Remember the operator’s goal: to release captioning accurate to the speaker’s meaning, as quickly as possible.
Tips for quickly releasing captions that will generate good translation:
- Keep to short, complete sentences – speakers can generate long complex sentences. Wherever possible, break up the utterance into short complete sentences.
- Use correct punctuation and capitalization
- Summarize when helpful for clarity
- When in doubt, leave it out – People can talk very fast! If you missed what was said, just keep going. As you build up your experience and practice, you will become more efficient.
- Reset the captioner between speakers
- Turn off the captioner when there is singing
- Change the locale to match the speaker’s accent
- Use a mouse – using a mouse is a more ergonomic setup that will allow you to quickly move the cursor around as needed.
Practice:
Keeping the goal and these tips in mind, practice with this trace, as though you are captioning a live event. (note: you won’t need to reset the captioner between speakers with traces)
Practice #1: Multiple speakers
Practice #2: Sermon Sample 01
Practice #3: Sermon Sample 02
Practice #4: Panel Discussion 1
Once you feel you have mastered it, complete the lesson by taking the quiz.
*Forgot how to play back a captioner trace? Review the video in a previous lesson, starting at the 1:57 minute mark.