The art of re-speaking is far more about the human re-speaker than about the technology. Speech recognition engines are improving all the time, but even with the best of today’s engines it is not possible during a short workshop to train them to reach the accuracy standards required for professional broadcast services. And using speech recognisers in a noisy group environment is not easy either.

For those reasons, this workshop focuses hands-on in conveying and learning the crucial human skills needed for successful re-speaking. The professional re-speaker is the intermediary between the broadcaster and the hearing-impaired television viewer, performing a challenging audiovisual translation process in real time. At the same time, the re-speaker needs to ensure that the speech recognition engine is given the best possible chance to deliver an accurate transcript of what s/he is saying.

Using real-world example clips, and closely assisted by three experts in the field, participants will be trained and mentored as they develop skills in the following:

• pre-preparation – practical things to do in order to prepare for a re-speaking session for a live television programme
• simultaneous listening / thinking / composing / speaking / monitoring – how to take the crucial first steps in achieving lift-off as a re-speaker
• deciding how and when to edit the spoken transcript compared to the original
• overcoming the potential “cognitive overload” inherent in performing the re-speaking role
• learning how to meld the subtitle commentary with the audiovisual content of the original TV material without clashes
• assessing and taking suitable corrective action in case of error
• application of the skills of re-speaking to other kinds of subtitling
• practical guidelines for success in re-speaking