Video Dubbing

This is my reflection on the last module in class: the dubbing module. This experience had both good and bad moments, so I believe I have a lot to share. It was a creative and immersive way to combine language learning with performance, which made the process both challenging and enjoyable.

The language skill I developed the most was definitely confidence in speaking, especially since it was challenging to sing in Chinese in front of Taiwanese students. During our rehearsals, our group listened to the song multiple times to get used to the tones and correct pronunciation in Chinese. Because of that, I think we also improved our Chinese pronunciation. I have to say it was a tough experience for my classmates and me when trying to sing in Chinese. Since I’ve been learning Chinese—and even teaching it—I know firsthand how difficult it is to master the tones. That was the part my classmates struggled with the most. However, after practicing individually and then helping each other while recording our voices, we managed to give a good performance.

Honestly, our presentation wasn’t perfect, but I think it was a strong one because we worked as a team, helping and correcting each other with the tones and rhythm. In my case, I was out of tune in my part, and my teammates were really patient, letting me repeat it many times and even singing with me so I could catch the proper rhythm. Like me, everyone in the group had challenges, but we were patient and supportive. I really enjoyed working with them. While we struggled in some parts, we also laughed and enjoyed the process. We especially loved singing the first song, because we poured out all of our emotions when singing that part. In the end, during the live performance, we were all nervous, but we encouraged one another. I think that helped me feel more confident singing in front of everyone and improved my oral performance in Chinese.

I was able to notice clear improvements in my speaking performance throughout the whole process. One change I observed was that, after practicing the song many times, I could pronounce all the correct tones. The second change was in my voice volume. I’m often told that I speak very softly and quietly, so when I was editing the video, I increased the volume of my part. However, during the live performance, I naturally raised my voice, especially since my classmates had louder voices. I remember that my part came after Vernelle’s, and her voice is strong, so I tried to match her pitch and sing a bit louder than usual. The third change was in my confidence. As I mentioned earlier, we really liked the first song, so I wrote down the lyrics using only Chinese characters to practice. I remember singing just by reading the characters, and I think that really boosted my speaking confidence—enough to sing in front of a Chinese-speaking audience.

Initially, I thought the final phase—the Presentation or live performance—was the most challenging because I was so nervous. However, I later realized that the phase of Dubbed Clip Edition was the most difficult one. Particularly, editing the video in CapCut and recording our voices. I was frustrated trying to match our voices with the background music. My classmates also mentioned that our voices were out of tune. We all felt a bit defeated, but we agreed to meet again to practice and re-record. That time, they stayed with me while I edited the final version. I asked for their feedback and had them listen to ensure everything sounded okay. The editing process took a lot of time, which is why I now consider it the most challenging part. That stage really tested our perseverance and ability to collaborate under pressure.

For this dubbing module, we didn’t use ChatGPT at all because we found the first music video already subtitled in Chinese characters, pinyin, and English. It was made for students learning Chinese as a foreign language. The second music video was originally posted in both Chinese and English because the British band Transition had become popular in Taiwan. They moved there for a few years and eventually learned the language, so they released all their songs with subtitles in both Chinese and English. Now that I think about it, we could have used ChatGPT to generate the lyrics in pinyin with tones, which we didn’t have and had to do manually.

Using this module in my English classes is something I’d like to try because it would be a fun activity for my students and maybe we’d even discover hidden talents, just like in our class. It would also help them practice speaking skills: fluency, intonation, and pronunciation. However, I’d need to spend a few classes explaining how to use the platform and edit videos. For high school students, instead of having them go through the entire process by themselves, I could create a playlist of videos for them to choose from. Since there could be limited time, I would try to select videos of up to 2 minutes. They would then translate and dub the video. I could dedicate one class to video selection and translation, and another to dubbing and practice before they present it to the class.

Overall, this was a very positive experience where I got to learn new digital skills and practice one of my favorite languages: Chinese. It reminded me how creative approaches to language learning can make the process more engaging and personally meaningful.