Jan 10, 2012
To sell, or not to sell, that is the question. As a “sales guy,” in a sales position, that should be an easy one, right? It would be except for the fact that I’m really a sales engineer. That’s my title and I’m stickin’ to it. It’s the engineer part of that fan dangled moniker that has me asking the “not to sell” part of the aforementioned question. ...
Dec 28, 2011
Three months ago I debuted into the Closed Captioning (CC) world when I started working with Aberdeen Captioning.
Needless to say, the many misconceptions and myths that I had about what CC is and how it works have now been completely debunked.
Below are the top five things I was surprised to learn:
1. It’s an FCC requirement
I used to think that it was optional and TV stations did it just ...
Dec 20, 2011
Though we are stuck in one location with one official language in one country, it doesn't mean the videos that we post on the Internet are limited to one's geographical location. It's time to go global since the Internet doesn't have limitations on audience, language, cultures, etc. Producers should aim to go global by adding different languages in the captioning/subtitling when they post their videos on the Web. ...
Dec 7, 2011
What you see here is a photo of the television in my family room. Notice anything interesting? Give up? Okay, I’ll tell you. The closed captioning is on, and no, it’s not just something I did for this picture. I have the closed captioning on all the time. But why? I’m in my early 30’s and my hearing is just fine. So again, why?
The answer is ...
Nov 1, 2011
How many ways are there to translate a word from one language to another? Sometimes it’s as simple as translating Dora the Explorer’s "¡vámonos!" (let’s go), but in Aberdeen’s Multi-Language Department, often times it’s a bit more complex than that.
I regularly work with Spanish translations from very competent people, and although these translations are already great, my job is to make them better. When reading them, it ...
Nov 1, 2011
¿Cuantas maneras existen de traducir una palabra de un lenguaje a otro? Algunas veces es tan simple como traducir la frase de Dora la Exploradora “¡let’s go!” (vámonos), pero a menudo es un poco más complicado que eso en el Departamento de Idiomas de Aberdeen.
Usualmente trabajo con traducciones en español que vienen de gente muy capaz, y aunque éstas son muy buenas traducciones, mi trabajo es ...
Oct 25, 2011
In the genre of surreal cartoon humor there seems to be some debate over the creation and upkeep of closed captions. Specifically, in reference to the program “Family Guy,” the controversy revolves around the opening song lyrics, particularly, baby Stewie’s solo line of “laugh and cry.” While it is noted that the program’s creator, Seth MacFarlane, has clearly stated that Stewie’s line has always been “laugh and cry,” ...
Oct 21, 2011
My whole life I’ve had an affinity for the English language (and alliteration). Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation have always been incredibly important to me – even to the point where I will comment on friends’ Facebook statuses with corrections! So naturally, one of my favorite aspects of closed captioning is being able to use my love and knowledge of the English language, professionally, every single day.
Here at ...
Oct 11, 2011
Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but differ in meaning and can be a daily nuisance to closed captioners and transcribers, who rely solely on what they hear when captioning and transcribing programs. Here is a list of the most commonly misused homophones that I tend to encounter while captioning:
adverse vs. averse—adverse means unfavorable. Averse means reluctant.
descendent vs. descendant—Apparently, descendent is now considered a dead word. ...
Oct 4, 2011
Having come up through the ranks in Hollywood as a Sound Supervisor and eventually a picture editor during the “Digital Revolution” of the 1990s, I worked with just about every kind of tape deck known to man. Heck, when I started we were still sending MAG reels to the stage for dubbing.
We loved the DA-88 for audio because it had 8 tracks and was affordable enough to put ...