For task # 3, I was challenged with coming up with an anecdote, speaking it into a microphone to convert it from voice-to-text, and then analyzing the written text. To complete this task I used the microphone from my Logitech headset and the software application called Speechnotes, to convert the speech to text. The anecdote that I came up with was a little story about the first time my best friend met my 1 year old daughter. See the text results below in italics and the analysis that follows.
Text
This is story about my friends first encounter with my daughter so few weeks ago my best friend growing up came to visit me from Ontario and it’s been a long time since I seen him because of the whole pandemic and him not being able to travel home due to the restrictions and everything it was great to have him come is actually the first time he got to meet my daughter who is just over a year-and-a-half he was play excited to meet her and we even prepped her for his visit so that she wouldn’t be shocked to see a stranger in her house she is shy with new people and can be a little direct when telling us that she doesn’t like or want something my body is at all funny extroverted and sometimes loud individual unlike my wife and I so we were a bit concerned how she would take him when he came to visit so for a couple weeks leading up to his visit we should have pictures and told her that he would be coming to stay with us for a few days and it seems like she was okay with everything she actually seemed happy and was saying his name every day even though she didn’t have a lot of vocabulary yet however the day before we came we took a video of her and again told her that he was coming guess who’s coming tomorrow while eating strawberries she smiled and said Joel my wife responded and said to her that’s right Joel need to visit us tomorrow and you’re going to say hi. That is when she smiled back to her and the camera and said by Joel anyway today I pick up my friend from the airport and took him home to my house on the drive I told him that my daughter was a bit shy and that she might not take him take him so quickly he understood so when we arrived at home we went into the house and went downstairs to where my daughter was playing with my wife and I said look who’s here my friend Joel my friend waved said hi nice to meet you what are you up to she was actually playing with their basketball and shooting it into her toy poop she didn’t respond my friend who is a huge basketball guy seemed excited and picked up the ball to play gaster can I play she looked at him but again didn’t now my buddy and I played basketball together high school and he actually played and University so basketball was his thing and he was very good at it he was also very prideful and knew that he was going to do so while everyone is watching chill takes the ball and shoots it up a small toy basketball hoop hits the back of the rim and misses been my daughter ball and says Joel Shoot Miss we all started falling over laughing this was a hilarious way for my friend to meet her
Analysis
How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?
This text deviates from the conventions of written English by barely having any punctuation; using poor sentence structure and poor grammar; and using improper capitalization. For example, the whole text is like an enormous run-on sentence where there are no periods, quotations, question marks, exclamation marks, etc. Written English has specific rules and standards but this translation doesn’t follow the rules as it seems to just try to translate the words that were spoken. This leaves the reader confused and a lot to be desired.
What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?
Surprisingly, there is less “wrong” in this text than I would have thought. Yes, there are some misspelled/incorrect words (replaced hoop with “poop”) and there is no punctuation at all but it was able to capture most of what I had to say in terms of capturing most of my spoken words. When I was first introduced to voice-to-text technology a number of years ago the applications seemed to produce a lot of misspelled words but this application from Speechnotes was fairly good with spelling. Most of the spoken words were picked up but without punctuation and proper sentence structure it is difficult to truly understand the story. So what is “right” is the correct spelling of most of the spoken words and the order that the words were written.
What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?
The most common mistakes are the lack of punctuation. Without the punctuation it is really difficult for the reader to interpret what the speaker/writer was trying to say. Punctuation is used to help tell the reader when there are pauses in the story and it also helps the writer put meaning into a story. It leaves the written text without emotion. For example, I laughed a couple of times when I was speaking my story but none of that was converted into text.
What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?
If I had scripted the story the resulting text would have been more accurate with the spelling of words and use of descriptive words. The text result from the conversion still probably would lack punctuation but with the correct spelling of all the words it would have been easier for the reader to understand. Scripted writing would have probably given the text more structure but would have been more constrained and less spontaneous.
In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?
There is a lot that is different between oral storytelling and written storytelling. Oral storytelling requires a lot of memorization skill and performance to actually keep the reader’s attention. Good oral storytelling utilizes facial expressions and body gestures to aid in the delivery of a story. These aids really help the listener understand the emotion and thoughts that the storyteller has. Another unique part of oral storytelling is that speaker can actually change their story in the moment depending on how the listener is receiving the story. For example: if an oral story starts out with a lack of expression, the speaker can adjust their story and add in more expression to keep the listener’s attention.
Written storytelling lacks these visuals and gestures so there has to be more words that are used to bring meaning and understanding to a story. “Although writing is secondary to language, it often enjoys higher prestige. Writing is generally done more deliberately than speaking, so finished written pieces are much more carefully crafted than a typical spoken sentence. Written texts can thus convey their message more precisely, adding to the sense that writing is worth more than speech” (Gnanadesikan, 2011, pg. 5). For example, if an oral storyteller “shouts” in their story, the way they shout (how loud and with certain tones) then the listener has a better understanding of the “shout”. Whereas in writing, if the writer says “the boy shouts”, well the reader doesn’t really know how the boy shouted. In this case, writers would use adverbs to give more meaning to the actions that they are writing about. So instead of saying “the boy shouts”, a good writer would say “the boy shouts wildly!”
Written storytelling also requires the reader to interpret more of the thoughts, ideas, and emotions that the writer is trying to convey. Different readers could read written stories differently. In Ong’s reading he discusses the inability to study oral storytelling unlike with written storytelling which can be studied due the the symbols of punctuation the use of descriptive words that are present in the written text. Ong says “Written words are residue. Oral tradition has no such residue or deposit.” (Ong, 2002, p.11) This shows that written stories leave a mark allowing each reader to decode and interpret the story on their own. Oral stories differ in that they rely on the speaker to guide the listener through the story.
References
Gnanadesikan, A. E. (2011). “The First IT Revolution.” In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internet (Vol. 25). John Wiley & Sons. (pp. 1-10).
Ong, Walter, J. Taylor & Francis eBooks – CRKN, & CRKN MiL Collection. (2002). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. New York; London: Routledge.