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Re: Captioning Verbatim or for Corrected English

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From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: Mar 10, 2016 8:10AM

The BBC guidelines for subtitles, not captions. Subtitles provide a translation of the audio from one spoken language to another written language. The purpose of subtitles is to provide access to the video for people who do not speak the language that is spoken in the video.

Captions provide a written, synchronized presentation of what is being said as well as descriptions of audio that is important for understanding the presentation. This is presented in the same language as the video. The purpose of captions is to provide access to the video for people who cannot hear the audio track of video.

The original question posted in this thread was about whether or not grammatical errors should be corrected in the captions. I would say that in most cases this would not provide equivalent access for people who cannot hear the video.

For example, if I were to say "I ain't got no money" and the caption read "I don't have any money" this does not accurately represent what I actually said. Also for deaf or hard of hearing people who sight read, what I appear to say and what the captions say is definitely different.

The actual words that people use are an important part of understanding what is being said. Mood, formality, culture are often at least partially demonstrated through the language that the speaker chooses to use. Thus correcting grammar and syntax removes an important part of the information that is being presented.

As for removing ah's and um's that would probably make the captions easier to read and understand.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)