Recited work, transcribed by the Recorder app on a Google Pixel
A few years ago, I went on a trip to New York with my wife. It was a very fun trip and we went for about 7 days. We were lucky because we had a friend who owned an apartment, right near Times Square. And she happened to be going away for a trip and we were able to stay at her place and house, sit her cats for her. This made the trip, much more affordable for us. And we were very grateful. My wife and I are really big fans of musicals. So we were able to actually see nine musicals in seven days, which was awesome. The first musical we ended up seeing was just 2 hours after we landed at the airport. It was Moulin Rouge. Uh, and it was starring, Derek kleena. Who at the time we weren't very familiar with but we actually really enjoyed seeing his performance. Unfortunately, we won the lottery for that musical and the tickets that we got weren't very good. But it was still a really awesome experience. The reason why we actually planned the trip in the first place was because there was a special production of into the woods. The Sondheim musical, uh, starring, uh, quite a few famous Broadway, actors such, as Philip, assu patina, Miller Sara Bareilles Brian RC James Gavin creel and Joshua Henry. Uh it was really quite something to see that production and we were really grateful that. There were no understudies as well. So we were very uh very very happy To watch it and it's definitely one of my favorite memories of that trip. Um but we're also both really into food and really into restaurants. So another thing that we did while we were there was um, eat at some Michelin starred restaurants. So we went to two the first one we went to was the modern Restaurant, which was Um, the MoMA. And we only went there for lunch because it was uh well cheaper, but it was very delicious. And then we also went to um our first three star Michelin restaurant on this trip called La Bernaden. And Wow. That was just an incredible experience all together from the service, the plating, the food. And the number of people who were there kind of to explain all the things you're eating. It was definitely one of my favorite meals that I've had in a long time. For sure. Yeah and Also, on this trip, we did a lot of exploring we visited museums. We went to the met and the mom while we walked through Central Park. Um, there were two cats that we house set and one was quite shy and the other was very friendly. In fact, he was, uh, always looking for pets, but the other one would always Scurry and hide away, which was sad because we actually didn't see much of that cat at all during the trip, even though it would just come out and eat when we were outside of the house. One thing that things that I want to do next time when I go to New York or maybe explore Coney Island, or Brooklyn, we didn't spend a lot of time in. We spent a lot of time in Manhattan. The first time we went, which although is very fun. I think that there's probably lots to explore.
And there's definitely places we want to go back to as well. So, Um, this summer, we're planning on going to another New York again. But Or else I'm gonna visit Montreal. Uh, it's somewhere. That's uh, special to my family and Uh, we're very excited to kind of. I've never, I've only been there once actually for a short amount of time. On a business trip. I was accompanying my dad but this time I'll be going with my wife. And we're gonna take in all the sites that Montreal has to offer really explore. I don't really know much about it. So I'm kind of going in uh with an open mind and I'm not sure what there is to do there but we also might plan a small trip to Quebec City which I'm very excited about. And then, So, on this trip, we'll also go back to New York. To visit our friend and also to take in some more musicals. I know last time we saw nine in seven days, which is so crazy. So maybe this time it'll be a little more reasonable. Uh, but we don't really know yet who's performing and what new musicals will be on Broadway. So it's a little hard at this time to decide what we will and will not see Last time we did like many same-day discount tickets, and it'll probably be the same for this upcoming trip. In fact we might do more lotteries and 70 discount tickets than last time because We're not really sure what we want to watch. So yeah, that'll be our trip in the summer. I'm a little. Hopefully it won't be too hot, but Overall, I think this will be really fun and, uh, I'm looking forward to it.
How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?
The text includes a lot of verbal pauses and interjections that were captured, such as “um”, and “yeah”. As well, there is heavy misuse of both commas and periods in weird spots, as well as random capitalizations. The text-to-speech struggled with some names, such as “Derek Klena” and “Patina Miller”, but also got many names correct as well. This output also shows how different written language is to oral language – and how much feels left out when we “read” oral language. Ong (2002) writes, “Writing, commitment of the word to space, enlarges the potentiality of language almost beyond measure” (p. 7). Without reading body language, gestures, or even just witnessing my oral performance visually, the text can be jarring to read as a standalone work.
What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?
The formatting of the text is horrendous, but for the most part the text is very accurate. Upon re-reading it, there were very little inaccuracies in the actual words being written, but rather the commas, periods, and capital letters are incorrectly placed and very distracting.
What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?
The most common errors I found in this output were comma, period, and capital letter placement. These errors are littered throughout the work – no doubt the result of numerous verbal pauses, too confusing for a computer to understand. There are also mistakes with the names of people and places, such as famous broadway stars, museums, and restaurants.
What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?
If the story was scripted, there would have been far fewer interjections, but I believe that the text would still read as oral text. When we write speeches, we do not write them the same manner in which we would write an email. So although the output may be cleaner with less errors in a scripted scenario, I still think that there would be many of the same issues discussed above. In my previous experience using these sorts of tools (some years ago), often times I resorted to literally saying the word “period” or “comma” to insert one into the text output. At the time, I found this to be the only way to get accurate punctuation in my text. After using it again for this assignment, I can’t say I am any more confident than the last time I used it.
In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?
Oral storytelling is also in many ways a form of visual storytelling. Gnanadesikan (2011) explains, “Writing is generally done more deliberately than speaking, so finished written pieces are much more carefully crafted than a typical spoken sentence” (p. 5). Oral storytelling relies on things such as tone, expression, body language and gestures to convey the story, while written storytelling relies solely on the words used to achieve the same result. This is why it is so unusual to read oral storytelling in written format, because it is simply the wrong medium! In written communication, we use metaphors and other literary devices, that would be odd to use orally. For example, we do not often describe someone’s hair to be “as bright as the sun” in an oral story, but when written, it helps the reader imagine and connect with the text.
“The ‘rules’ of grammar in natural human languages are used first and can be abstracted from usage and stated explicitly in words only with difficulty and never completely” (Ong, 2002, p. 7).
References
Gnanadesikan, A.E. (2011). The first IT revolution. In The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet (pp. 1-12). John Wiley & Sons.
Ong, W.J. (2002). Orality and Literacy: 30th Anniversary Edition (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203426258
