Making Corrections (And There Will Be Corrections)


Making Corrections (And There Will Be Corrections!)

If you have been reading this chapter from the beginning, you know that I warned you early on that speech-recognition programs aren't quite as refined as they someday will be. You will get errors. You could say Begin speaking and get Begins eighteen. (I did.) You could cough and get the phrase days in. (I did.) Or you could have some real fun and try singing to your Tablet PC and get complete garbage. (Nope, 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' is not on Tablet PC's hit parade.)

In some instances, speech won't come across looking like what you said. That happens for a variety of reasons. You might have spoken too quickly. Speech also takes context into account. If you say random words rather than phrases that have common sentence syntax, you'll have more problems.

When errors occur, you have a few tools at your disposal, via the Smart Tag function. A Smart Tag is a context-specific feature that appears when you take certain actions in Windows programs, such as pasting text from the Windows Clipboard in a document or inserting speech with Input Panel. You can tap on a Smart Tag, and a drop-down list offers options to complete the action. With the Speech Smart Tag, you could, for example, choose an alternate word to insert from a list of similar-sounding words.

Use the Smart Tag function access some correction options:

  1. Select a word you have just inserted in your document using Speech.

    The Smart Tag appears (it looks like a little green corner).

  2. Move your cursor over the Smart Tag and tap the arrow that appears.

    A menu like the one shown in Figure 6-6 appears. This menu offers some optional words you can select to replace a word. You can also opt to delete the text or Rewrite/Respeak it. If you choose the latter command, whatever you type or say will replace the current word.

    Click To expand
    Figure 6-6: If the word you really meant to input is on this list, just tap it and it will replace the word that Speech input.

  3. After you choose a Smart Tag option, the action is performed and the Smart Tag disappears.

    A typical example is when you replace a word with an alternate word.

  4. Choose the Replay Dictation choice to hear where you went wrong.

    It can also help you figure out how to say the word more accurately next time!

 Tip  You can also simply use the editing tools in the application you have open, or keys on the keyboard such as Delete, Backspace, or Insert to make corrections to text.

Telling Tablet PC the correct pronunciation for specific words

So, here's a challenge: I tried saying 'speech' five times and got this input:

  • Beach

  • Each

  • Eighth

  • Saint Pete

  • B. she

Here's hoping you have better luck, but even if you don't run across this problem with the word 'speech,' you will have a problem with some other word. I promise. What to do? Sometimes you have to teach Tablet PC how you say a specific word so that it can be added to the Speech database, and (hooray!) be recognized every time you say it in the future.

Well, most times you say it. . . .

Here's how to use the Speech database:

  1. With Dictation turned off, choose Speech ToolsðAdd Pronunciation for a Word.

    The dialog box shown in Figure 6-7 appears.


    Figure 6-7: Adding to Speech's dictionary will make it convert your speech more accurately.

  2. Enter the word in the Word box.

    You can even do this with handwriting!

  3. Tap the Record Pronunciation button and speak the word.

    The word appears in the Dictionary list.

  4. Tap Close.




Tablet PCs for Dummies
Tablet PCs for Dummies
ISBN: 0764526472
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 139

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