such as emoticons
and smileys, providing the option
of inserting the content streamed online with YouTube.
Commercial ecosystem is a practice that still is gaining ground
and contributes to a YouTube channel success
because the marketability is linked with the numbers that they watch.
The video and the persistence
that these subscribers having their engagement with the material.
So two examples are going to follow, however, that they do not allow
the selection, They do not have optional subtitles,
but rather open subtitles embedded on the videos.
The first case is the multilingual YouTube channel called Easy Languages
that defines itself as a media project that aims to help people
learn languages through authentic street interviews
and real conversation.
Every easy language video is bilingual, is subtitled
in its source language as well as an English learner.
Viewers can watch authentic source language material
with short, real life dialog exchanges on a wide variety of topics
in terms of layout and presentation, Hardcoded
in trilingual subtitles are placed in the top line in larger font,
whereas the bottom line features inter lingual subtitles in English
displayed in much smaller font onto a gray ghost box.
Apart from mixing the two different languages,
another product is the deviates from the conventional norms
is the insertion of SDH conventions, sound effects and noises.
You see. For example,
realism or luster are put into parentheses
and other typical features of spoken languages
like interjections are also included in the written dialog.
A further differentiation is the inclusion of linguistic errors
and corrections.
When someone makes a mistake while speaking, their actual erroneous
utterance is included in the intra lingual subtitle,
and the parenthetical addition is inserted
to indicate the grammatically correct form.
Finally, explanations are also provided to the literal
renderings of subtitles, either in the form of parenthetical notes
or as extra comments in the comments
sections underneath the video display.
The final
platform that we are going to exhibit here to show here is bookmarks.
And this is an example
of an educational project that produces animated books
with the same language, subtitling it available in more than 20 languages.
As stated in its description, it resembles a jukebox of digital books,
as there are more than 500 ebooks in the form of animated stories
within trilingual subtitles that aim to enhance basic reading
literacy in the viewer's mother tongue, all the while
facilitating their proficiency in foreign language learning.
Since watching turns into a fun reading activity, animation stories
addressed to children
are screened with narration strips on the bottom part of the screen.
Words are highlighted in a dynamic pace
in the form of coral interface book books.
These diners experiment with different modalities, including
bilingual subtitles, albeit in a rather unique presentation style.
Mixed language channels have been created to include
dual language versions of the books in the case of book books,
instead of the parallel depiction of the two subtitle sets,
each narrative line is spoken and subtitled in one language
and once the utterance has been completed,
it is then repeated in a second language stream,
accompanied by the equivalent second language subtitles.
In this example, both fields are taken from the same video.
The Spanish subtitles appear only 3 seconds after the English subtitles.
Alternatively, in the case of monolingual subtitled
videos, users can select one of the languages
available in the YouTube CC closed caption options,
and both subtitled tracks can be viewed concurrently.
Moving on to the conclusions, this novel streaming
media sphere can be examined from different perspectives
from multinational giants such as Netflix or Disney, formally
commissioning professionally produced material to individual content
providers and fan made content distributed online by amateurs.
One step ahead in the future could be the inclusion of the option
to watch bilingually subtitled films via the official platforms themselves.
More research can also be conducted to investigate new ways
of integrating audiovisual content with bilingual subtitles
within the context of foreign language.
Learning from ameliorating user experience and enhancing
user engagement to achieving higher learning objectives.
Adjustable for different language levels and learn and provides
at the same time.
Reception studies can further address questions of whether or to what
extent the insertion of creative or freeform
bilingual subtitles as more complex verbal visual elements
may critically alter
the image composition and impact the audience's viewing experience
due to its constantly evolving patterns of description
and the audience's active participation in reception.
These subtitling mode can be portrayed, and I quote Jenkins
as an ongoing process of media convergence
occurring at the various intersections of media technologies, industries,
content and audiences within the emerging media streaming
landscape, serving as an ideal to rent for all these new actualities
to flourish.
Thank you.
Very much.
Thank you very much.
Katrina, your your talks seems to be following up
on yesterday's plenary session of the Dick Thomas session,
where he was precisely speaking about
the streaming platforms and cloud technologies.
So it's a follow up
magically.
So there is going to be a publication of this work
in two months from now on targets, translations
and a special issue on audiovisual translating in the streaming media.
It is going to be a special issue published in two months
from now, I think some May or June.
So it's going to be the target translation.
Yeah, it's going to be there.
We're in the last, let's say, proofreading process.
Well. Look forward to this is great.
So any questions.
On the.
Rooms, anyone?
Yes, please.
I was short on a microphone.
We need. That.
I can hear here.
Sure. Okay.
I was wondering if you know of any thank you for a presentation.
I was really quite nice reel of all the old witticisms
and new ones all the time on a good range of of platforms.
I was wondering if you know of any studies that of
or the use of any of these platforms in pedagogical applications. Yes.
Ours.
The funded project I mentioned before, I used the language reactor
to test
through eye tracking on
and we also run pre and post vocabulary tests
to, to examine whether students
acquire vocabulary in the condition of bilingual subtitles.
And the results indicate that watching bilingual subtitles
helps students enhance their vocabulary acquisition.
We used the documentary because we wanted to have
a slow paced narration
with not too much, let's say.
Really, really.
Our our study was published in 2020.
Yeah. So this was the case.
And we also tested whether we have any a difference
if the foreign language subtitles are on the top line
or the second language subtitles on the top line.
And I'm sorry the I had the timer on
says that I need to stop talking like now.
I, I said, the thing is that
this was
a clear indication that students performed better
when the mother tongue was on the top line.
It's helped them. More.
Any studies, in spite of all of the use our factors are by
which we know we're a single player.
Nothing that I could I could really.
I. Mentioned right now.
Is the most.
Yes, it got, you know, a viral attention of that.
But that's not actually I don't I'm not familiar with any other.
I think it's a very new thing.
I mean, it's it's not something that, you know, go to this,
you know, attention only in the last, let's say,
five or six years, we'd say things taking place on the field.
But now the expansion is huge and and and
there are more plenty a plethora coming coming all the time.
And new ads on and new interactive features are being implemented
even commercial ones have started popping up or paid versions premium
versions of these platforms.
So I believe that, you know, things are different.
Yes, I as.
People.
Suggest, we had some
79 students, but then we ran a couple of test.
Some of them were excluded because we had them
a short memory test, that digit backwards analysis.
We also had language placement tests to see that they were all on the say.
So finally there were like 71.
MM Yes, it was a good number.
We used Greek state school students
from the age of 9 to 11,
which yes, we work that with children. Yes.
And it was interesting.
It was interesting.
And there are also in our study some differences mentioned
according to the gender of a girls, I for some reason seem
to be having more fixations on the on subtitles and on.
But again.
Skew.
Mm Exactly exactly.
That's why we tried to use different, you know, placement
tests and short memory test just to be sure that at least we have.
That was my last question. Yeah.
It's not you already have
outright on export education, prevention of language learning.
So that is what we're just talking about.
No, no.
This is the new thing that's coming in the target. Yes.
Mm hmm.
That's.
And I was wondering any any reason why you think, Katrina, that the
the Netflix and all these platforms offer this facilities.
Netflix doesn't officially offer this facility?
It's not something it's not an audience
that's Netflix allows anything to happen.
Obviously they they they use programing to
when you are a customer with this a space subscription
then you can just make use of these subtitles.
It's not something that Netflix officially distributes,
but I think that this could be a very interesting idea in the future.
And our next project, I'm not, you know, I'm just working on that.
And how to implement it is whether we could see this
customization of subtitles even for students
and generally people with dyslexia to use dyslexia
font to see if that would work
and would be easier for them because dyslexia has been used a lot
and I would like to see whether this could,
you know, help view subtitles in an easier way.
So we are thinking about the research projects and that.
Well, it's I think.
And I think that eventually Netflix will be able to, you know, to,
to incorporate these things because if you if we take
into consideration their need to tailor made the preferences
and they use algorithms to make the experience, let's say, unique,
I don't think that's difficult to have like an option to bilingually
watch subtitles because the templates are the same though.
So the in times and the, you know, all types of the same.
So they will not be, you know, dealing with issues of
lack of synchronicity or something.
And this font that they've been talking about
is just another option in the already, you know,
big list of phones that are being given and sizes.
I think this,
the customization is here I mean to to to to work in the future.
Something that universities might be interested
in getting these licenses from all these.
Platforms. Yes, they are free.
They do not have any licenses.
You don't need to pay.
You just download it from app and it works
miracles because it's not only addressing.
You could also use two different subtitles sets, not an intra lingual.
I mean, I'm I'm, I'm the speaker of English and I'm watching
subtitles in French and Italian and this could work for me as well.
And all this interactive features and according to
them, the next plans include
these
applications to run also on Mozilla
and other browsers as well sometime in the future in mobile phones.
So they are working on that, They are building on this experience
and I think that's since the, you know, watching
videos is by default mute.
It's let's say wherever you go.
The fact that you will be able to have subtitles
and eventually subtitles options two languages.
This would be also benefits this thing.
We are totally out of the loop.
So yes, it's it's really interesting And and as social media
subtitling I believe is a is a great yes.
Do we ask we ask Do you watch?
Yes. Mm hm.
And you know, there are exceptions like the past.
Yeah. Generally Is social media.
Exactly.
Exactly. And.
Mm hmm. Mm.
Yes. So people don't at all.
Certainly some people don't even know how to do that.
I mean, elderly people, they just watch and it's it's a cruel stopper.
I mean, having subtitles, it's a cruel stopper.
It enhances cell search engine optimization.
You get more engagement, you get more views, more interaction.
And that's, you know, as I mentioned, just translates into marketability.
So this is the future.
I teach a unit in my students in the university
Social media subtitling, and they work on that to see how
they do this themselves, to see if they
if these rates change in their videos and their YouTube channel.
It's amazing. MM.
I think your students must be delighted that good.
They're happy talking throughout.
They are.
Any other question from.
The room. Anyone.
Well I think we would just don here
thank you and thank you very much.
And Jen, are you still there.
As I'm here?
It's great to talk to.
Any question from from you.
Know, now as a spectator.
Okay.
So thank you, everyone.
Kessler and I think we have a we can have a quick break now.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Very much.