CafeTran

Hi! I am new to CafeTran, and so far am really impressed with CT and its users! It feels like a community working together to make better, more efficient translations in all our many languages. Thanks for what you've done to create that...it really attracted me to getting CafeTran. 

I am interested in using speech recognition and am wondering if anyone can help me. I've read the explanation on using google voice typing with CafeTran that Igor sent me, but unfortunately, I was not successful in getting it into CT. 

Can someone tell me what I would need to do in order to get Dragon into CT (I use Windows if that matters)? Are you able to efficiently speak commands to CT with Dragon? How well do these two match? 

Thank you very much!

Jessica

I should add...I have now figured out how to use Google Voice Typing. However, it's a bit clunkier than I was hoping for. Does anyone know of a video showing how it works with Dragon and CT? With Google Voice Typing, I have to speak into a Google Doc, so that Google Doc takes up a bit of space on my screen. Then I have to use two keyboard shortcuts to get the text into the Target within CT. 

Hey, this is free and I like that it's possible, but I am hoping there is a smoother solution. 

I am hoping Dragon lets you type right into the Target Segment pane, but can anyone confirm for me what the integration is like with WINDOWS? 

Thanks!

Hi Jessica,

I am short on time at the moment, but will keep coming back to this post and adding what I can as and when I find time.

However, let me just say that having tested pretty much all of the different ways of dictating into CAT tools on a Windows computer, the best solution is probably:

1. Get the latest version of Dragon. I recommend Dragon Professional Individual 15.

2. Get a good desktop mic. Some people will recommend those little microphones you click on your ear, but I know from actual experience that a good desktop mic will work just fine, plus, it is a hell of a lot less annoying.

3. Get KnowBrainer Professional 2017. Note: this is only really necessary if you want to also dictate complicated commands. Dragon has built-in functionality for basic commands, but if you want to do all sorts of complicated stuff, you either need KnowBrainer (paid), or the free / open source Vocola.

I have very little experience with dictating on a Mac. Some people say that the Mac's built-in Dictation app is just as good as Dragon. I haven't compared them extensively, but I have done quite a bit of testing on my wife's various Macs, and I can say with something approaching certainty that this is not true. Dragon is quite a bit better.

The same goes for Google Voice Typing. All my testing has revealed that it just isn't as good as Dragon.

So that's the basics, in terms of what you will need to get started. However, what's important is what you want to do specifically. That is, how you work, or enjoy working. 

For example, how much do you actually want to dictate commands? From my personal experience, I started off thinking I would want to dictate all sorts of commands, and built all kinds of elaborate commands in Vocola,m and then in KnowBrainer, for various CAT tools, ets. However, I soon realized that I prefer to dictate only running text, and use my keyboard for pretty much everything else, as clever keyboard shortcuts (and AutoKotkey!) will always be faster than dictating commands, especially strings of commands. However, for running text, you can't beat dictation with a keyboard. However, these days I do use dictation for certain commands, usually only when my hands get tired, and there is a risk of a bit of RSI, especially at the end of a long day, or with certain repetitive tasks.

By the way, the best forum online at the moment for everything and anything related to dictation is: http://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum/index.cfm. You should definitely also have a look over there! 

Also, if you are planning on buying any version of Dragon, or a mic, I highly recommend buying it via KnowBrainer, whose prices and service are way better than anything Nuance will ever offer you. Nuance (the company that currently sells Dragon) have an amazing product, but the company is crap. KnowBrainer is run by a small family team of dedicated dictation specialists. They also offer either free versions or extremely cheap versions of their software for anyone with a physical disability, and specialize in helping people with physical disabilities to continue to use computers in optimal ways.

OK, that's all for now, gotta get back to work!

Michael

PS: I dictated all of the above ;-)

Michael,

Thanks so much for taking the time to dictate that to me! I really appreciate it. I enjoyed hearing about your experience with commands not really fitting into your work style, even though you thought they would. One the one hand, I think I would grow inpatient as I watch the system figure out that it's a command and doesn't need to type it! On the other hand, there's a part of me that just wants to be able to give my arms/shoulders a rest. But, autohotkey certainly is speedier than mousing. Not having ever used dictation, it will be a a bit of a learning curve for me in how to integrate it into my workflow. I'm basically hoping to avoid feeling like I'm throwing my arms all around every three seconds hoping between dictation and keyboard/mousing. I guess I can't know til I try it! Thanks!

Thanks again!

Jessica

>I'm basically hoping to avoid feeling like I'm throwing my arms all around every three seconds hoping between dictation and keyboard/mousing.

You can throw your arms to trigger AutoHotkey commands too:

https://www.leapmotion.com/showcase#111

Hans,

This is pretty amazing to see, and I had no idea, so thanks for including this! I am trying to move my arms around as little as possible, in order to avoid RSI. While super fascinating to watch, I would guess that it would make me move around more than I want. I'll have to think about it, though, and see if I can think of some triggers that would be perfect! Do you use this? Any news on how translators can incorporate it to make life more efficient? Definitely something to think about! Thanks, again!

I wanted to update this in case anyone else was trying to figure out if Dragon would work with CafeTran. I haven't used Dragon with any other CAT Tool, so I don't know if it's better with others, but I have been able to get Dragon to work with CafeTran. It types in a Dragon dictation box outside of CafeTran and then I have to say "click Transfer" to get it into the segment box, but overall it works alright. I purchased through Knowbrainer and found the owner very, very knowledgeable. Thanks for that tip, Michael.