BBC news website (legal outside UK) - dreadful incorrect subtirles

jimbo45 · Jul 12, 2023

Hi folks

Is this just the BBC or is it common with all these sorts of websites offering subtitles.

I was watching BBC internaitonal News today while waiting for the Wimbledon Tennis chamionships and It really couldn't be made up -- BBC on talking about Ukraine and Nato membrership tranlated subtitles from "Colleagues etc " to "Collies ..etc".

Now OK I'm not a 100% expert in the vaguaries of various dialects of English but isn't a "Collie" however you say it in English a type of sheep dog while a "Colleague" is a fellow worker etc.

I like the BBC - but it seems to have gone downmarket hideously in recent years -- and if Brit's moan about other people getting it without paying for a licence - then let us buy a subscription -- There's a huge amount of good stuff available from that source in spite of the hideously "Woke things" of the last few years.

Don't kill one of the best and most respected brand names on the planet, BBC World service Radio is fortunately still one of the best and most reliable sources of media world wide -- even the current UK govt is having difficulty in killing it off.

Cheers
jimbo

James · Jul 12, 2023

jimbo45 said:
I like the BBC - but it seems to have gone downmarket hideously in recent years -- and if Brit's moan about other people getting it without paying for a licence - then let us buy a subscription -- There's a huge amount of good stuff available from that source in spite of the hideously "Woke things" of the last few years.

The downfall of the BBC in the past, say 10 years has been bigger than ever. They’ve been less focused on the quality of their content and services, but more focused on squeezing the most money out of customers and spending less on improving custom experiences, so getting a bigger profit. (the case with a lot of companies now)

Also, here in the UK the TV license gives you live tv channels that are vital really, so most people find it a generally required service, so BBC have taken advantage of this.

And then in terms of your statement about sub titles, I do agree. I understand for YouTube to have auto-generated subtitles that are lacking in clarity since their are so many videos (although YouTubers can also set their own subtitles, but I have used services like prime video, netflix, disney+ etc which all have much better subtitles than BBC.

RFS · Jul 12, 2023

I use subtitles a lot and this is a common problem with many channels not just the BBC. I think many of the subtitles are being generated automatically via speech recognition and this is what leads the problem. It's probably just an amusing variant of the spell checker problem....

SIW2 · Jul 12, 2023

RFS said:
I use subtitles a lot and this is a common problem with many channels not just the BBC. I think many of the subtitles are being generated automatically via speech recognition and this is what leads the problem. It's probably just an amusing variant of the spell checker problem....

I expect you are correct. Anything that garbles BBC misinformation is a bonus.

reece · Jul 12, 2023

Maybe they started using AI to save costs. Nobody said Ai is perfect. Teething probs lol

kelper · Jul 12, 2023

jimbo45 said:
Don't kill one of the best and most respected brand names on the planet, BBC World service Radio is fortunately still one of the best and most reliable sources of media world wide -- even the current UK govt is having difficulty in killing it off.

VOA is also pretty good and independent of government. Reuters is the most neutral of the big media outlets.

cereberus · Jul 12, 2023

"Ewe Khan knot bee Sirius" syndome!

All systems that create live subtitles from speech are really garbage. Live subtitles from google, or Windows are really poor

Try turning them on with Teams - it takes so long to work put what captions mean, the conversation has moved on three or more sentences.

This has nothing to do with the BBC - just shows we are a long way from developing reliable speech to sound despite decades of effort.

Try giving subtitles on an Aberdonian quine or loon's speech LOL.

kelper · Jul 12, 2023

I find the AI generated subtitles superb. It's pretty easy to guess what was intended when the system 'mishears' a word. They are especially useful on films where the dialog is muffled.

Steve C · Jul 13, 2023

jimbo45 said:
Hi folks

Is this just the BBC or is it common with all these sorts of websites offering subtitles.

I was watching BBC internaitonal News today while waiting for the Wimbledon Tennis chamionships and It really couldn't be made up -- BBC on talking about Ukraine and Nato membrership tranlated subtitles from "Colleagues etc " to "Collies ..etc".

Now OK I'm not a 100% expert in the vaguaries of various dialects of English but isn't a "Collie" however you say it in English a type of sheep dog while a "Colleague" is a fellow worker etc.

I like the BBC - but it seems to have gone downmarket hideously in recent years -- and if Brit's moan about other people getting it without paying for a licence - then let us buy a subscription -- There's a huge amount of good stuff available from that source in spite of the hideously "Woke things" of the last few years.

Don't kill one of the best and most respected brand names on the planet, BBC World service Radio is fortunately still one of the best and most reliable sources of media world wide -- even the current UK govt is having difficulty in killing it off.

Cheers
jimbo

This is because the BBC employ an Artificial Idiot to generate subtitles

jimbo45 · Jul 13, 2023

Steve C said:
This is because the BBC employ an Artificial Idiot to generate subtitles

Hi there
Google translate works very well -- and the IBM sound to text hardware system (expensive for individuals) but BBC is wealthy enough is excellent and often used for aiding partially sighted or even totally blind people to use computers / create audio books etc etc. They could use this to generate the subtitles first and google translate can translate from the English.

No need to use a dumb robot of dubious pedigree -- probably made in China or India anyway so its English is likely to be severely limited in the first place.

Cheers
jimbo