Suppose that there is someone who… …always listens to you …keep listening patiently (even if he doesnât understand everything đ¤Ł) …knows every detail of your life …makes sure you can enter your reports superfast …ensures that, despite physical handicaps, you can earn money or finish your studies. Wow! Someone like that deserves a card for […]
Dragon Disaster Preparedness: where is your spare microphone?
Recently a client contecte me, requiring urgent advice about a new microphone. What was the case? My client’s microphone didn’t work anymore. It was broken. For the past couple of days she had been typing. Now this is someone who needs the speech recognition software because of physical issues. Not having Dragon available due to […]
What if two words sound exactly the same?
Recently, Brad asked a question in the comments of one of my blog posts. “How does Dragon deal with homophones?” That’s a great question and in fact the speech recognition sometimes has difficulty making the correct decision. What are homophones? Homophones are words that have different spellings and different meanings, but that sound exactly alike. […]
2019 brings more succes with Dragon
Greetings! The New Year is almost there. Do you have any specific plans for 2019? Me… I don’t really connect new starts to the calendar, but to be honest I do get always kind of excited about the start of a new year. It’s like taking a peek into the future and seeing all possibilities […]
(re)START with Dragon challenge
Whoohoo! Almost a new year and it is now time to dust off any unused Dragon software and microphones. Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to get started, but weren’t sure where to begin? Then mark 8 January 2019 in your calendar as a prep-day to checkout your PC and microphone. And on 14 January we’ll […]
Should I buy a new microphone for Dragon?
A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with one of my clients about whether he should buy a new microphone for Dragon. This gentleman has been an online client of mine for quite a few years already and is a member of the Dutch equivalent of the Learn Dragon Online Academy. He contacted […]
Oops: Are all recognition bloopers Dragon’s fault?
This may not come as a total surprise to you, but Dragon does not actually transcribe everything you say without mistakes. If only! Even if 97% of all the words you dictate is written down correctly, you will get a recognition error about every 30 words. This text is about 350 words long, so it would be […]
Happy Thanksgiving!
Even though Thanksgiving isn’t a European holiday, I do take a moment today to think about what I’m grateful for. Somewhere after being grateful for my loved ones and good health, I’d have to mention the Dragon speech recognition software. Dragon allows me to work even when my minor health glitches make it hard to […]
Did I ever share this podcast episode here?
Earlier this year I was interviewed by Neil Ball of The Entrepreneur way. I don’t think I shared the podcast interview via the blog, so here it is. Very belatedly, but the content isn’t time sensitive. There’s a bit about me, about my business and about speech recognition, of course!
Punctuation and Double Spacing â The age-old debate
There are some topics that divide opinion. Topics that create a debate. The ongoing conversation about whether to leave one space or two at the end of a sentence is one of them. In this post I’m going to tackle this issue to see if we can find a solution. Who is right and who […]
Dyslexia and Dragon
October 2018 is Dyslexia Awareness Month. Are you dyslectic? These are the cliff notes in a larger font: With Dragon you can dictate your texts to the computer. Hardly any typing necessary. That will allow you to make your emails and documents much faster. You need to be able to read what Dragon has typed […]
3 Compelling reasons why you need a Dragon course
If youâre anything like me, you probably have done this many times: install a piece of software and then⌠just start using it. No tutorial or course, perhaps not even reading the quick start guide. Personally I have done this with Photoshop Elements. Whenever Iâm not sure how to go about it, I will just […]
NaNoWriMo: 50,000 words in 30 days
What is NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is actually an international non-profit initiative to encourage people to write a novel. Every November, many people start out writing their novel in 30 days. And by many people, I mean MANY. In 2017, over 400,000 people joined NaNoWriMo. Amazing, isn’t it?! Find […]
Can you use a fan or airco when dictating with Dragon?
As I am sitting here, writing this, we are experiencing record-breaking high temperatures. Yesterday, on my way back from client, I caught my dashboard thermometer displaying 37°C, which is equivalent to 98.6°F. I was extremely grateful for the air-conditioning in my car! However, neither my office, nor my home office are fitted with proper climate […]
Who is listening in on your dictation?
How secure are speech recognition applications? A couple of months ago I read an article in the Dutch media about Alexa, Amazon’s smart home assistant, sending a random conversation from someone in the USA to a random person in the owner’s contacts list. I found an article in English covering the same story at the […]
Microphone not recognised by Dragon?
If you suddenly find that Dragon does not recognise your microphone any more, even though Windows sees it, the below video might be the solution. Apparently the latest large windows update (1803) changes something in the security settings of Windows. This video shows you how to check for the settings and make sure that your […]
Dragon stinks! Right??!
Dragon stinks! Some time ago someone enquired in a forum after speech recognition software. But only a program that actually works! “Not Dragon, Dragon stinks!” When I hear someone say that, I usually wonder what went wrong in the relationship between that person and their Dragon. Didn’t they ever hit it off? Did they fall […]
Was it Yanny or Laurel? Ask the Dragon!
I had a fun experiment with Dragon: Recently there was a bit to do about a digitised sound sample saying either “Yanny” or “Laurel”. Watch this video to see how Dragon transcribes that particular sound sample and how Dragon transcribes a regular human voice.
Freedom: walking around while dictating
Dragon allows you to get a bit of freedom of movement. There is absulutely no need to be virtually chained to the keyboard and mouse, since you can do so much by voice. Even with a wired headset you can lean back in your chair, while being productive. And a wireless microphone allows you even […]
Is Dragon speech recognition a good choice for me?
If you’re considering Dragon speech recognition, you want to be as sure as possible beforehand that it will actually benefit you, right? Unlike some resellers and trainers, I’ll be the last person to tell you that speech recognition is the perfect solution for everyone. It really isn’t. So how to find out if it will […]
Dragon 15 and Firefox
Sometime last year it became impossible to properly work in Firefox with Dragon. The existing plug-in/extension stopped working. Apparently Mozilla decided to change something essential in an update to Firefox, causing the Dragon extension to become inoperable. A great disappointment, since for many people Firefox is the preferred Internet browser. With the advent of the […]
Dragon 15.3 Update (for PC)
Nuance has come out with a free update to version 15.3 which offers a solution for several excruciating bugs in Dragon Professional Individual and Microsoft Office. Why you need this update These were the issues experienced many people running Dragon Professional Individual 15 in combination with Word and Outlook on Windows. It was impossible to correctly position the […]
What do I need to successfully use Dragon?
Dragon may seem a wonderful solution on first sight. And in most cases it can certainly be absolutely great. But there are several considerations to keep in mind. What do you need to successfully use Dragon? Important success factors include yourself as the end user of the software, your computer and the microphone. You: the end user […]
Can I use Dragon if I have (almost) no computer experience?
It seems so convenient: just talk to your computer and it will do what you say. Much easier than use the keyboard and mouse, right? Perhaps you’re a bit older and never learned how to work with a computer. Or perhaps you have serious physical issues preventing you to be able to use a mouse […]
The ultimate guide to Dragon NaturallySpeaking?
Is there such a thing as an Ultimate guide to Dragon NaturallySpeaking? Let me explain how I came to this question: If you have read my bio, you know that I have been a trainer for speech recognition software for almost 20 years now. However, I have a confession to make: running an international online branche […]
Happy New Year
Musical Christmas greetings from the Dragon
I’ve had incredible fun singing a Christmas song to the Dragon đ . It’s amazing what you can make the speech recognition do if you have a bit of patience. Click video below: Merry Christmas to you!
Can I install Dragon on multiple computers?
[post updated 6 January 2019] Do your own more than one computer? If you do, you are probably interested to know whether you can install Dragon on both your laptop and your desktop computer. I frequently get asked if it is allowed to install Dragon speech recognition on multiple computers. When can I install Dragon […]
The single most important factor for success with Dragon
Recently I got this question: âWhat is the single most important factor for success with Dragon speech recognition?â All right, that is a question thatâs really hard to answer. In my opinion it is simply not possible to indicate a single success factor. What is the most important factor? Without a computer, you cannot use […]
What does DPI stand for?
Can I still use Dragon when I have a cold?
It is a question that I get regularly: âWhat if I get a cold? Can I still dictate and use speech commands in Dragon? Will Dragon understand you? Obviously, if your voice is really hoarse or youâve lost your voice completely, Dragon wonât work anymore. But even if circumstances are less dire, Dragon speech recognition […]
Can I use the built-in mic of my laptop for Dragon?
Dragon on World Emoji Day
Workld Emoji Day; I didn’t know it was a ‘thing’, but I’m happy to show how I dictate emoji’s in Dragon speech recognition software.
Speech recognition for the entrepreneur
I am an entrepreneur: I run a speech recognition training and consulting business in the Netherlands and have been self-employed for over 7 years now. Like many enterpreneurs and emplyees alike, I am fairly busy most of the time and sometimes I am BUSY. Perhaps you know what I mean :-). Are you busy too? […]
What is Dragon speech recogntion?
Generally speaking, the term âspeech recognitionâ in technology describes the capability of an electronic device to respond to words spoken by humans. Nowadays there is speech recognition for Windows and Mac computers, smartphones, GPS navigation systems and much more. At Learn Dragon Online, I teach people to work with Dragon Professional Individual. This is a […]
Dragon NaturallySpeaking celebrates 20th anniversary
This month it is 20 years ago that Dragon NaturallySpeaking by – then – Dragon Systems was ‘born’. It was the first speech recognition product that allowed you to dictate continuously. Its predecessor DragonDictate required you to speak word-for-word. A much slower process where every word was analysed and recognised  separately. Not until Dragon had finished […]
Happy Easter
About Learn Dragon Online
I created Learn Dragon Online to help people get the most out of Dragon speech recognition software. Why a course on Dragon? While speech recognition software is not rocket science, it still can be tricky to get Dragon to do what you want. I find that many people struggle to get adequate use out of […]
About Janneke
Update: This blogpost was first written when I started my site and didnât have a proper âAbout meâ page in place. I now have one, and you can find it here. About Janneke den Draak This is the first time that I have created an international website and most probably you’ve have never heard of […]
