Lesson 7: Initial Vocabulary
The goal of this lesson is to establish your vocabulary. Each person uses words in slightly different ways. Most professionals have multiple language styles depending upon the situation - an informal, casual speaking style; a style for communication with colleagues; and a formal style typically used for publications.
Speech recognition works best when NaturallySpeaking "knows" your language style. Your frequently-used phrases will be recognized more accurately, and words that you don’t use aren’t likely to accidentally pop-up in dictated text. But NaturallySpeaking needs to be told/shown what vocabulary you use. Remember, even a realm such as "Medicine" or "Law" encompasses huge vocabularies.
Establishing your vocabulary may be simple, or may take considerable time depending upon what resources you have that reflect your writing. In some cases, one must bypass this step until one can accumulate sufficient material - roughly 20 pages of text is minimum. Over 1000 pages will not add much.
- Copy your speech files in the Program Files\Dragon Systems\Naturally Speaking\Users\<your name> folder for safe-keeping. You’ll go back to these only if something goes wrong. Saving them prevents you from having to re-read the training material.
- Evaluate your resources - what is available that records YOUR language? Even better, what is available that can be "read" by your PC - that is, what is already in a conventional word processing format.
Potential resources include:
Word Processing files of material that you have written.
E-mail that you have written that is saved on your system.
Word Processing files that other persons (e.g. transcriptionists) may have retained.
Material that can be scanned into a PC or otherwise easily transferred to a PC from another system.
Material you have not written yourself, but which is similar in vocabulary to the type of material you produce.
Glossaries and other related material pertinent to your profession.
- If you have less than 20 pages of material, skip the rest of this lesson until you (a) have the material or (b) have dictated enough using NaturallySpeaking to accumulate the material.
- If you have at least 20 pages of material in PC files, convert all the material to either ASCII Text, HTML, Word, or WordPerfect formats. ASCII Text is preferred. A program such as Conversions Plus may be used to expedite this chore. If practical, convert the material into a small number of files or into files within the same directory as the material may need to be referenced every few months.
- Initiate NaturallySpeaking, either from the Start Menu or from your desktop icon. Once in NaturallySpeaking, go to Advanced then Vocabulary Builder. Turn the microphone OFF while using Vocabulary Builder -- there is a potential error if Dragon starts to hear words while running the Vocabulary Builder.
- If you have word lists - glossaries, etc., there is a step for adding them. If you are wondering how to create your own word lists you can click on "Help" or you can learn more about building word lists from us.
- Vocabulary Builder has an "Add" button. Use this much like an "Open" menu to select files that reflect your writing. You may add MANY files if you choose. Once you have added all the files, then you may "Build" your vocabulary. During this phase, NaturallySpeaking reviews your files, identifies new vocabulary, and adjusts its tables to reflect your specific vocabulary.
- Presuming it finds new words, the Vocabulary Builder asks if you wish them added. Usually, you should check the "capitalization" option to eliminate your unusual capitalizations. Then, you must review each word. If the word is not a trade name, new word, or highly unusual word, check the spelling - it is likely to be wrong. Select only words you wish added - usually not more than a few dozen. It may help to use the written word/spoken word to help Dragon understand unusual words or phrases. With acronyms such as ASU (Arizona State University) it may help to provide a spoken form like "a. s. u.". To provide a spoken form of a word click on "Edit" after selecting the word.
- Select "Train and Build" to add the words. You will get a screen that will allow you to voice-train the new words. If the words have non-Latin pronunciations, train them - otherwise just click "Done" and NaturallySpeaking will presume a Latin pronunciation.
- Save your speech files when the Vocabulary Building is completed.
At this point, you may wish to try to dictate more material that is specific to your profession. In most cases, you will find a significant jump in accuracy.
Lesson 8
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