Voice to Text Transcription
I’m going to try and speak normally because I know that with the dictation speaking clearly is very important in order for dictations to be correct and I tend to use dictations while I am driving so that I am not distracted when I’m driving I’ve never use that for a to transcribe what I am saying so this is new to me and I’m trying to do with my eyes closed so that I don’t get distracted by the writing on my phone let’s talk about last weeks or the author or the speaker she talked about how people who speak different languages they tend to think differently from one another or remember things to I’ve believe or agree with that because I find myself thinking in English so when I speak sometimes I’m if I’m not focused on that thing attention I might end up creatingEating or speaking my sentences in a English forms on my sentence structures ends up being in an English sentence but said in Chinese but that’s incorrect if you actually think about it in Chinese this is also true because him I tend to speak in Chinese and then I can’t think of the Chinese word but I’m I have the English word and I’m trying to figure out how to translate this English word back to Chinese to create my sentence so I do wonder based on what she saying if I was one to be brought up with English as my strong suit does all these languages affect my thinking or because my strongest language is English so therefore the way I think the way I remember things are still based on that the strongest language that I most especially because I find myself again so even though I’m speaking in Chinese so am I speaking in forming sentences in Chinese to basically replicate what I’m thinking in English on and if that’s all it is they’re missing pieces to when I’m trying to say so that’s kind of my question based on what you know a week of thinking about her on her video and then this week we talked about writing particularly on the Chinese writing or something I was interested in because I took Mandarin writing when I was in high school in the mess that one of the readings talked about and that the Chinese teacher of them had taught us and that is some words not all words and I know that certain words such as the word dragon a character the Chinese character does look like a dragon it wasn’t all words and I can’t remember what she taught me exactly but that was how we end up learning the stroke stroke looking for us how to create the strokes and which directions to stroke went on because that really affected how your characters came up to be and what you communicate what you were writing this weeks reading remind me a little bit about that and then also there was the on the app for aboriginal languages thanking about the app and also the reading and how you’re some minority languages they don’t are there going in extinct in a sense reminds me about aboriginal languages him and how they go extinct because you know they liked education due to what residential schools that has done to us and the lack of ability to pass on the language so not just the written language I think the ability to pass on this spoken language this reading also mentioned how spoken language doesn’t have as much power as written language I say this in a sense that you know something I say I might forget and there’s no you no recollection of what I’ve said someone could say they remember that I said it and I can I get that it wasn’t sad however if it was written down as a paper trail and I’m huge with because it’s almost like a contract or proof of something that occurred I’m so that I do agree that the power of writing helps us retain the memories of things that we said for example or the language spoken language I found that very powerful in the Switzerland
How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?
The missing punctuations and grammar of the transcribed text deviates from conventions of English writing. It lacks periods, commas, paragraphs and sentence structure even though breaths were taken and pauses were made throughout the spoken audio. There are many word repetitions as this was not a scripted recording, resulting in a word occurring back to back. The writing is also of speech, which in itself deviates from written language. How we speak in general is not the same as how we would write (Gnanadesikan, 2011). This reminds me of Chinese, in that when speaking, it is informal and even in slang. However, in writing, it is more poetic or form.
What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?
Similar to the deviations from conventions of written English such as the grammar, structure and punctuation were wrong with the text. There were also many mistaken spoken words, such as “Switzerland.” Rather, what was said was “In this week’s reading.” Important to note is that in the beginning, I was clear with my articulation as I was aware I was recording my dictation. However, as I got further into the recording and I lost focus on the recording and focused more on the ideas I was trying to put forward, my pronunciations and articulations lost focus, causing mistaken words and stuttering that created repetition. These mistakes made the whole spoken message disappear. In re-reading what I had said, I can no longer make out the ideas nor do I remember them under the duress of completing the assignment, which draws similarities to Gnanadesikan’s (2011) ideas in that the spoken language is lost unless written down. In this case, my spoken words were written down incorrectly so the ideas and messages are still lost.
As mentioned earlier, the very beginning portion of my dictation were right due to focused articulation. I do wonder how accents may influence the transcription of voice to text. What was also right was the spelling. Due to my dictations being done within iPhone messaging and my phone’s setup, the spelling of all the words were automatically spell checked. Although the ideas and the spoken words were incorrectly transcribed, all the words that the phone thought I had said, were spelt correctly. This also included the correct capitalization of countries, languages and the word “I”.
What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?
The most common mistake was every time I said “um” to think of the English word, the transcription took me for saying “him” instead. This thinking of the English word could be what Boroditsky (2011) describes as how language shapes my thinking, as I am reshaping my spoken English to mimmick that of my Chinese language. This is considered a mistake as it was a break in the thought or spoken language, not meant to be part of it or recorded. Even made part of the text, it was replaced with the incorrect word. Another common mistake is that the transcription often misses my ending sound such as plurals and s’, and other words are changed completed as my ending sounds aren not articulated clearly. As mentioned early, there is the existence of run-on sentences and lack of grammar and structure that causes the writing to seem unorganized. Gnanadesikan (2011) argues that computer technology is limiting in producing all the characters, but in this sense, reproducing all the sounds correctly.
What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?
If the speech was scripted, the “um” or mistaken “him” may not have been included in the script. The scripted speech would have also helped me in maintaining my articulation which may have removed other mistaken words or corrected the missing ending sounds that I may not have articulated well. This would have decreased if not removed the mistaken words. A script may have also helped with organizing the ideas, but the lack of punctuation, sentence and paragraph structure would have continued to negative influence the majority of the organization of the written speech.
In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?
In oral storytelling, mistakes aren’t accentuated. The storyteller can repeat a sentence or a word, even mispronounce a word, but it may go unnoticed. It could even add power to the story or message in the spoken words. It gives the oral storyteller character, evokes emotion and may also help focus attention of the listener. However, mistakes in written storytelling stick out and is noticed. It makes a piece less profession and makes it difficult for the reader to focus their attention. Oral storytelling can utilize pauses, intonation and speed of speech to evoke emotions and send a particular message. But an exclamation mark or period cannot replace the intonation and pauses the same way. Similar to Orson Welles’ 1938 performance in Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theatre company, his utility of the strength of his voice, the speed in which he speaks, his tone, his breathing and his pauses, all lend a hand in grabbing the audiences attention and articulating the message with more power.
References:
Boroditsky, L. (2011). How language shapes thought. Scientific American, 304(2), 62-65.
Gnanadesikan, A. E. (2011).“The First IT Revolution.” In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internet (Vol. 25). John Wiley & Sons (pp. 1-10).