RE: TT and subtitling

Geoff Freed wrote:

	> SMPTE's definitions leave room for ambiguity.  Captions are always
in the
	> same language as the program audio, for example, and they aren't
limited to just
	> motion  pictures.  I propose the following definition for
captions:

	> "Textual representation of dialog, narration and other audio
events, in the same
	> language as the original presentation."

I think we should be careful about re-defining terms that are perhaps
already adequately defined by standards organsiations :-)

Captioning is NOT always in the language of the program audio - for example
in the UK it is perfectly feasible on DTT (digital terrestrial TV) to have
English subtitles AND English captions (as separate user selections) for a
Welsh language (audio) program. To adopt the above definition would mean
that any 'foreign language' program that is **not** dubbed could only be
termed 'subtitled' - regardless of the inclusion of audio events and
narration (which are indicative of captioning cf subtitling).

I agree that the scope of the definition could be widened in the TT standard
to include all video and audio material (not just motion pictures).

regards

John Birch.

The views and opinions expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily
reflect the views and opinions of the Screen Subtitling Systems Limited.

Received on Tuesday, 4 February 2003 04:29:22 UTC