C H A P T E R
Dragon NaturallySpeaking User’s Guide
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Speaking and Dictating
alking to a computer is not like talking to a person. The software
doesn’t care about your grammar or word choice or even if you stop
speaking for minutes at a time. To speak effectively with Dragon
NaturallySpeaking
®
, you’ll need to unlearn old habits and gain new
skills.
Speak clearly
In conversation, people tend to mumble and slur words together,
knowing others will likely understand what they say. If you say “J’eet?”
your friend will understand it as “Did you eat?” Computers running
speech-recognition software, however, are much less adaptable than
people. To achieve the most accurate results from Dragon
NaturallySpeaking
®
you must speak clearly and distinctly. Pretend
you’re a newscaster reading the news or imagine that you're giving a
presentation to a small group of people.
Pronounce each word
When we listen to someone speak, our ears receive a stream of sound.
Our brains automatically separate this sound into words. We are able to
reconstruct words that are only partially heard or that are omitted.
Be aware of speaking clearly
Read a sentence from this book aloud. Make a point of slurring your
words and mumbling. Then read the sentence again, clearly. Can
you tell what you're doing differently in these two readings? Being
aware of when you’re mumbling and when you’re speaking clearly
can help you remember to speak clearly, which will improve your
recognition accuracy.
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