Voice recognition

Voice recognition now built into smart phones and computers is really really good. And it can be faster than typing. Does anybody dictate their stories? I tried and felt like a fool talking in my room, even though I wasn't at the good part.

Anyone else?

astuffedshirt_perv said:

Voice recognition now built into smart phones and computers is really really good. And it can be faster than typing. Does anybody dictate their stories? I tried and felt like a fool talking in my room, even though I wasn't at the good part.

Anyone else?

Click to expand...

Can you recommend a good one for a PC ?

astuffedshirt_perv said:

Voice recognition now built into smart phones and computers is really really good. And it can be faster than typing. Does anybody dictate their stories? I tried and felt like a fool talking in my room, even though I wasn't at the good part.

Anyone else?

Click to expand...

I've dictated a couple of first drafts. It is a lot faster than typing, but I'm not convinced that's a good thing. I find I don't think or reflect nearly as much when dictating. The story comes out more as an unfiltered, unstructured stream of consciousness rant. Maybe I just need more practice. There are famous authors who swear using a mechanical typewriter results in better work for them, and others who still use a pen. Faster is not necessary better for writing.

Dragon from Nuance remains the best voice to text software for PC, AFAIK. Once trained, it's incredibly accurate. There is a version of it built into recent versions of Windows which works, but is not as accurate.

Handley_Page said:

Can you recommend a good one for a PC ?

Click to expand...

Google Doc's has Voice Typing, which, I would guess, uses the same technology as their Android phones. I've messed around with it a little and it seems to work fairly well, but I still prefer typing.

It really depends on your writing style and the setting. By and large, I find they are almost as work in editing as it would be to just write it.

I've tried a few times to use voice-to-text apps while I'm driving (I have a very long commute to work, you see). My experience is that they don't do well with complex prose or dialogue. Short deliberate sentences work best. Then you will still have to edit punctuation, grammar, and missed words.

My writing style is something of a "make an outline, then jump around backwards and forwards as it suits me until the outline is a complete first draft". The voice apps I tried made this so cumbersome, I decided it was incredibly dangerous for me to do while driving, and decided I could revisit the concept in 5-10 years.

I have never found a voice/dictation word processing program that worked with a crap and I tried to be an early adapter (on Macs and PC's) over a decade and a half ago. I've checked out various generations of them since and still haven't found one to my liking.

Not that it would do any good, or be necessary in the least, since I can just about type faster than I can think. Oops. I guess they call it "keyboarding" now.

My first High School class, in summer school between Junior High and High School, was a typing class. The following summer I took Advanced Typing. Both served me well and I was whipping out papers in High School and College while most of my peers were "hunting and pecking". The skill also served me well throughout a career in law enforcement where I preferred to type my own reports rather than give handwritten drafts to clerk/typists.

SyleusSnow said:

I find I don't think or reflect nearly as much when dictating. The story comes out more as an unfiltered, unstructured stream of consciousness rant. .

Click to expand...

Yeah, thats also what I found.

I have done this a little. For example, when I have been out in town or in my car without my computer, I have sent myself a text or FB message with the idea or dictation of part of the story.

From those experiences, I agree with two comments above... there is much less reflection, and that isn't necessarily a good thing. AND I think it takes at least as long in editing for the above reason, but also for word errors, run-on sentences, and one block of text that has to be broken into paragraphs and quotes.

I don't know how the Dragon software works - whether you can add quotation marks or not, but it has pretty good reviews.

I'd be unable to write that way. I'm just used to using my fingers, I guess. Plus I'd probably feel goofy saying the kind of stuff I write out loud.