Google Voice Transcripts 1

Posted by JD 08/25/2009 at 12:39

I’ve been using Google Voice, GV, and the prior GrandCentral for almost 3 years. The main thing that GV added was free transcriptions for calls and voice mail. This is great, when it works well, but not so great when the transcription is, shall we say, inaccurate.

The rules:

  1. Always listen to the voice mail
  2. Read the transcript with a critical eye. Things that don’t make sense are probably transcription errors.
  3. Any line noise, especially from cell phones, are likely to introduce GV-talk.

GV-Talk is grammatically correct, but not actually what the caller said.

  • GV Transcript: Hope you’re going to cancel or something.
  • Actual Text: Hope you are out camping or hiking.

The other 3 sentences were transcribed accurately.

Clearly the actual meaning for the overall VMS was significantly changed between the translation and actual speech. Not good, but better than nothing, provided you know the limitations.

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  1. JD 08/26/2009 at 06:42

    Just received another voicemail and GV transcripts can make anyone sound like an idiot.

    That’s all I’m saying.