Subtitle reading speed : a new tool for its estimation

incl. ref.

This article presents a new tool which has been developed in order to make reading speed calculations, and whose results are expressed by means of the two parameters most used in the field: CPS (characters per second) and WPM (words per minute). Topics such as the suitability of each one of the parameters versus the other, the potential correlation which may exist among them, as well as their behavior across different languages are open to discussion in the very limited available bibliography on the subject. It seems that part of this confusion has spread over to commercial subtitling programs, most of which present values for either one or both parameters to the final user. It has been confirmed that different subtitling software programs calculate different reading speed values (both in CPS and WPM) for the same set of subtitles. Due to this, a very simple software application which calculates values for CPS and WPM is presented. It has been willingly designed to make no assumptions, but simply to count characters and to make very straightforward time algebra with the subtitle in and out times. The new tool allows for empirical and quantitative research of large series of subtitles at a time, and it may also play an important role in the classroom environment.