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Kapwing supports me as an ALS-patient by giving me free access to subtitle my videos
On 2023, February 9th, I was diagnosed with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This disease is known since the middle of the 19th century and still a mystery. Physicians do not know about the cause, the circumstances for its onset and treatments are still missing. Affected patients receive symptomatic support. Steven Hawking is a well-known case for the juvenile type of the disease.
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I have the so-called bulbar form of ALS. This means my speech is mainly affected. When the suspected diagnosis was confirmed, I felt relief, even though the prospect, according to medical profession, is “certain” death. It's no different than yours, except mine seems to come faster. 😊
The announced limit of my life-time is releasing tremendous vital energy in me and a great joy for life. My speech is becoming slower and slurred, but inside, spaciousness, intensity, light and joy are increasing. I laugh, I travel, I enjoy, I like to be with people, I feel, I talk no matter how laboriously. In other words: I am alive !
Several friends said: “Write something, say something, do something, record what you are experiencing. You inspire others." Spontaneously, I made a video about Joy. And because I am German living in French-speaking Québec in Canada, I produced three different versions at once, in English, French and German.
I posted these videos on several social medias and was completely surprised how many people gave me feedback, touched, joyful, thoughtful, compassionate, encouraged and encouraging. It was beautiful.
I made a second one. When I listened to it, I was surprised that my pronunciation is clearly more difficult to understand from the outside than it seems to me, hearing myself from the inside. It was clear: subtitles were needed.
After two attempts with other online-video-editors, I came across Kapwing. I'm a sort of an unhandy person facing modern technology, but the online tool was intuitive and within a short time, without any help, I had subtitled my first video.
Besides the usual editing tools like trimming etc. – here is the Kapwing manual –, I particularly like two things:
1) The speech recognition is PHENOMENAL !!!!
I am not able to pronounce well any more. Kapwing’s automatic subtitling almost always "understands" me. I am thrilled ! The quality of speech recognition is equally good in all three languages. Gorgeous !
The announced limit of my life-time is releasing tremendous vital energy in me and a great joy for life. My speech is becoming slower and slurred, but inside, spaciousness, intensity, light and joy are increasing. I laugh, I travel, I enjoy, I like to be with people, I feel, I talk no matter how laboriously. In other words: I am alive !
Several friends said: “Write something, say something, do something, record what you are experiencing. You inspire others." Spontaneously, I made a video about Joy. And because I am German living in French-speaking Québec in Canada, I produced three different versions at once, in English, French and German.
I posted these videos on several social medias and was completely surprised how many people gave me feedback, touched, joyful, thoughtful, compassionate, encouraged and encouraging. It was beautiful.
I made a second one. When I listened to it, I was surprised that my pronunciation is clearly more difficult to understand from the outside than it seems to me, hearing myself from the inside. It was clear: subtitles were needed.
After two attempts with other online-video-editors, I came across Kapwing. I'm a sort of an unhandy person facing modern technology, but the online tool was intuitive and within a short time, without any help, I had subtitled my first video.
Besides the usual editing tools like trimming etc. – here is the Kapwing manual –, I particularly like two things:
1) The speech recognition is PHENOMENAL !!!!
I am not able to pronounce well any more. Kapwing’s automatic subtitling almost always "understands" me. I am thrilled ! The quality of speech recognition is equally good in all three languages. Gorgeous !
The lines are divided into meaningful sections. Of course, you can change everything as you like. This can be done easily and clearly in a window with a white background.
Furthermore, Kapwing shows typing errors. No automatic correction, which makes me happy, but colored underlining, so that my attention is drawn there and I can correct if necessary. It is very easy to make two separated lines of subtitles into one or vice versa.
The automatic timing when the subtitles appear are very well set from the start, and very easy to change if needed by clicking on the time display and entering new numbers. Red is used to indicate if there is any erroneous overlap.
2) You can then download the finished product from Kapwing, an option that some online video editors don't allow in the free version.
I have a lot of fun working with Kapwing’s online video tool. Here you can listen to my speech difficulties and witness how helpful the subtitles are.
https://youtu.be/rFbGhqfl4fw
Furthermore, Kapwing shows typing errors. No automatic correction, which makes me happy, but colored underlining, so that my attention is drawn there and I can correct if necessary. It is very easy to make two separated lines of subtitles into one or vice versa.
The automatic timing when the subtitles appear are very well set from the start, and very easy to change if needed by clicking on the time display and entering new numbers. Red is used to indicate if there is any erroneous overlap.
2) You can then download the finished product from Kapwing, an option that some online video editors don't allow in the free version.
I have a lot of fun working with Kapwing’s online video tool. Here you can listen to my speech difficulties and witness how helpful the subtitles are.
https://youtu.be/rFbGhqfl4fw