European Union Commission urged to promote language learning

European Day of Languages : European Union Commission urged to promote language learning

The event was open to the public and saw a number of events take place in and around the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, including an exhibition of language projects, music and singing in different languages and multilingual games. 26 September has been designated European Day of Languages by the Council of Europe and the Commission since 2001’s Year of Languages.

The Commission set up a High Level Group on Multilingualism in 2005, which also presented its report.

Issues:
The recommendation, from the report of High Level Group on Multilingualism, came as the EU executive used its special languages day to announce the launch of an online ‘Have Your Say’ external corner and consultationexternal on multilingualism.
The launch represents the beginning of a new phase in the Commission’s consultation process in this area, with the focus switching from governments, experts and companies to other stakeholders, including the general public.
Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban said that the EU executive “has a clear role in promoting multilingualism”, adding that it has to know the needs and expectations of citizens, stakeholders, companies and member states in order to “define the best way forward”.
“Our aim is to give the Union a new generation of multilingual citizens,” he added.
The latest consultation process will run until 15 November 2007, with the results made available in early 2008. It will lead to a policy statement in the form of a Communication on Multilingualism in May 2008, Orban added.

Meanwhile, the High Level Group’s reportl recommends:
* Launching information campaigns among parents, young people, educational and cultural organisations and decision-makers to raise awareness of language learning.
* Including language in sports and extra-curricular activities for young people as a way of increasing motivation to learn – as well as more television programmes encouraging language learning, particularly through subtitles.
* Creating pan-European benchmarks to professionalise the training of third-country languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Russian.
* Developing masters and higher education programmes in specialised areas of translation and interpretation such as the legal sphere.

Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban described the recommendations as “very valuable”.

Positions:
Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban, referring to the High Level Group’s report, said: “This report can inspire concrete projects, for instance, research into aspects of multilingualism where there are currently gaps in our knowledge.” He cited the promotion of language learning outside formal education settings, encouraging language learning at an older age and the integration of linguistic minorities as areas requiring more attention.”
He added: “My strong belief is that, in order to be effective, language learning should meet at least three criteria. It should be attractive, it should start at an early age, and it should continue during one’s whole life.”
An afternoon seminar presented members of the High Level Group with illustrations of how the media can play a role in encouraging people to learn foreign languages.

Steven Fawkes, former education officer at the BBC, said that the issue was “bigger than education”, as language learning goes beyond the classroom to become a key element in other social activities such as sport. He commended the BBC’s efforts to promote languages via multilingual programmes on TV, radio and the internet but noted that the issue of fees was always going to come back on the agenda. “Why pay the BBC fee if I don’t watch it?” is the recurring question in Britain, he said.

Claire Doutriaux, a producer at Arte TV, showed an episode of her Karambolage external flagship programme, which seeks to entertain viewers with Franco-German cultural subtleties. Like all other programmes at Arte, Karambolage is bilingual but the difficulty lies in finding a story-telling “drama” that works for both language versions. “We have to juggle with languages, images and translation to make it happen,” she explained.

Jaana Sormunen, executive producer at Finnish broadcasting company YLE, presented an educational and entertainment programme, La Casa en España, which, for the second year running, has attracted numerous viewers in Finland. The TV game saw competitors study Spanish at home for three months and then take speaking exams in the studio and during weekend trips to Spain. The show is part of YLE’s language-learning drive, which includes a virtual language school, The Language Gateexternal , in which users can practice languages with interactive exercises using audio, video and text.

Frédéric Simon, managing editor at EurActiv.com, presented EurActiv’s unique approach to EU political news coverage with the launch in 2004 of several partner websites in central and eastern Europe, each covering EU affairs in their own language. The CrossLingual Network, Simon said, aimed to meet demand for independent information on European policies in those countries where the democratic deficit with the EU elites in Brussels is made worse as a result of the language barrier. He then presented the two most recent additions to the network, with the launch of EurActiv Franceexternal in May and EurActiv Turkey in September.

Debate centred on the issue of TV subtitling versus dubbing with one participant pointing out that subtitled programmes do not score high audience levels in France.
He was contradicted by Jaana Sormunen, who said that viewers in Finland massively protested when the American TV series The Bold and the Beautiful was presented in a dubbed version. Conference moderator Wim De Wielder, from the Dutch-speaking Belgian television channel VRT confirmed this, saying that Flemish viewers are accustomed to subtitling and have found it a useful way to learn English.

Latest & next steps:
* 25 Sept. 2007: Commission adopted report on the implementation of the Action Plan 2004-2006 Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity.
* 26 Sept. 2007: Commission held European Day of Languages and launched online ‘Have Your Say’ corner and consultation on multilingualism.
* 26 Sept. 2007: High Level Group on Multilingualism presented its report.
* 15 Nov. 2007: Latest Commission consultation process ends.
* Nov. 2007: Business Forum on Multilingualism in Lisbon.
* May 2008: Commission releases Communication on Multilingualism.

Polish police raid homes of rogue movie subtitlers

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/18/report_polish_police.html

According to online reports, police in at least four cities in Poland have arrested a number of people in a copyright infringement crackdown. The raids are said to have been coordinated with German police, and a Polish anti-piracy group associated with the recording industry.
What's weirdest about the raids, though, is that they targeted people who subtitle movies:
In Krakow, Slask, Podlasie, and Szczecin, police arrived at the suspected subtitlers’ homes at 6 a.m. — and took them into custody. The story first appeared on the Polish Linux site, which states that “According to Polish copyright law any ‘processing’ of others’ content including translating is prohibited without permission.” Newspaper accounts report that the detained subtitlers face two years in jail if they’re convicted of illegally publishing copyrighted material — presumably including translated movie dialogue.

Link
Assuming the reports are accurate -- there's no direct reporting available from sources I know and trust -- I wonder if there's a a connection with recent news that the Bush administration recently put Poland on a copyright "priority watch list," threatening economic sanctions if law enforcement in Poland did not take more forceful action against infringement. Snip:
China, Russia and 10 other nations were targeted by the Bush administration for failing to sufficiently protect American producers of music, movies and other copyrighted material from widespread piracy.
The Bush administration on Monday placed the 12 countries on a "priority watch list" which will subject them to extra scrutiny and could eventually lead to economic sanctions if the administration decides to bring trade cases before the World Trade Organization.

Link

These raids were orchestrated by The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry (ZPAV), a collective rights organisation, and German authorities shut the site which was hosted on servers in that jurisdiction. They are co-founders of the The Anti-Piracy Coalition, founded in 1998 by three organizations: ZPAV, FOTA (Polish branch of Motion Picture Association) and BSA (Business Software Alliance).

Comments to the slashdot story on the subject on elsehwere have also pointed out that in general foreign-language movies are dubbed in polish, and all the dubbing is carrried out by the same person. So there it is: the official world offers you a hitty sub-standard product, which would make any filmmaker wince, the ‘piartes’ offer the real thing free of self-interest and are threatened with jail?

Rethinking the Art of Subtitles

Rethinking the Art of Subtitles

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1621155,00.html

Early on in the 2004 supernatural Russian thriller Night Watch, the protagonist, trying to prevent a witch from casting a spell on his unborn child, yells at the top of his lungs in protest. For English-speaking audiences, the subtitles do more than just translate the literal meaning: the words "no" and "stop" with three exclamation points are shown on different parts of the screen in large, moving letters. In another scene, as a swimming character hears a voice in his head causing his nose to bleed, the words "come to me," appear in red letters that dissolve like blood in the pool.
"We discussed with the studio [Fox Searchlight] how to make the movie more entertaining for English-speaking audiences," says director Timur Bekmambetov of the first in his three-part epic trilogy. "We thought of the subtitles as another character in the film, another way to tell the story." Times have certainly changed since the frustrating days of unreliable, white-on-white subtitles , randomly unreadable and restricted to art house films.
Over the next week and a half, some 65 films from 34 countries will screen at the Cannes Film Festival, all subtitled in English, French or both. The subtitles that will allow non-native viewers to follow the stories are crucial because no matter how flashy or impressive a movie may be, it's the subtitles that can stifle or showcase its quality. Although many audiences around the world, most of whom see foreign films dubbed , consider them the cinematic equivalent of Brussels sprouts, subtitles remain an unsung yet essential tool of moviegoing. And with technology improvements, more people speaking foreign languages and the modern habit of multi-tasking, the traditional aversion to watching a film while reading it just might be on the wane.

If subtitles "aren't invisible, you fail," says Henri Béhar, subtitler of a wide swath of notable films such as Brokeback Mountain, Boyz in the Hood and Good Will Hunting. "The titles should subtly give people the impression that they are understanding the characters speaking, not reading words on the screen." Trying to translate one language to another in the course of a film has challenges and limitations that apply to dubbbing as well as subtitling — unlike literature which has the safety net of footnotes, film subtitlers have to make it work in the moment, all while trying to adapt wordplay and cultural references. "Characters in Boyz in the Hood talked about Amos n' Andy," says Béhar. "Well, in France that wouldn't mean anything. I went with Laurel and Hardy, but of course all the racial and political significance was gone. Sixteen years later, I'm still trying to find a better alternative."
Once in a while, subtitlers do get their due. Jacqueline Cohen, responsible for all of Woody Allen's films since 1989's Alice, says that "whenever Woody comes to town, he always mentions that the reason his films are so successful in France is thanks to the person who does the subtitles." No quick task, considering the talky nature of the prolific filmmaker's almost annual releases. "Action movies average about 700 subtitles — Woody's, between 1,500 to 2,000," says Claude Dupuy, the director of subtitling at LVT Laser Subtitling , which handles more than 600 films per year.
Dupuy, giving a tour of LVT's large facility in Malakoff, a Paris suburb, explains the process of laser engraving pioneered by the company in 1988 that burns translucent holes through the film's coating. Previously, subtitles were the result of applying a protective coating of paraffin wax, then stamping the words onto each frame in a zinc strip. This was followed by a bleach bath that dissolved away all parts of the emulsion not protected by the paraffin (the zinc-stamped subtitles), leaving the words in white on each frame. It was an unreliable, error-prone process.
Behind Dupuy are a several bulky machines, each equipped with a green laser that etches English subtitles one frame per second onto the French drama Lemming. Each frame clicks as it goes through the machine's gate, the same two-line sentence being engraved some 30 times until with a whir it advances to the next subtitle. It's a methodical, precise sequence that will take about 10 hours per print.

But the engraving of the subtitles is the last step in a process that begins weeks earlier. At LVT and other companies, a person watches the film scene by scene, doing what's known as spotting — marking time according to the timecode, the film's official clock — the start and end point of each spoken line of dialogue. Then the subtitler goes to work, balancing the challenge of conveying meaning accurately within the confines of space and the roughly 1.5-second-long display allotted per subtitle. The reality is that despite the reputation of subtitling over dubbbing as a form of cultural purity, the eye reads slower than the ear hears, meaning that more than a third of a film's dialogue is sacrificed for what is most essential. The general rule is no more than 45 characters per line, even though widescreen movies could fit longer sentences (says Dupuy, "it shouldn't be like watching tennis").
There are logical rules as well, such as finishing a subtitle when a character stops speaking and not extending it over a cut, which can be disorienting. Good subtitles work with the rhythm of the scene, based on accurate spotting that captures that timing. Whereas now a subtitler can refer to the film on cassette or DVD throughout his or her work, in the old days, they'd see the film just once before writing the subtitles sometimes weeks later based on the spotting list, without a description of the context — a recipe for inaccuracy that probably contributed to dislike of subtitles in the first place.

"Each time you confront another culture," says the director Bekmambetov, whose sequel Day Watch will be released in the U.S. next month, "it gives you the motivation to create something different, to rethink your film in a way." In this Internet-chatting, newscrawl-reading multicultural era, when filmmakers can thematically incorporate subtitles into the story, a corner may have been turned. It's happened before; remember only a few years back when everyone believed that letterboxing was blocking part of the screen? Now it's hard to find DVDs that aren't letterboxed. Still, for subtitling, it might be slow-going: as a response to his trilogy's international appeal, Bekmambetov is planning to shoot the final installment in English.

Subtitles no longer a foreign concept

Subtitles no longer a foreign concept


Subtitles no longer a foreign concept
By Gregg Kilday
Dec 22, 2006
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/columns/film_reporter/e3ifc91056537ab3920866cdfeb2feab9fc?imw=Y
Read a good movie lately? If you've been frequenting the local megaplex you probably have, since one of 2006's little-noticed trends has been the return of the subtitle.Historically, Hollywood has shunned subtitles. It assumed most moviegoers wouldn't sit still for dialogue that had to be translated onscreen; subtitles were left to foreign films with limited appeal to smaller, more upscale audiences. But then films like 2000's sumptuous martial arts movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- which grossed a whopping $128.1 million domestically -- proved that you could have your subtitles and a broad-based audience, too.This year has seen a proliferation of subtitled fare.

There are such traditional foreign-language features as Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" and Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth," both in Spanish. In the French-produced "The Science of Sleep," Gael Garcia Bernal, a rising international star, speaks French, Spanish and English. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel," produced by Paramount Vantage, features a polyglot cast speaking English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Berber, Arabic and, in the case of the deaf girl played by Rinko Kikuchi, Japanese sign language. One of the movie's themes is the cost of miscommunication in an increasingly global world, and it's through subtitles that audiences keep one step ahead of the often bewildered characters.

Subtitles are showing up in less traditional fare as well. The ambush comedy "Borat" opens with a title treatment, presumably in the Kazakhstan state language of Kazakh, that is explained by English subtitles. Waiting in line in a coffee shop, Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat argues with his portly producer Azamat (Ken Davitian) in some approximation of a foreign language, subtitled for the audience's amusement.Having dared to film an entire movie, "The Passion of the Christ," in ancient Aramaic, Mel Gibson uses a Mayan dialect in "Apocalypto," which still opened in first place at the boxoffice. The current action-cum-message movie "Blood Diamond" isn't afraid to mix in indigenous languages as it re-creates civil war in Sierra Leone. And in "Letters From Iwo Jima," Clint Eastwood films an entire war movie in Japanese.

Technological advances have made subtitles more palatable. As more theaters offer stadium seating, the old problem of the moviegoer in front of you blocking your view of the subtitles is eliminated. Filmmakers also are adopting an array of typefaces and colors that make subtitles easier to read; gone are the old days when shaky white lettering disappeared altogether whenever the color white dominated a scene.Ultimately, movies probably have to thank TV for domesticating the subtitle. "Lost" and "Heroes," two of the hottest series of the past few years, boast proudly multicultural casts, and both shows have featured extensive scenes in which their non-English-speaking characters converse in their native tongues. Similarly, the postapocalyptic drama "Jericho" features a deaf character, played by Shoshannah Stern, and when she argues with her brother Stan (Brad Beyer) in forceful American Sign Language, their dialogue is subtitled."Heroes" even has served up a twist on the traditional, bottom-of-the-screen placement of subtitles. When Japanese office workers Hiro and Ando are onscreen together, the show moves around the subtitles so they appear either below or beside the character who has just spoken.

Suddenly, subtitles don't look so foreign -- they're more like the dialogue bubbles in comic books. No wonder audiences don't seem to fear them anymore

Multilingualism: ‘English is not enough’

Leonard Orban

http://subtitling.blogspot.com/2006/12/multilingualism-english-is-not-enough_17.html

Multilingualism: ‘English is not enough’

Varujan Vosganian

Multilingualism: ‘English is not enough’

http://www.cafebabel.com/en/article.asp?T=T&Id=9179
Dana Manescu - Paris - 11.12.2006
27 states, 23 languages; Leonard Orban, Romanian Commissioner-designate for multilingualism, is to head the new European tower of Babel in 2007

The grinding of teeth can be heard. Last October, the appointment of Leonard Orban, 45, Romania’s deputy chief negotiator with the EU since 2001, as the first Commissioner-designate for multilingualism, gave rise to some acerbic comments from observers. On December 12, MEPs give their final vote on this contested candidacy.

Mindblowing material

Compared to the new consumer protection portfolio, which has been entrusted to the future Bulgarian Commissioner Meglena Kouneva, the multilingualism portfolio ought to be a mere trifle, according to Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, political scientist in Bucharest. It is an act which demonstrates the lack of interest in incoming Romania. The Slovakian Jan Figel previously held this position, which has been denigrated as ‘council housing night watchman,’ ipse dixit columnist Ion Cristoiu. Even then, he wasn’t sole commissioner for it, and shared the post concurrently with education and culture. Figel will remain in charge of the latter two; Leonard Orban meanwhile takes on the white elephant.

Romanian journalist Rodica Culcer wasted no time in ironically reflecting on the connection between the weight of the multilingualism portfolio as a single post and Orban’s political calibre. Both hover around zero, she says.The leading Romanian opposition party, the Social Democrats (the centre-left PSD), has criticized Orban for his technocracy and lack of political personality. For the Social Democratic Party, the nomination is entirely strategic, as it will serve to balance out the political forces within the Commission, and avoid criticism.

Socialist MEPs are delighted that Orban has ‘the necessary European experience,’ whilst lamenting the fact that ‘Romania has not been able to put forward a higher-level political figure.’ It was a nomination made in haste; the Romanian government withdrew its previous nominee, the liberal economist Varujan Vosganian, following embarrassing accusations about his past. José Manuel Barroso, president of the Commission, is positive: ‘I am sure that Mr. Orban, through his experience, qualities and personal, political and professional commitment, will carry out the responsibilities that I would like to bestow upon him with complete success.’

ad hoc portfolio?

So what will the Romanian actually do? He is in control of three Directorate-Generals - the Directorate-General for Translation, the Directorate-General for Interpretation and the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. A team of approximately 3400 civil servants will be under his leadership. The notion is almost romantic; by wanting to instil in Europeans a love of languages, Leonard Orban has already spoken in favour of the principal of ‘mother tongue + 2’ foreign languages. In a union of 27 states with 23 official languages, English is not enough.

In order to increase European citizens’ motivation to learn their neighbours’ languages, Orban also proposes Subtitling films. Language teachers will be better trained. Citizens, as well as businesses within the EU, must speak several languages.

Orban’s goal is simple – the wealth of languages and cultures will be at the heart of Europe’s political and economic unity. With the increase in the number of official languages, the tensions between administrative efficiency and the right of citizens to linguistic diversity are ever more apparent. At this time, the survival of European cultures, the democratisation of an enlarged European Union and even, perhaps, its competitiveness, depend on multilingualism.

Multilingualism: ‘English is not enough’

José Manuel Barroso

http://subtitling.blogspot.com/2006/12/multilingualism-english-is-not-enough_17.html

The Importance of Subtitles in Feature Films

Ram Gopal Verma's - Shiva
http://allafrica.com/stories/200611211048.html
Mauritius: The Importance of Subtitles in Feature Films
L'Express (Port Louis) November 21, 2006

Suresh Ramphul, Port Louis

The recently released Shiva, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, is routine fare about a young policeman who makes himself a few enemies because he flatly refuses to be a part of their underworld activities. The film is slickly edited and appropriate for killing time, but the problem is with the subtitles. These are amateurishly done and you end up wondering why producers don't give much importance to subtitles as these are vital in helping those who have trouble with Hindi to make sense of what is going on in a film. Subtitles must communicate effectively and clearly. They must add to our understanding and enjoyment. We rely on the subtitles to assist us to get into a film. I experience no difficulty with Hindi myself but I shudder to think of those who need to read the subtitles of Shiva all the way through to derive full understanding of the film. Grammatical errors, inaccurate translation, spelling mistakes, etc. mar the film shamefully. How then can we expect our students to improve their English and love this language when they are so blatantly exposed to a deplorable level of English?

"Somebody will going", "More harder!" "Maybe the John" when the article is not necessary, "He's was", "Is police come from the sky?" "He's having so much self-respect" when we would say "He has so much..." "Leave this duty task" when the correct way of putting it is "leave this talk about duty", "I think he earn a lot" with "s" missing in the verb, "He stroke" instead of "stroked", "one of my friend" instead of "friends" are all examples of the kind of subtitles we have to endure. "We lived in the same area" is translated in the past tense when the dialogue in Hindi is in the present. We have "I'm taking you to home" where the preposition is unnecessary, "policemen is" rather than "are", "What do you saying" for "What are you saying", "what do with..." which is plainly nonsense, "Sometimes I'm going to meet them" when what is meant is "I go", "That right" when it should be "That's right", and "How can I'll". The villain says that he has never been to school but in prison "I red some books" when "read" is the word. Enhancing enjoyment "I work for the peace" where the article is not necessary; in "I just totally condemn it" "just" is redundant and in "17 cases was registered" it should be "were".

"Any judge will jailed him" is obviously wrong as is "I'm congratulate you" as well as "Police is full of". "Kya hua" is translated as "What happen?" when it would be better to say, "What's the matter" "Every man have a price", "Hi everything will be closed" and "I can do that thing what I feel is right" and "bare the pain" are bound to drive you mad. "Malaysia mein rehta hai" means "He lives in Malaysia" but here we have "He lived in...", "It look like", "Shiva height is" without the apostrophe after the name, "How many time I said" with the missing "s", "I buy it for one of my friend", "If you don't tell me who are you" where "who you are" is suitable, "Your name is forever in all over the country" when the right way of expressing it is "You will be famous all over the country", "Where is he hide" are all irritating and make you feel ashamed that the English language is so mercilessly treated.

Subtitles should be a means to expand the audience. In the context of globalisation films are marketed widely and subtitles should attract more and more people and conquer new pastures rather than discourage such a trend. "He have one brother", "How much we discussed about you", "if you insist me to do", "temporary we people are safe", "your all gang" instead of "your whole gang", the Hindi words "soun soun ke" meaning having heard much about are translated as "after listing". Subtitling is no child's play. It must be meticulously done to bring out the basic meaning of the dialogue and the nuances of the words in the original. It must also be pleasant to read while enhancing enjoyment. Moreover, one picks up words and this does improve one's vocabulary.

Subtitles must be able to reflect the humour, the shades of emotion, and the tone in the speech. A spate of faults in the subtitles, as in the case of Shiva, is an insult to the intelligence of the viewer. Those in the entertainment business should know that taking the viewers for granted is mistaken thinking.

Danish Government Receives Award for National Speech Recognition Initiative Powered By Philips SpeechMagic

Speech Technology Magazine

Danish Government Receives Award for National Speech Recognition Initiative Powered By Philips SpeechMagic
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060914005466&newsLang=en

VIENNA, Austria--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2006--

Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) (Amsterdam:PHI) announced today that the government of the Kingdom of Denmark has received the Most Innovative Solution (MIS) Award from Speech Technology Magazine for its implementation of speech technologies. The government has successfully deployed the Philips speech recognition software SpeechMagic as part of a national initiative to improve the accessibility of information to its population, including people with disabilities. The Danish government's initiative comprises three major projects including the live subtitling of TV shows, consumer speech recognition software and speech recognition-based publishing of parliamentary speeches.
"Denmark has a population of 5.4 million people. Thanks to the public-private partnership between the government and companies like Philips, speech recognition software is now available to all Danes. With this unique initiative Denmark is using state-of-the-art technology to give its people access to information and computers without barriers," said Helge Sander, the Danish Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation. The Minister also pointed out that "many other countries with small populations, such as Sweden and Norway, have already expressed interest in following the Danish example."
"The Speech Solutions Awards recognize this year's best in speech technology innovation and implementation," says David Myron, editor-in-chief of Speech Technology Magazine. "Award recipients should be proud to be part of an elite group that is paving the way for others to follow."
By subtitling TV shows the hearing impaired, which total 10 percent of the population, can follow important political events and current affairs programs live on television. In addition, speech recognition software for home PC users will reduce barriers related to the usage of PCs, benefiting elderly people and persons with physical disabilities. The Danish parliament is also planning to use speech recognition in its Official Report publishing system to publish 85% of all reports on the Internet within two or three hours after a speech has been held.
The Danish speech recognition initiative has been realized in a close public-private partnership involving Philips Speech Recognition Systems, Prolog Development Center A/S and Max Manus A/S. The initiative has received DKK 6.000.000 (approx. EUR 780,000) in public funding.