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  • Hello. This is 6 Minute English

  • from BBC Learning English.

  • I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

  • If you're deaf or hard of hearing,

  • watching television would be impossible without subtitles -

  • the words of dialogue added at the bottom of the screen explaining

  • what the characters are saying. Subtitled captions aren't only

  • for dialogue. In the most dramatic action-packed scenes of the movie,

  • there might be no one speaking,

  • but there are plenty of sounds - a scream, a thrilling car chase,

  • and all these sounds need to be described as well.

  • In this programme, we'll be meeting Karli Witkowska,

  • a subtitler who works on the Stranger Things

  • show to find out more, and of course

  • we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

  • But first

  • I have a question for you, Neil.

  • Movie subtitles are written ahead of time, but subtitling for live

  • TV has to be done in the moment as the person is speaking.

  • This can lead to mistakes - sometimes very funny ones,

  • including a subtitle which appeared in an interview

  • for the BBC Six O'clock News in 2019.

  • But what did the subtitle

  • say? Was it, a)

  • We can't allow Spiderman to become Prime Minister. b)

  • We can't allow Superman to become Prime Minister or c)

  • We can't allow Batman to become Prime Minister

  • I guess the subtitling mistake involved Spiderman.

  • I'll reveal the answer later in the programme. Of course

  • it's not just deaf audiences that subtitles help.

  • The translated subtitles of foreign films are great for learning languages,

  • letting you read a word and hear how it's pronounced at the same time.

  • And because subtitles

  • describe everything from monster squelches

  • to bombs exploding,

  • it's a great way to learn new adjectives.

  • Here's subtitler Karli

  • Witowska explaining to BBC

  • Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth

  • how her choice of adjective creates emotion for the viewer.

  • It depends on the genre

  • and depends on the shows.

  • And so if you have a very upbeat sort of period piece where the music is very

  • jaunty, you like you would use the word jaunty to describe the music.

  • It just. It's, it's creating an idea of

  • what a second is like and using a very, very descriptive word

  • in order to do so. Karli bases her descriptions

  • on the film's genre.

  • A style of film, music or book with its own particular set of features.

  • The sound effects needed for a thriller like Stranger Things -

  • creaking stairs and sudden screams - are very different from the sounds used

  • in historical period dramas, which are more upbeat, lighthearted and cheerful.

  • This influences

  • the adjective Karli chooses to describe a sound. For example,

  • upbeat music might be described as jaunty - full of energy and confidence.

  • Subtitles started out as an accessibility feature for deaf audiences

  • and to translate foreign language films into English,

  • but since the growth of online streaming services

  • like Netflix, subtitling has become something of an art.

  • Karli belongs to a team of subtitlers

  • who try to make their descriptions as close as possible to the sounds they

  • hear. Here

  • she tells BBC

  • Radio 4's Word of Mouth about a time

  • her team found exactly the right word.

  • I loved 'gobsmacked

  • silence', because you were able to tell that people were like almost

  • on the verge of a gasp or on the verge of like a shock

  • and that was the atmosphere.

  • But there wasn't actually a sound so when,

  • when my colleague came up with that one,

  • I definitely wanted to give him

  • a virtual high five. In this scene,

  • the surprise characters were about to gasp -

  • take in a short, quick breath of air.

  • There was no speech or sound in the scene,

  • but Karli's team found the perfect adjective to describe the silence -

  • 'gobsmacked', which is slang for being so surprised,

  • you can't speak.

  • This was definitely one description that deserved a high five - lifting up

  • your hand to clap hands with someone else as a greeting or to say

  • 'well done'. In fact, the phrase

  • 'gobsmacked silence' was so good

  • it went viral and started being used in all kinds of situations.

  • Maybe gobsmacked was how the viewers of that TV

  • news programme felt - you know the mistaken subtitle you asked me

  • about in your question.

  • I guessed the incorrect subtitle was

  • 'We can't allow Spiderman to become Prime Minister'. Which was...

  • the wrong answer, I'm afraid.

  • In fact the interviewee

  • said, 'We can't allow that man to become Prime Minister' speaking

  • about Boris Johnson.

  • But the misheard subtitle appeared as 'Batman'.

  • OK, let's recap the vocabulary

  • we learnt from this programme on subtitles.

  • Starting with 'genre'.

  • A style of film, music or book with its own particular set of characteristics.

  • Something which is 'upbeat'

  • is cheerful, hopeful and lighthearted. The

  • adjective 'jaunty' means full of energy and confidence.

  • If you 'gasp', you take in a short, quick breath of air

  • in surprise or in pain. You can use the slang expression 'gobsmacked'

  • when someone is so surprised they can't speak.

  • And finally, if you give someone a 'high five',

  • you hold up your hand above your head

  • clapping hands with somebody else as a greeting or to say

  • 'well done'. Once again our six minutes are up.

  • Bye for now. Bye.

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Hello. This is 6 Minute English

Subtitles and vocabulary

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