Non-native English speaker Thread poster: Piotr Sawiec
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Are there any non-native English speakers using Dragon? What is your experience, can you learn how to use it and teach Dragon to recognise our flawed pronounciation?
Piotr
| | | | | Yes it works. | Dec 17, 2007 |
I use Dragon all the time for medical dictation. Although I am a native English speaker, the first time I saw the product demonstrated, the speaker was a Quebecois with a thick accent. It worked perfectly.
BTW, occasionally Dragon will not recognize a word or phrase even for me. There are workarounds. For example, it always wants to interpret "cerumen" as "Syrian men" so I've trained it to write "cerumen" whenever I say "earwax".
Michael
[Edited at 2007-12-17 15:... See more I use Dragon all the time for medical dictation. Although I am a native English speaker, the first time I saw the product demonstrated, the speaker was a Quebecois with a thick accent. It worked perfectly.
BTW, occasionally Dragon will not recognize a word or phrase even for me. There are workarounds. For example, it always wants to interpret "cerumen" as "Syrian men" so I've trained it to write "cerumen" whenever I say "earwax".
Michael
[Edited at 2007-12-17 15:52] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Margreet Logmans (X) 
Holandija
Local time: 13:56
English to Dutch
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training takes a little more time, but Dragon can do it.
Depends on how heavy your accent is, I think, but it works for me (Dutch native)
| | | | Piotr Sawiec
Local time: 13:56
English to Polish
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TOPIC STARTER | they say it is not very heavy | Dec 17, 2007 |
so I think I will give it a try. Thank you for the information.
since most of my translations are medical, should I buy the preferred version, or some medical extension?
Piotr
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| I would't know about non-natives, but... | Dec 17, 2007 |
I use Dragon to dictate mostly in French. However, the French version of Dragon was made with French from France in mind, and when I first started using it, I could sense that the default French dictionary was dictated by someone with an accent from France, judging from the recognition errors. I speak French with a Quebec accent, which in many cases is very different from French French. This causes Dragon to misinterpret what I say.
I used it anyway, knowing that it was possible to ... See more I use Dragon to dictate mostly in French. However, the French version of Dragon was made with French from France in mind, and when I first started using it, I could sense that the default French dictionary was dictated by someone with an accent from France, judging from the recognition errors. I speak French with a Quebec accent, which in many cases is very different from French French. This causes Dragon to misinterpret what I say.
I used it anyway, knowing that it was possible to adapt words in the dictionary to my way of saying them. I would say it took about 10K words of dication before Dragon started to behave like I wanted it to. The problem is that you will have to spend lots of time with your new pet Dragon for it to recognize your pronunciation, and this is not very productive at first. However, if you are patient and use the spelling/correction functions of Dragon every time it misunderstands your accent (you have to be disciplined, as most of us are tempted to simply retype the word instead of asking Dragon to learn to "pronounce" it correctly). If you do that, it will soon tune in.
Now that Dragon is trained to understand my accent, it makes practically no recognition errors, and I even managed to make it distinguish between certain words that sound alike depending on context, which is admittedly a nice effort, both on my and Dragon's part.
I hope this helps!
[Edited at 2007-12-17 17:23] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Medical vs Preferred. | Dec 17, 2007 |
The Medical version costs almost 8 times more than the Preferred. I use the Preferred myself for my medical applications. You can also get specialized vocabularies from third parties. For great microphones and ancillary software see http://knowbrainer.com.
The Preferred version comes out-of the-box with a very extensive medical vocabulary.
Michael
[Edited at 2007-12-18 01:3... See more The Medical version costs almost 8 times more than the Preferred. I use the Preferred myself for my medical applications. You can also get specialized vocabularies from third parties. For great microphones and ancillary software see http://knowbrainer.com.
The Preferred version comes out-of the-box with a very extensive medical vocabulary.
Michael
[Edited at 2007-12-18 01:39] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Giulia TAPPI
Francuska
Local time: 13:56
French to Italian
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I am Italian native, but live in France since 1980, so my French is really very good and people tell me I have no Italian accent at all.
I dictate in both languages, and have no major problem with French, but I still noticed it works really better with Italian, even if in Italian I think i have an accent from my region.
So in my opinion Dragon is really meant for native speakers.
| | | | kyanzes
Mađarska
Local time: 13:56
English to Hungarian
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| Does the mic count? | Dec 18, 2007 |
Currently I own some cheap mic that came as part of a headset. Cost me like ten dollars.
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Piotr Sawiec
Local time: 13:56
English to Polish
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TOPIC STARTER | no trial version | Dec 18, 2007 |
In my opinion it is a big mistake of Nuance not to have the trial version, there is no chance to see how it works with non-native speakers. If someone wants to try it, they are given no choice but to acquire a "semi-legal" version, and to do a full purchase if the software works.
thank you all for your comments
Piotr
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Michael Barnett wrote:
The headsets are better, but they make you look like a cyborg.
I really don't mind looking like a cyborg - I don't dictate at the hairdressers or at dinner parties. What I find most important with the equipment is ergonomy and comfort, and of course, quality audio. If these requirements are met, then I will maybe look into stylish-looking headsets. The only two places I ever dictate is at home and in cyber cafés, and in both of those places, people are accustomed to cyborg fashion and really don't mind.
Thanks for the tips, Michael - I was going to shop for a headset myself. Even though you recommend microphones, your links are useful for my shopping.
| | | | | Mic course 101 | Dec 22, 2007 |
Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
Michael Barnett wrote:
The headsets are better, but they make you look like a cyborg.
I really don't mind looking like a cyborg - I don't dictate at the hairdressers or at dinner parties. What I find most important with the equipment is ergonomy and comfort, and of course, quality audio. If these requirements are met, then I will maybe look into stylish-looking headsets. The only two places I ever dictate is at home and in cyber cafés, and in both of those places, people are accustomed to cyborg fashion and really don't mind.
Thanks for the tips, Michael - I was going to shop for a headset myself. Even though you recommend microphones, your links are useful for my shopping.
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| Mic course 101 | Dec 22, 2007 |
Hi Victoria,
The Plantronic headset incorporates digital signal processing to filter out noise. The signal passes through an analogue to digital converter and attaches to the computer through a USB port, bypassing the computer's sound card.
If you buy a non-USB headset, you should get an analogue to digital converter that attaches between the mic and the computer to improve your signal/noise ratio.
I use the Plantronics headset at home and in the back offic... See more Hi Victoria,
The Plantronic headset incorporates digital signal processing to filter out noise. The signal passes through an analogue to digital converter and attaches to the computer through a USB port, bypassing the computer's sound card.
If you buy a non-USB headset, you should get an analogue to digital converter that attaches between the mic and the computer to improve your signal/noise ratio.
I use the Plantronics headset at home and in the back office at work. I have bought one for each of my children. It is also superb for listening to music from the computer.
I can't wear it front of patients, though. Also, it interferes with the stethoscope! 
Michael ▲ Collapse
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