Dragon NaturallySpeaking

[Dave A]

I thought I would try to get an edge by dusting off my Dragon Naturally Speaking. It's been some time since I last used it and I was desperately hoping that the dust didn't cause too much damage.

What I had forgotten is that I had installed it on this laptop and hadn't trained it yet. So some of the results are a little bizarre. Spelling, of course, is perfect. But some of its interpretation of my sentences is whacky indeed.

And I had it working so well on my last laptop. It seems that training new things and people seems to be my lot in life at the moment.

[Candy Bouwer]

You are a natural Slayer

[Dave A]

Right now I'm feeling naturally tongue-twisted.

[kerryanne]

Do you also get that feeling of wanting to jump up and pat Dragon on its back when it finally gets a word right that you've been trying to hammer into it for days?

I must say, it's a brilliant tool though, and makes my translating work go a whole lot faster. But I do find it insulting when it continuously hears "out" as "art" - surely I don't really speak like that??!!!

[Paul]

I also want to pat Dragon on it's back when they (Kerry-Anne incl.) get the word right. "bla bla out" select "out" choose two "bla bla out" select "out" choose two...

[Candy Bouwer]

LOL

[Dave A]

Good grief. I am not alone in slaying this nasty Dragon thing.

I have heard it said that it is best to talk to it in an American accent in the beginning.

A word of advice for those who've managed to train their Dragon fairly well: when you uninstall it on your old machine it gives you the option to save a file of your current settings that you have so painstakingly managed to train your Dragon to understand. Whatever you do, says YES and save the file. It will save you so much pain.

I made the mistake of thinking I would be able to train my Dragon better the second time round. It actually is harder. Don't ask me why. It just is.

[Paul]

Thanks for the tip Dave. I knew there had to be a way to do it so I asked Kerry-Anne if she was going to look into that before she upgraded from Dragon 8. She seemed keen to retrain the thing, "It's kinda nice reading to it" she said. And yes, it did seem to me that she was having more trouble training it the second time.