Google has launched a brand new ‘voice typing’ tool that allows you to write by talking into your microphone via the Google Chrome browser. This exciting new development is the latest addition to Google Docs, Google’s word processing app.
The Google voice typing tool is great news for mobile users and lazy typers, however, a few early problems have been detected regarding the way the app deals with strong accents, swear words and American/British English.
Is Google’s Voice Typing Tool Better Than Siri?
Voice recognition software last came to this level of prominent public attention when Apple first launched Siri four years ago.
Siri has since been used as much for its comedy value, gained from its frequent misunderstandings, as for seeking actual information. Google’s new voice typing feature does seem to offer a big improvement on the earliest versions of the Siri tool.
Google Voice Typing in American and British English
One of the main problems with the new Google voice typing software is that it is weighted towards American English. This means than some differences between British English and American English get overlooked or confused by the voice recognition software. For example, the word ‘period’ in American English is a ‘full stop’ in British English.
The Google voice typing tool does recognise ‘full stop’ but will also add in a full stop when you say ‘period’ in the middle of a sentence (e.g. ‘period of time’). Understandably, this can create some confusion – and some very abrupt sentences!
Swear Words Censored by Google Docs Voice Typing App
The most contentious feature of the Google Docs voice typing function is that it censors all mainstream swear words. This means for mainstream swear words used in American English, the app uses asterisks to cover all but the first letter of the word.
However, some British swear words make it through the censor – the American app clearly does not find British swearing as offensive! This British/American issue may also prove a problem for British idioms and slang.
The Problem with Accents for Voice Recognition Software
The app is supposed to work when the user speaks at a ‘normal volume and pace’. The main problem comes when speaking into the voice typing tool with an accent.
Google’s voice typing tool is designed to understand dictation in 40 languages and can cope with small fluctuations in pronunciation, however, strong accents will have problems being understood.
If you have a powerful regional dialect, it is best to speak more slowly and most importantly, become adept at proofreading! The same applies if you are trying to use Google’s voice typing function in a loud environment. The background noise can affect the app’s ability to ‘hear’ your voice correctly.
Ryan Tabone, director of product management for Google, has already admitted: “We’re not sure it can handle the Boston accent yet”. So not even Americans are guaranteed to be understood by the Google voice typing tool.
Homonyms and the Google Dictation Tool
One of the more amusing aspects of the new voice typing app from Google is the confusion over some homonyms and homophones. Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings; homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and different spellings.
Many homonyms are dealt with impressively by Google’s voice typing function. The app can understand the majority of potentially confusing words from their context. For example, the word ‘colon’ is a punctuation mark (:) and also an organ inside the body.
Google manages to decipher the right meaning here, perhaps because the meanings are so distinct – it will be a rare occasion when a colon gets mistaken for a colon!
The cleverness of the Google voice typing tool comes to the fore when you see it has written the wrong word while you are talking, but then changes that word to the correct one once you reach the end of the sentence.
The app can actually realise it has made a mistake and go back to work out the correct spelling from the context. This is one of the best things about the new Google voice typing tool.
New Google Docs Functions
The voice typing feature is not the only new function in Google Docs. The app has been wholly revamped with a number of new tools, including a research function for saving quotations and images, an ‘explore’ tool in Sheets and a series of polished new templates to use with Google Forms, Docs, Sheets and Slides.
Share your thoughts
Have you used the new Google voice typing tool? What did you think?
Did you experience any problems or have any funny misunderstandings with the voice-typing tool?
Let us know in the comments box.
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