For work or study it can be convenient to record a lesson or what is said in a meeting so that you can transcribe it, listening to the audio again . With the computer all this is simpler and could even have been automatic if we had not been Italian. Let me explain better, on Windows 7 you can find, in the control panel, an icon called " Voice recognition ". By clicking on it you access a bleak screen where it is written that in Italian, voice recognition is not available (this function is only active for English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese).
The same thing also happens in Windows 10 where, although theoretically the voice recognition can be activated in Italian by going to Settings> Date / Time and language> Speech recognition, it does not work to dictate text to be written in Italian.
So, since the computer cannot automatically write a text in Italian, you have to work manually and transcribe or rewrite a recording with the support of a program or an app to listen to the dictation
READ ALSO: Transcribe an audio or video file as automatically written text
It's about listening to an audio recording from your computer and writing it to a text editor, like a Word sheet.
The support lies in having a software that slows down the dictation and allows, through immediate hotkeys, to interrupt, restart and repeat the reproduction, without ever leaving the sheet where you write. Transcription is a demanding task, above all because you have to capture what others say and these are not always understandable. The speed of typing and human writing will never reach the speed of speaking.
Scribe
With the Express Scribe program (free for personal use) you can solve at least the problem of listening to an audio recording, when you want to write it under dictation. This fantastic program is available for Mac, Windows and Linux, and is free to download. Basically, you can use Express Scribe to listen to the audio files, including mp3, of recordings made with a digital recorder or a mobile phone, to make the transcription on a Word sheet, under dictation.To start a transcription process, open the application and click on the Load button from the main window to find the folder where the audio files are. Multiple files can be uploaded simultaneously. The file is converted into a format readable only by Express Scribe but it is not a problem. Each imported file can be played using the commands in the main window: Play - Stop - Rewind - Fast Forward . Two other tools allow you to select the playback speed (Speed) and the position to start from (the bar above the Play). The speed slider is the main advantage of this program because it allows you to adjust a slower playback so you can follow the dictation in a slower way. After pressing the Play button, a command appears at the top right to adjust the volume of the left and right audio channels.
The other important feature of Express Scribe is represented by hotkeys to use these functions quickly.
If you follow the dictation of a recording by writing on Word, you will not have to change the window to press Stop or Back but just press the configured key combination. Express Scribe allows you to set shortcut keys to control its functions within other applications. To add shortcuts, open the " Options " menu, then go to Hot Keys and add the key combinations as you prefer.
The default keys are:
Play : "Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow"
Stop : "Ctrl + Alt + Period"
Back : "Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow"
Decrease the playback speed (-5%) : "Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow"
Increase the playback speed (+ 5%) : "Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow".
From the main interface you can open the text editor which can be Word but also another program.
Express Dictate automatically associates a text file with the audio file so it will be impossible to lose the transcription of a specific recording and everything remains organized. There are other advanced features (which I have no way to try) such as pedal support, the ability to capture audio from an analog and digital recorder, video file playback (with additional plugins) and integration with software voice recognition (just for English transcriptions).
As I said, it is not possible to save an audio track in order to listen to it in a slower way. To do this you can use Audacity which has, among its functions, the possibility of slowing down the reproduction of a file ( Effects - Change Tempo ) and saving it.
Other free programs to transcribe audio recordings
A completely free alternative program always for PC, simpler but also more flexible is Listen N Write which allows you to listen to audio recordings and to write the dictated text on a text editor. The program manages mp3 files and Wav files (also works with audio from AVI, MKV, MOV video files) and is also portable, to be copied to a USB stick.You can also use the built-in sound recorder in Listen N Write to record audio from your computer microphone. Audio recordings made with the program can only be saved in WAV format.
The Playback menu allows you to play, pause, stop, skip backward or forward or decrease / increase the playback speed. There is an option to switch to a specific passage of the audio track and a bookmark to mark the most important points. The dictation key (F12) is useful when you want to pause playback and write. The Timestamp key, adds the time (for example 00:00:51) to the text editor so as to add the text from the audio for reference.
Listen N Write can save text documents in TXT and RTF formats and has basic formatting tools.
Another program to use to transcribe audio recordings in a comdo way, which slows down the playback of the file and allows you to stop and restart it with a simple click is pmTrans, free.
If you prefer to use a smartphone, we have seen the best apps for recording voice and sounds with Android .
In addition, there is an application, always for Android, designed specifically for the transcription of audio recordings, lessons, courses or conferences and is called Easy Record Transcription, completely free. Record in MP3, it can save files in Dropbox and allows you to listen and transcribe audio recordings. When paused, playback then restarts a few seconds, to be able to hear the last words.
On iPhone the audio recorder is among the applications already installed on the phone.
So I don't know if there are better free solutions but I think I have found a good compromise. If then you know how to use the computer for an automatic dictation with voice recognition in Italian I think it would be really a great thing. The only program that seems capable of writing a text under dictation by itself is Dragon Naturally Speaking (for a fee).
