[3.4] Task 3: Voice to Text Task

My dictated story:

One of my 2021 New Year’s resolutions this year was to really focus on intention. I wanted to ensure that everything that I was doing had purpose and meaning behind it so I was inspired by a friend to bless my food as an example. I grew up non-religious and so this to me felt a little bit bizarre. He explained to me that it had nothing to do with religion and that I was setting an intention for the food before I ate it. It took me about half an hour to come up and intention something that I could continuously go to and repeat as a blessing for my food. I have been doing this since January 1st and I think that I’m feeling a difference with my food especially after I eat a meal. The idea to focus my intention as a realist resolution this year was really inspired by doctor who’s known for a lot of self-improvement books and is very inspiring. I listen to one of his podcast and he talks about the seven faces of intention I can’t remember what they all are but some of the ones that resonated with me are having creativity of intention love of intention kindness of intention and an abundance of intention. I started really incorporating this into my invitations for yoga practice and with my students is to ensure that I had a class intention for everyone so that we could truly create meaning when we practice yoga. Dr. Wayne said something like you it what you intend to create by being in harmony with the power of intention. Next paragraph I often have Converse dance with my friends who live in France. And we practice speaking French and English together in order for both of us to learn our most non diamond. Our conversation turned cantu him feeling that he has a really hard time meeting people and talking to strangers. Strangely enough he works part-time what’s an Uber driver and has to encounter many strangers every day and all day. I thought I’d share with him the power of intention so that perhaps he could use it to have intention in feeling more what about the people that he meets and that he drives and that come to his car on a daily basis. As a joke I assigned him some homework quote on quote and his homework was to intend on asking three questions to each person that came into his vehicle. He would try as best as he can could to stimulate a conversation with the strangers that came in to have intention behind the questions that he was asking so that there was purpose and to see if this could help him build his own intention of having more. So just the other day I checked in with him about his homework quote on quote and to my surprise he met somebody new who actually took a more fond interest in him just because he opened up and had asked her three questions. I asked him if he felt that her intention was to be flirtatious and become a bit romantic with him. He said he felt a very open and easy going unlike other clients or strangers that have stepped into his vehicle before. I asked him what he did before she arrived and he picked her up. He said he said the intention of being open and friendly andkon and asking the next person three questions. This wasn’t the first person after I had assigned him but quote-unquote homework but it was the next day afterward. He said this person was so open and so kind that he could just feel this energy. We laughed and I began to explain the power of intention in French as fast as I could. Perhaps a little Lost in Translation but still able to get to the point across he really felt and understood that the power of intention and the meaning behind something truly matters.

• How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?

The text certainly deviates from conventions of written English in that there is no punctuation to help the guide the reader.  I always tell my students at school that the punctuation is like the words communicating to you how they want to be read. For example, italics and all caps for emphasis.  The text is basic in vocabulary, certainly as I was the one speaking and did not have conventional grammar used even though I felt like I was speaking with correct grammatical usage.

• What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?

There are so many words that are wrong.  Most of the incorrect words are made up in the text conversion such as, “cantu” (into) “andkon” (and then).  There are even words that have been repeated.  I think what is right is what I have tried to annunciate clearly and when I tried to add punctuation such as a period. After speaking the period punctuation, the speech automatically started the next sentence with a capital letter and began a new sentence.  I tried to create a new paragraph in the text and said those words exactly, but it ended up just writing out literally the words, new paragraph, so that did not work.

• What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?

The most common mistake are the words that sound like slurred words together.  The reason could be because I did not pronounce them clearly or was too far away from the microphone as well.  They are mistakes because I was the one telling the story and I knew what I meant and tried to say it but it was interpreted differently.  This is a huge reason why people can really misinterpret text messages and assume things.

• What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?

I think it would have made a difference as I would have been able to read more clearly and pronounce things correctly as I wouldn’t be thinking on the spot and stuttering my words. I think there still would have been mistakes but a lot less and less incorrect or made-up words.

• In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling? 

I noticed that oral story telling can convey different meanings because of the voice tone and volume that is used whereas written storytelling would have different punctuation to emphasize this as well as more descriptive words.  Oral story telling has a certain expression and tone to the story.  There is a lot of feeling conveyed whereas written storytelling is interpreted by the reader.  Essentially the reader is reader with their OWN voice and using the written text and punctuation to understand what the feeling of the story is giving. Oral storytelling is also an older form of storytelling. People can just listen rather than have to be literate. Oral story telling can also have verbal communication such as, facial expressions, body language, voice tone, volume and pacing. Conversely written stories do not. Written stories can however, show attitude and mood with words. The text can also be re-read for clarity and understanding.

I wanted to know what the most early form of written literature may have been.  Here is some interesting information:

References

Ancient Recitations. (2015, May 18). The Epic Gilgamesh-Complete Audiobook Unbridged [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYf8AwNvKg

Andrews, E. (2018, August 22) What is the Oldest known piece of literature? History. https://www.history.com/news/what-is-the-oldest-known-piece-of-literature