I'm dictating this post using the voice recognition software
Dragon Naturally Speaking. I ordered this software when I started having problems with a shoulder
that was preventing me from writing and typing easily. Prior to this I was
using the voice recognition software that came with my Windows package on my
laptop. The Windows software had a hard time understanding my speech; it
garbled words and missed punctuation marks, and I found I had to go back and make
way too many corrections for the exercise to be worthwhile.
Dragon is definitely a superior product. I ordered it, by
the way, on Amazon for under $50. The main thing I found amazing is a feature
whereby during setup, it will scan your document files and pick up unique words
and phrases and constructions that you personally use. It's as if it's checking
your idiosyncrasies and incorporating them into its own little brain. This is extremely
useful. For instance, I'm writing a novel that features a character with the
first name of Shirlene. The first time I used that name in dictation, Dragon
got it right, including capitalization, having read it during its initial scan of
the novel's master file.
I might add that I'm using my USB microphone headset instead
of the jack-type one that came in the box, having seen reviews where this is
recommended.
It certainly takes getting used to and can feel very awkward
at first. There's a tutorial that helps you, of course. I find myself, while
using Dragon, dictating and then correcting by hand as I go, learning more
sophisticated commands along the way, and that will lessen my dependency on
hand correction over time. My need for corrections is much less than with the
Windows program. (Right here, another for instance, Dragon automatically capitalized
Windows, sensing my 'commercial' use of it.) I find myself most annoyed by
Dragon's lack of ability to understand when I want to use a contraction, such
as 'I'm'. OK, I just dictated that word, I'm, again, and it got it right. I
enunciated it a little bit better that time. I also just tried over-enunciating
the word and it turned it into "I aim". The voice commands for using
the edit functions and moving the cursor are quite user-friendly.
The real challenge for me is the very act of dictation. I'm
amazed at how different the experience is from writing longhand or typing. There's
a whole different neural pathway from your brain to your mouth than from your
brain to your hands. I sort of knew that already, and have been looking forward
to this experience. I've found that one huge key is to not look at the screen
while I'm dictating, because the words appear on the screen with some measure
of delay. When I look away from the screen while talking, as right now, my thoughts
seem to flow much more easily.
I think I'll get best results if I do a whole bunch of
dictation, as in whole pages, then go back and do corrections later. Correcting
as I go is a flow-killer. This is definitely the kind of thing where repeated,
constant practice yields great rewards.
So, thumbs-up on Dragon. I intend to make another post about
all this after I've gotten more comfortable with the software and used it for
dictating large amounts of new material; in my case that's going to be mostly
fiction.
Tell me what you think! To post your ideas / comments, all
of which I read and try to respond to, click below where it says, 'No
Comments,' or '2 Comments,' or whatever.
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