Below is the short story I recorded on a voice to text app called “Voice notes.” This was my first time using a voice to text app, so I did not know what to expect. I attempted to tell the story of how my partner completed her first Ironman over the weekend. An ironman is a race is which athletes swim 3.8km, cycle 180km, then run 42km.
“So I wanted to tell you about something that happened over the weekend my girlfriend for the first time completed an Iron Man I was really proud of her it got cancelled all the Iron Man’s got cancelled for the last two years so couple people got together and we put on an Iron Man four four athletes who have been working together and they completed it for the first time by themselves so it wasn’t an official Ironman first one under the belt and it was really cool those of you that don’t know what an Ironman is it when someone has to swim 3. 8 k 180 km finally run a marathon which is 42 km Germans are famous they happen all around the world and lot of the times athletes travel around the world to compete in them she completed her first one and she did it in a boat 11 hours which was awesome I was one of the volunteers so I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning and I had to be in my kayak on the lake while the athletes swam really well there is no accidents had to put out some boys out in the water to Mark the distance I had to quickly jump in my car and some people were in their own vehicles and we had to be markers while they were doing their cycle part portion so play every 20 kilometres they had to come by us and we were there they needed anything such as nutrition or something like first aid but you know basically just kind of making sure everything’s okay and to do a event like this for this long they’re going to run out of nutrition and what athlete took took about 15 hours to complete and for that whole time was not eating any real food so giving the athletes nutrition along the way is super important and then finally when they did the marathon it was starting to get dark that point of the day and so I would hop on my bicycle and I’d run beside them to kind of keep them company and they’re going through some dark patches on a on a local Trail so just to make sure they were okay and also all together nutrition so it was a really cool day lot of work to set it all up and had a basically green eyes recycle and run portion in Victoria and we had sure that they were going to cross as little lights as possible so nothing would hold them up we had that they weren’t going to be in you know I have a traffic area so wasn’t dangerous in somewhere or we could park our cars you know every 20 km and we were able to pull over in a place where we could do that and offer them nutrition so but it all worked out so I was really happy and it was really funny to and when she was doing it she actually fell on her bicycle a couple kilometres in and she got back up and finish the entire Iron Man so that was kind of Bush got a little warrior wound we call it on her leg from her fall but all is well and yeah and was up at 4:30 in the morning on the lake and at the time I got home I took down everything and got home it was 11 p. M. So it was a very long day and I definitely lost my voice during a during the day but it was definitely worth it to see those athletes who I’ve been training for so long finally get an Ironman under their bel that’s my little story about helping a couple athletes complete their first Ironman over the weekend t m”
The text above deviates from typical written English by having no structure or “flow.” There was no introduction, body of work, or conclusion. While speaking my story, the tone and pace of my voice gave clarity to the events that unfolded on the day my partner completed her first Ironman. However, the text was an incoherent group of words that would make visualization of the event challenging. The text is not formal, like written English is often presented.
The voice to text app left wording that is full of grammatical, punctual, and spelling errors. One of the errors that really stood out to me was there were no periods. I spoke slowly, and paused after completing a sentence, but the app did not recognize this. It also used words that I did not speak. Somehow the words “German” and “bush” got in there.
However, the app did make me realize how informal my language is when spoken. One of my biggest realizations was how often I repeat myself. For example, I used the word “nutrition” plenty of times. If I was completing a piece of formal writing on the nutrition portion of the Ironman, I would use a variety of words to describe nutrition to sound more professional. While speaking, the tone and pace of my voice allowed my story to make sense. Taking those two aids away and replacing them with just text changed the entire complexity of the story.
If I had scripted the story, I believe the voice to text app would have captured my story more clearly. Since it was unscripted, I was stuttering (which was probably the reason for incorrect words being present), repeating myself, and not explaining my story in the most logical sequence. One of the few problems that would still occur would be the lack of periods. I do not see how a scripted story would fix this.
I am confident that my story made sense while I was speaking, even though the text did not. When oral storytelling, you can see if the listener did not grasp the concept, idea, or lesson. With written storytelling, you must choose your words carefully so they connect and deliver your intended message.