DNS 10: Who localised it into Spanish? Thread poster: Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
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Dear colleagues:
Please allow me to use this forum to "thank" the people who localised Dragon Naturally Speaking into Spanish. We as users are paying the consequences of an --in my opinion-- unprofessional localisation of the voice commands.
A couple of outrageous (sorry, this is what it is) decisions are things like:
- "caps" (in English) localised as "mayúscula inicial" (6/7 syllables instead of 1). So in every line we translate (with a CAT tool, ... See more Dear colleagues:
Please allow me to use this forum to "thank" the people who localised Dragon Naturally Speaking into Spanish. We as users are paying the consequences of an --in my opinion-- unprofessional localisation of the voice commands.
A couple of outrageous (sorry, this is what it is) decisions are things like:
- "caps" (in English) localised as "mayúscula inicial" (6/7 syllables instead of 1). So in every line we translate (with a CAT tool, for instance), we have to say "mayúscula inicial" instead of other very simple options like "Mayús" or "May" (things that would be a lot shorter). Related consequences are that to "cap that" --put a selection in capitals-- we have to say "eso mayúscula inicial". It is faster to type the word with initial capital than saying all that!!
- "all caps on" localised as "activar todas mayúsculas" (9 syllables instead of 3). Honestly, if I have to say all that... and the disabling command "desactivar todas mayúsculas" to type a line in all caps.... I prefer to type it with the keyboard!
Can you believe that in order to write "[email protected]" you have to say "Activar todas minúsculas ventas arroba Nuance punto com Desactivar todas minúsculas"? The thought of it simply makes me laugh.
Can Nuance and/or the localisers please remember what the software is all for? By using such long commands in Spanish, the goal of the solution is completely forgotten: to be able to write fast by the use of speech. Please reconsider these very long commands and use short commands with one or a few syllables, as in English!! Please! It only takes a little bit of imagination and talking to the users!
BTW: In case someone at Nuance reads this... Can you please correct the mistakes in the online help in the next SP or release? I mean typos like the help topic "Trabajar con el escritirio de Windows" or pieces of English text still present in the online help, like in topic "Dictado en ventanas que no son estándar".
[Edited at 2009-09-03 08:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Elena Carbonell 
Netherlands
Local time: 11:35
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
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I have the program but I haven't used it that much but what you are saying is outrageous.
It gets on my nerves when I see a bad translation, but a bad translation of a program probably used by writers and other translators...for crying out loud!!
I hope someone at Dragon will pay notice of your complaints and will be wiling to make a reviewed version with another Spanish and smarter linguist on the team.
[Edited at 2009-09-03 10:09 GMT]
| | | | | The tool would be a lot better! | Sep 3, 2009 |
Elena Carbonell wrote:
I hope someone at Dragon will pay notice of your complaints and will be wiling to make a reviewed version with another Spanish and smarter linguist on the team.
Thanks for your comments Elena.
I must say that I quite like the tool in general. After a couple of weeks using it intensely and training it for many new words and expressions (also to remove some typos in the Spanish vocabulary), it is "getting to know me well" and is allowing me to translate about 20% faster (I am a fast typer).
Of course the whole approach changes at translation time (you should not start saying anything until you have the full translation set in your head) and the review after "speaking out a translation" is different: from finger typos to misinterpretations of the sounds. I have to reread anything I say, and the review after me must be more careful checking the meaning against the English text. But we in the team are adapting to the new method and, in the end, the final result is as good as typing.
Having said all this, the fact that I have to use so many syllables for the very basic, constant commands I have to use with every line reduces the potential productivity of the tool by a 25% per cent: just try to imagine saying "mayúscula inicial" with EVERY segment I translate with TagEditor, and I mean segments with 50 words but also segments with 2 words!! :-/
[Edited at 2009-09-03 10:19 GMT]
| | | | | Same thing in German... | Sep 3, 2009 |
The German localization was done with equal "brainlessness". In some instances it borders on the idiotic. Whoever localized it--Nuance should ask them to pay back the money, and have the whole thing re-done by someone who is a bit more professional.
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Peter Linton (X)
Local time: 10:35
Swedish to English
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You are quite right to complain about the lack of thought by the Nuance programmers.
Bear in mind that you can correct this deficiency and create your own shortcut. In the English version, CAP, I found that Dragon often did not hear the last letter P. So if I said "CAP The answer is ... " it would often come out as "and the answer is ...".
So I have set up a new command CAPA (chosen because I find it quick and easy to say, and because it is not in the Dragon word list)... See more You are quite right to complain about the lack of thought by the Nuance programmers.
Bear in mind that you can correct this deficiency and create your own shortcut. In the English version, CAP, I found that Dragon often did not hear the last letter P. So if I said "CAP The answer is ... " it would often come out as "and the answer is ...".
So I have set up a new command CAPA (chosen because I find it quick and easy to say, and because it is not in the Dragon word list). I trained it so that it does the same as CAP, but is more reliable.
You could set up a similar shortcut command via Dragon / Words / View/Edit / Look for the Spanish Written form, enter your Spoken form / Train it. ▲ Collapse
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Peter Linton wrote:
So I have set up a new command CAPA (chosen because I find it quick and easy to say, and because it is not in the Dragon word list). I trained it so that it does the same as CAP, but is more reliable.
Wow Peter. Thank you very much.
However (I have the Preferred version), how can I specify that my new word should be interpreted as the "Caps" voice command?
| | | | | If you want to be heard | Sep 3, 2009 |
The Spanish commands do sound horrid, but you'd probably have more impact taking your complaints to the forums at knowbrainer.com, where Nuance folks are known to unofficially lurk.
There might also be some undocumented workarounds.
If you have the professional version of DNS, you ought to be able to program around most of the difficulties. You could, for instance, write a command triggered by the phrase "cap next" (or whatever works for you in Spanish) and use it to ca... See more The Spanish commands do sound horrid, but you'd probably have more impact taking your complaints to the forums at knowbrainer.com, where Nuance folks are known to unofficially lurk.
There might also be some undocumented workarounds.
If you have the professional version of DNS, you ought to be able to program around most of the difficulties. You could, for instance, write a command triggered by the phrase "cap next" (or whatever works for you in Spanish) and use it to call the corresponding internal command in DNS. The syntax is very easy and the performance hit certainly less than you get with all those syllables now.
Once you're adept at doing that, you can combine it with the "next unit" keystroke in TagEditor and voila, another 20% productivity gain. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Peter is exactly right | Sep 3, 2009 |
...and cost-efficient too!
Go to Words>View/Edit.
Find or enter your new word.
Click "Properties".
Select "Use Alternative Form 1". Leave the textbox blank, or delete whatever is in there.
Click "Format".
Select the appropriate choice in "format the next word".
Save.
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For 'all caps' you can just say 'todo mayúsculas', the next word will be in all-caps and the following will be typed normally. As for the command 'Cap', it might be a problem with the microphone, 'Cap' works fine for me also.
But you're absolutely right Tomás, Nuance obviously didn't plan the localization and as a result, many of the non-English commands just plain suck! English words are usually shorter than in other languages so that should've been taken into account when doing ... See more For 'all caps' you can just say 'todo mayúsculas', the next word will be in all-caps and the following will be typed normally. As for the command 'Cap', it might be a problem with the microphone, 'Cap' works fine for me also.
But you're absolutely right Tomás, Nuance obviously didn't plan the localization and as a result, many of the non-English commands just plain suck! English words are usually shorter than in other languages so that should've been taken into account when doing the localization processes.
I particularly hate 'abrir interrogación', 'cerrar interrogación'. Oh the stoopid!
If you do write a post at Knowbrainer, please post the link. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Thanks a million for your comments! | Sep 3, 2009 |
Thank you all for your very useful comments!
As mentioned, I use Preferred. I think I might have to move to a more customisable version if I keep using this in the long run. I dislike "fighting the machine"!
| | | | | Another workaround :-) | Sep 14, 2009 |
Folks, I am quite happy now about the performance of Dragon Naturally Speaking:
- It now uses initial caps correctly without me having to say anything
- It types a lot faster on screen (even faster than in Word)
The solution? I started using MemoQ (3.6) instead of TagEditor (I was using DNS with TagEditor from Trados 8.0).
Has anybody tried DNS with SDL Trados 2009 (Studio)? How does DNS behave in there? Please share!
| | | | | Where can I find Spanish Commands | Sep 24, 2009 |
Hi all, this is an interesting thread because I am currently training a student in how to use DNS Spanish version. She has the English version too and we're OK with that because that is what I am familiar with. The problem with the Spanish version is that the commands are not literal translation of English. We have used 'help' to find the basics but I can not find a comprehensive list of commands to help her, for example, move around tables or move to the next or previous table. I have even ... See more Hi all, this is an interesting thread because I am currently training a student in how to use DNS Spanish version. She has the English version too and we're OK with that because that is what I am familiar with. The problem with the Spanish version is that the commands are not literal translation of English. We have used 'help' to find the basics but I can not find a comprehensive list of commands to help her, for example, move around tables or move to the next or previous table. I have even spoken to Nuance's support desk but they could not help me. Could anybody here point me in the right direction to obtain a list of Spanish commands? Thanks in advance. ▲ Collapse
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