This post is going to represent an experiment. I’ve recently acquired Dragon naturally speaking . For some reason every time I start writing I think how much better it would be if I could dictate rather than type. I’ve actually bought Dragon speaking naturally three times in my lifetime and each time it was slightly better but it wasn’t better than actual writing.
In writing this post I’m going to attempt to only use Dragon and keep the editing down to a minimum. I’m actually impressed at how well it does capture my accident (accent). I was born in California but at an early age moved to taxes (Texas) so I have a very definite southern drawl. It’s going to be interesting to see how well it learns my speech pattern.
I’ve noticed that it is not quite as simple as just the date and a post (dictating a post). When I talk I have a tendency to ramble and (do) not take the time to get my thoughts coherent.
After reading this I’m going to set down some ground rules. Where you see words in italics are what Dragon actually interpreted my speech as and where you see text inside the parentheses you see what I said.
I’m working with the standard version of Dragon speaking naturally. I was able to get it with a rebate sold (so) my investment is about $20 and some of my time in training. Although it came with a microphone I’m using the microphone I normally use for gaming. I have a lot of practice using this microphone and I’ve spent a lot of time getting the volume on it just right so people during a raid can understand what I’m saying.
Once I installed Dragon I had to spend about 20 min. setting up a profile. I read to it from a number of choices. In my case I chose an excerpt from Gilbert’s (Dilbert’s) book. After it listen (listened)to me for 20 min. it told me that it was ready to go. All I had to do was open up Microsoft Word and start dictating. It recognized my microphone with no problem and it recognizes my speech with very little trouble. Overall I’m impressed with how well it does capture.
The other interesting thing about this is that has a (as I) read the mistakes it makes I realize that those are probably the stakes and might even see a (mistakes in my enunciation). As a result my own speech patterns will probably change slightly to accommodate what Dragon interprets.
My computer is a quad core IE 7 (I7)with Steen gave (16 gig.) of RAM memory. It’s not quite bleeding edge but it is certainly competitively fast. I’ve noticed that Dragon does have some delays and if I continue talking on an extended basis it does start to have problems. Of course that could be a result of me becoming familiar with it and starting to slur my words again.
I’m not quite ready to give up my keyboard but after seeing how well it does with this post I will probably continue to play with it and in the future it is simply a tool that I will continue to use. I will comment that I spend more time thinking about how to enunciate rather than content so it will take me a long time to be comfortable with this. For all of you thinking about trying Dragon I recommend that (it)but will warn you that it is not as simple as setting (sitting) down and dictating a letter.
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