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How many words an hour with speech recognition software? Thread poster: Nora Diaz
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Nora Diaz 
Mexico
Local time: 08:39
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
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A couple of years ago I spent $300USD on Dragon Naturally Speaking, and even though I was intent on training it and did use it for a couple of projects, it has now been uninstalled and is gathering dust on a shelf. The reason: I wasn't patient enough for it to be really useful (I think). I couldn't really get it to accurately "type" more words per hour than I am able to type/translate the old-fashioned way.
A lot of what DNS typed needed endless editing, which was also discouraging an... See more A couple of years ago I spent $300USD on Dragon Naturally Speaking, and even though I was intent on training it and did use it for a couple of projects, it has now been uninstalled and is gathering dust on a shelf. The reason: I wasn't patient enough for it to be really useful (I think). I couldn't really get it to accurately "type" more words per hour than I am able to type/translate the old-fashioned way.
A lot of what DNS typed needed endless editing, which was also discouraging and I just didn't have the time or the patience to keep at it.
However, I like the idea of speech recognition and I have been reading in the forum about the latest version of DNS, and its accuracy rate.
I'd like to ask those of you who have used it: what is the average number of words that you're able to process per hour with DNS (please include editing time in your estimate)? Do you find that it consistently exceeds the number of words you can type manually? Any other advantages that you can share?
Your help and insight will be much appreciated!
Nora
[Edited at 2005-10-25 02:15]
[Edited at 2005-10-25 03:40] ▲ Collapse
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| From what I've seen, it looks good. | Oct 25, 2005 |
We were given a demonstration at university (by a teacher, not someone trying to sell us the product for personal interest) and she "typed" several paragraphs without a single error. She also used it to change formatting, open other programs, etc.
What's more, this was all done in Spanish, which is your native tongue, so I assume it's what you translate into. I can't remember what program it was right now, but I'll find out and let you know.
I'd like to know what people... See more We were given a demonstration at university (by a teacher, not someone trying to sell us the product for personal interest) and she "typed" several paragraphs without a single error. She also used it to change formatting, open other programs, etc.
What's more, this was all done in Spanish, which is your native tongue, so I assume it's what you translate into. I can't remember what program it was right now, but I'll find out and let you know.
I'd like to know what people think about voice-recognition for phonetically-imperfect English. I worry that the results will not be as good, given the nature of English pronunciation. Also I'm sure they won't be programmed to recognise my Northern-English "u". ▲ Collapse
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Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:39
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam | It's not too bad | Oct 25, 2005 |
I got DNS 8 last year after breaking my arm, and am continuing to use it. Difficult to say in terms of words per hour, but I think it is a bit faster, maybe by 10-20%. It still does need quite a few corrections, after several months. It needs careful proofreading (it once rendered a firm's aim "to engage in tourist activities" as "to engage in terrorist activities"). It's easy to forget to switch the mike off when someone says something to you or when you mutter some comment of your own, the... See more I got DNS 8 last year after breaking my arm, and am continuing to use it. Difficult to say in terms of words per hour, but I think it is a bit faster, maybe by 10-20%. It still does need quite a few corrections, after several months. It needs careful proofreading (it once rendered a firm's aim "to engage in tourist activities" as "to engage in terrorist activities"). It's easy to forget to switch the mike off when someone says something to you or when you mutter some comment of your own, then you have to delete the unwanted words. But on the whole I think it's worthwhile. ▲ Collapse
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Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:39
Flemish to English
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| Faster than typing... | Oct 25, 2005 |
I have DNS 8.0 with Dutch, French and German.
I used it to dictate a management course and a law course.
The bigger the lexicon, the more accurate it becomes.
Of course, you have to correct sentences, but I would say that with Dragon Dictate translating 4000 - 5000 words per day is not impossible. After a while you become a kind of interpreter, with the difference that you have the text before you.
[Edited at 2005-10-25 10:30]
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Nora Diaz
Mexico
Local time: 08:39
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you for your answers.
I'm all for anything that enhances productivity and increases throughput.
Unfortunately there's no trial download for DNS 8, so it's always key to hear others' experiences before spending some big $$$.
I'd say a throughput improvement of 10-20% would be quite good, so I'm starting to toy with the idea of giving it (the new version) a try.
Nora
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| Thanks (from me too)... | Oct 25, 2005 |
Thank you Nora for posting this topic - I too have been considering using DNS and the comments here have definitely sparked my interest.
-Derek
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Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:39
Flemish to English
+ ...
Dragon V10 : The next step will be to speak in one language and obtain a translation into the target-language.
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Nora Diaz
Mexico
Local time: 08:39
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Let's hope not! | Oct 25, 2005 |
Or we'll be out of a job...
: )
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PFB (X)
Local time: 17:39
English to French
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| Are there other speech recognition software applications? | Oct 27, 2005 |
Derek Gill Franßen wrote: Thank you Nora for posting this topic - I too have been considering using DNS and the comments here have definitely sparked my interest. -Derek
Same here - I too was thinking about it and didn't really know where to start.
I have another question: are there other speech recognition software applications, and if so, what do you think about them ?
Many thanks
[Edited at 2005-10-27 16:16]
[Edited at 2005-10-27 16:17]
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Uldis Liepkalns
Latvia
Local time: 18:39
Member (2003)
English to Latvian
+ ...
| Yes, there is | Oct 27, 2005 |
The cheapest is "free"- that is, if you have Office XP- is is inbuilt there, you just have to select it during Office installation, if you haven't done so, insert your Office XP installation disk and select
"add features" or like. I don't know how it compares to other such softwares, but after half an hour of training it works, IMHO, fairly well. (Special dictionaries, if I remember right, has to be bought separately).
Anyway, before buying some other expensive software I'd advise t... See more The cheapest is "free"- that is, if you have Office XP- is is inbuilt there, you just have to select it during Office installation, if you haven't done so, insert your Office XP installation disk and select
"add features" or like. I don't know how it compares to other such softwares, but after half an hour of training it works, IMHO, fairly well. (Special dictionaries, if I remember right, has to be bought separately).
Anyway, before buying some other expensive software I'd advise to try this and then make your decision.
Please also see this thread:
http://www.proz.com/topic/28846
Uldis
Philippe Boucry wrote:
I have another question: are there other speech recognition software applications, and if so, what do you think about them ?
[Edited at 2005-10-27 16:27] ▲ Collapse
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Nora Diaz
Mexico
Local time: 08:39
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | There are several options | Oct 27, 2005 |
I know there is ViaVoice and the speech recognition engine in Office 2003 (although that works only if you have the English version of Office), but from what I've read and from some research I did before I got my first copy (version 5 of Dragon), Dragon Naturally Speaking is by far the best.
[Edited at 2005-10-27 16:28]
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Margit Pehrsson (X)
Local time: 01:09
Danish to English
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| Which version? | Dec 21, 2005 |
I have read the discussion on this software with great interest but I am confused about the different versions of the product. Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 has both a "Preferred" version and a "Professional" version. Which version are you using and what is the difference (apart from the price)?
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Nora Diaz
Mexico
Local time: 08:39
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | I use the Preferred version | Dec 21, 2005 |
Hi Margit,
I'm using the Preferred version, which has worked pretty well for me so far. As for the Professional version, I don't know first hand, but from what I read before I got mine, it has field-specific vocabulary, so for instance, there's a version that has a lot of medical terminology, another one with legal terminology, etc.
Unless you plan on using it extensively (or exclusively) for medical or legal texts, I think the Preferred version should be enough.
... See more Hi Margit,
I'm using the Preferred version, which has worked pretty well for me so far. As for the Professional version, I don't know first hand, but from what I read before I got mine, it has field-specific vocabulary, so for instance, there's a version that has a lot of medical terminology, another one with legal terminology, etc.
Unless you plan on using it extensively (or exclusively) for medical or legal texts, I think the Preferred version should be enough.
Regards,
Nora ▲ Collapse
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Margit Pehrsson (X)
Local time: 01:09
Danish to English
+ ...
| Trados / SDLX | Dec 21, 2005 |
Can you use the product when translating with Trados and/or SDLX? I do almost all my work with either one or the other and in most cases it is a requirement.
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Nora Diaz
Mexico
Local time: 08:39
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Trados, yes. | Dec 21, 2005 |
I have Trados 7 and dictate into it using DNS8. I wouldn't know about SDLX, though.
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