My Housing Adventure in Victoria

Tool used: Speechnotes.co

So for this assignment I’m going to talk about funny story when me and my partner first moved to Victoria so when we first moved to Victoria we were renting a place that was just terrible and we had to move out right away one of the issues was the house was just filled with black mold and not only black mold around the doors and windows which is kind of common here on the coast cuz it’s so humid but there was literally black mold like patches in the walls coming through the walls and I was like we can’t stay here it’s totally unhealthy so anyways we had to find somewhere to move really quickly like within two weeks time so we made a few appointments and we started going to these appointments to look at places to rent so first place we was in Fernwood which is this neighborhood that has these big old mansions that have been divided into small apartments okay so we went to an apartment like that and we met the property management rep outside and she’s very nice and she’s like you know it’s pretty messy in the apartment right now the people are just in the process of moving out so just ignore that and I was like okay yeah that’s fine you know I’ve moved I just moved here I know what it’s like it’s been crazy when you move somewhere in your house is kind of upside down and it boxes so we walk into this apartment and it was crazy it was like so filled with stuff like just the whole all the carpets were just covered with stuff except like a small little pathway that you could walk through and like just filthy like the bathroom was just filthy there was also black mold there too in the windows and like little poops everywhere and like all of a sudden this bird flew across the room so this bird flies around the apartment and just poops everywhere and then the the person showing us the apartment she takes us to the laundry room it’s like a shared laundry room and she says you know like again I know it’s really bad but we’ll get it cleaned etc and I was like well you can’t clean what you know it’s in my mind I already saw everything like there’s no way we’re moving here so that was that place so then we go to another place so this was like a sweet somebody had on the main floor of their house and I think usually they rented to students cuz it looks like they rented out each room previously and each room had like a single bed anyways we meet the lady there so she’s the owner of the house landlord and lives on the property and that place so it had like two rooms with single beds and then they made this like makeshift room using you know like those room dividers you would have for the cubicles and an office so they made like this janky that’s her room in the living room of that sweet and then there was this piece of paper tacked to the front of the place and it had rules like 10 minute showers only and quiet after 8:00 p.m. No visitors or guests allowed like looked at that list and then I asked the lady like pointed to list those like would we have to follow these rules if we moved here and she looks me dead in the eye and says why do you have friends oh my goodness so definitely didn’t take that place and then i’ll just keep the short cuz I’m running out of time here but we looked at the place we’re in now and it’s like this really nice older couple really nice like clean sweet ground floor sweet and I was just so overwhelmed when I saw it because it was nice and clean and the people seemed nice and normal that I asked the woman and the couple I was like oh my God can I please just give you a hug cuz we’ve been having such a hard time finding a place looking at places and she said yeah no problem and we applied for this place lots of people applied for this place cuz it’s Victoria the rental market is tight but thankfully we got it so we’ve been in this place now for almost 4 Years it’ll be 4 years in December and I’m super happy to be here and I don’t think we’re going to move until we find something a lot better anyways that’s that’s a little glimpse of the rental and housing market in Victoria for you bye

How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?

• The most apparent deviation is lack of punctuation. I could have added periods when I was speaking but we don’t normally add punctuation when speaking so I avoided doing that.
• The layout of the text deviates from the norm. The text appears as one long statement, with no paragraphs or indentations. In addition, I quoted other people’s words and that did not come through in the text either because a lack of punctuation and new lines.
• The text is “raw” in the sense that it has not been edited so for example, there are some repetitions in what I say, the use of slang (i.e., cuz), 26 uses of the word “so” and 32 instances of the word “like”. Sidenote: Am I Valley Girl?

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

WRONG

• No sentences, paragraphs, or quotes.
• No emotion. I laugh every time I share this story and but that is not captured in the text.
• Spelling mistakes (ex., i’ll, sweet instead of suite)
• Repetition of words (ex., the the). This is my fault though, not the software.
• There are no “uhs” recorded which I find peculiar. I believe that many of my “uhs” were captured by the software as “like” instead.
• The software didn’t record every word I said correctly (ex., “made like this janky that’s her room in the living room” should be “made like this janky third room in the living room”.)
• Difficult to parse out the ideas. Usually there is one or two ideas per sentence but with no punctuation, it is difficult to make sense of the text.

RIGHT

• Most of the spelling was correct. I was surprised that the Fernwood was spelled correctly and capitalized.
• Most of the words were captured correctly.
• Verb tenses are accurate.
• The gist of the story is there, even if it is difficult to comprehend.

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

• The most common mistakes are lack of punctuation and the wrong word being recorded by the software.
• The lack of punctuation is a mistake in the sense that the text doesn’t follow grammar conventions. However, I can’t blame the software for not punctuating the text as I did not use any of the punctuation commands when telling my story. I think it would be quite difficult for a software, even one supported with AI tech, to decipher where one idea ends and another one begins when someone is speaking.
• I consider the wrong word being recorded by the software a mistake because I did not utter some of the words that were recorded. There seems to have been some miscommunication between me and the recorder.

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

• The text would include less “natural” speech and more edited speech with no filler or repeated words.
• The ideas and rhythm of the story would be more organized and flow better.
• I would have added more adjectives to describe the scenes in more detail and really paint a picture of what happened.
• I would have added more details of what happened and add in what I forgot to mention. The story would be more accurate.
• With proper grammar and punctuation, the text would be a lot easier to read and comprehend.

In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling? 

• Oral storytelling is more spontaneous and less calculated. When I write a story or a script, I can go back and edit my thoughts and words. I can fix any mistakes and increase the quality of the text. There is this private process I have with the text before I release it to the world. With oral storytelling, one does not have the luxury to go back and edit and improve what was said. Once a word or sentence is uttered, it is out there and cannot be taken back.
• Oral storytelling is more emotional and animated. You can portray emotion in text, but it is much easier to express emotion verbally because you have the added dimension of your body (i.e., voice and body language) to express your thoughts. When I tell my housing story, I laugh at specifics points in the story, gesture with my hands, intonate my voice and change my voice to impersonate others. All of these cues are lost in the speech-to-text recording.
• Oral storytelling is easier than written storytelling. It takes less cognitive effort to speak and listen to a story than to write and read a story. Other than people who have a disability that limits their ability to speak or listen, most people can tell a story orally. One does not need literacy skills to know how to speak or listen. Reading and writing on the other hand require more learning and skills. It takes more brain power and ability to write and decipher text. Therefore, oral storytelling is more accessible to people than written storytelling.