Attorney Michael de Broglio on: South Africa, Law, Politics, Attorneys, Sport, Photography, Technology, Gadgets, Media, Crime, Road Accidents Fund,
Divorce, Maintenance, Personal Injury, Medical Negligence
I once again paid up to get the latest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking. No longer do you train the dictation to capture your speech – you just start dictating straightaway and it is remarkably accurate right from the get-go.
However, it is still not where voice dictation software needs to be and what has disappointed me is that it does not seem to improve, that much, as I dictate more. For example, it has a tremendous problem with the name of one of the advocates I use, Eben Serfontein, and even though I trained it on his name a few times, it still comes up with some incredible versions and words most of the time! It makes an absolute hash of my dictation if I try to run it through the software, but if you are talking about replying to staff, and especially being able to give longer replies to people in emails, explaining a little bit more than I might have if I just typed it myself, it is quite useful. I use the software most typically when I am trying to catch up on e-mails – which is quite difficult, given that I generally get in excess of 250 e-mails a day.
There is a part of me that believes, if you could still read passages to the program it might well pick up the learning pace a little bit faster, but I am going to persist with it, because I do find it, as I say, quite invaluable when I am trying to deal with my correspondence and send my staff and members of the public, who are not our clients who write to me with all sorts of strange queries, slightly longer answers. By way of example, and I don’t always give politically correct answers, a young man wrote to me recently saying that he drove at 160km/h in a 120km/h zone and expressed to me that he thinks he might need an attorney because there is a possibility of going to jail when driving at that speed, but that it was necessary because he was going on a first date.
When I hear something like that, part of me thinks I am being spoofed for some or other show or program, and the other part of me wonders how somebody can drive at such a disgraceful speed and not already have an attorney. He should have been locked up on the spot is my opinion. Certainly, in the line of work we are involved in, I would never be prepared to represent somebody driving in such a wild and reckless way.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Wednesday 18-Oct-17
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Comments
tersia said:
on Wednesday 01-Nov-17 07:30 AM
That is quite an odd query. Those type of programs are not made, I think, to pronounce Afrikaans names. People always tend to struggle with our names. Even my name is always pronounced wrong. It sounds like a great program, I can imagine that it is very helpful.
Liz said:
on Monday 30-Oct-17 09:01 AM
This can be very useful as you say when writing longer emails. With this program one is able to go into all necessary detail and write longer thorough emails as opposed to the time and effort associated with typing all these emails. I agree that the way South Africans pronounce certain words will impact on how the system processes these words.
brumilde said:
on Friday 27-Oct-17 08:17 AM
Interesting program. i dont use it. im sure they will keep working on the software to improve the speech to text translation. but paid for programs should be better than free software.
Joyce said:
on Tuesday 24-Oct-17 05:00 PM
The software indeed sounds better and helpful, no time waiste in training for speech capture before starting dictation, does lot of work, even bit struggles with some names but I think it is still a useful software
Angelique P said:
on Tuesday 24-Oct-17 02:15 PM
This is brilliant. It will be very helpful to people. I think it will work perfectly for studying it will save so much time but I can just imagine it being very irritating if the program does not recognize some words you are saying.
Natasha said:
on Tuesday 24-Oct-17 09:08 AM
I'm not good with new software updates and so on my that is a IT Manager for T-Systems and when ever my laptop or something needs some sort of software or update I just take it to him. but it definitely sounds like a software to have.
Zindy said:
on Monday 23-Oct-17 07:59 AM
I have never used or tried such software but can imagine it could definitely be useful. It has a lot to do with pronunciation but then again every country has there own accent and way they say words so most definitely can not be perfect.
Michelle said:
on Monday 23-Oct-17 07:32 AM
Gadgets that help with tasks every day and makes life easier are so nice. I think it’s already so incredible to pick up through a person’s voice, even though it is struggling with a few words here and there.
Jadine E said:
on Monday 23-Oct-17 07:07 AM
They key is in pronouncing words correctly as this forms a very big part dragon and the way you articulate your speech.
Nikita said:
on Friday 20-Oct-17 04:55 PM
I did not actually know that such programming even existed. I have to agree I think it must be the way we enunciate our words in South Africa. When I try to dictate to my phone to type out my messages instead of having to type it out myself it also struggles with South African surnames/ words.
Ashleigh said:
on Friday 20-Oct-17 08:45 AM
Pronunciation on a word is the key. If you cannot pronounce the word exactly according to what the software recognizes then you will struggle with it. Our accents might affect it as well but Its fine, I would rather sit and type and have the extra bit of work before I let a software programme frustrate me out.
Jessica M said:
on Friday 20-Oct-17 08:33 AM
Well then again with all the same sounding words like son and sun, I don't know how it will pick up which one to put in. It's a smart thing to have but I like to type so for me it's all good.
Clare said:
on Friday 20-Oct-17 08:17 AM
I must also agree with Jessica A, I think that our worlds don't sound as good as how the Americans say there words I think we say it how it should sound like and not how it is spelt. the Other day I was listening to a clip on youtub and it was an American girl and a South African girl and every time the South African girl said the word It was what I would say but when the American said the same word it was crazy funny but if you think of it she was actually right. I think that the program that you are using is cool.
Daniella said:
on Thursday 19-Oct-17 09:26 AM
I agree with Jessica A, it could be our accents that effects the way a dictation dictates us so to say. It is a much easier and convent way to type things especially when googling something on my phone I always use the dictation option, just because google is so broad so it would rather say what I'm searching for then actually type it.
Angelique Jurgens said:
on Wednesday 18-Oct-17 11:59 AM
Perhaps dictation is "where it should be" but the developers are not yet releasing it so that you can keep paying for new and improved versions until they decide the best version is ready for sale? LOL.
Jessica Apfel said:
on Wednesday 18-Oct-17 10:55 AM
Perhaps it is the way in which South Africans enunciate our words - we do not have the best accent, which may make it difficult for the programme to decipher what is being said. None the less, a remarkable way to manage a lot of work and capture your thoughts as and when you have them!
dune said:
on Wednesday 18-Oct-17 10:19 AM
I have to agree with Bianca some dictation is a bit of a puzzle to solve. But definitely a great way to get through a mountain of work
Bianca R said:
on Wednesday 18-Oct-17 09:08 AM
I am not going to lie, some of the dictation is extremely trying and kind of a puzzle to solve! I can imagine that the software is however very helpful and does shave off quite a lot of time that would be spent typing responses and dictation.
Suzanne said:
on Wednesday 18-Oct-17 08:54 AM
I am sure this is very useful with the amount of emails that you receive and have to respond to, as well as doing memos etc. I would love to try this out someday as I am sure it could make a busy day go a bit smoother.
Alexis said:
on Wednesday 18-Oct-17 08:25 AM
Top tell you the honest truth, some calls received seem like a test. Glad the new Dragon is working for you
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
