A survey on Proz.com, the international platform for translators, has revealed that only about 10% of them use speech recognition software. Nonetheless, software such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking (or Dragon for short) is particularly productive for translators, irrespective of the CAT tool you work with. Translating twice as many words a day is a piece of cake.

Once you have got over the two biggest obstacles – getting used to hearing yourself speaking aloud and figuring out how to combine Dragon with your CAT tool – you can easily double your productivity or increase it even more than that (*).
Dragon is speech recognition software made for dictating texts. So it should probably go without saying that if you combine it with other programmes – such as CAT tools – you are still going to need your keyboard, and that problems such as compatibility may still crop up.
I found that out, to my great frustration, with Trados Studio 2019. That was what made me decide to try MemoQ. The result had a lot to do with perception: the time you save is more or less the same, but MemoQ feels faster because the way you correct errors is much more user-friendly.
MemoQ with Dragon
When you combine MemoQ with Dragon, you benefit from two huge advantages that you don’t have in Trados:
- far greater accuracy (so you don’t need to make as many corrections),
- and making corrections is also simpler (with fewer frustrations and distractions).
Trados and Dragon
Conversely, I don’t see any significant, decisive advantages to using Dragon in Trados over Dragon in MemoQ: on the contrary. That is one of the reasons why I have switched entirely to MemoQ (there are a great many others, so if you want to know what they are, e-mail me).
The biggest – and also the riskiest – drawback of Trados lies in the complicated correction method: because you have to enter corrections in a separate window, the ‘dictation window’, you will soon be tempted just to correct them manually in the Trados segment itself, but that way Dragon doesn’t ‘learn’ that the word was wrong.
As a result, the incorrect word is saved as it is and the more often you correct it manually, the more firmly embedded it becomes in Dragon’s memory and the more often you are going to come across it and have to correct it.
If you do want to use Trados, you can also dictate the entire segment in the dictation window, but your CAT functions will not work in that window (so you cannot use the Concordance Search, Terminology Search, etc.) and there is a risk that your source segment will be hidden behind the dictation window.
So you need to give the following commands for each segment: “Open dictation window” + (… dictate translation…) + “Click transfer” + “Press Control+Enter” (or your keyboard shortcut for Confirm and Update in Trados).
The only advantage to translating in the dictation window is that this dictation method is the least susceptible to errors when you start using Dragon (later on, Dragon will have ‘learned’ enough to recognise your intonation).
If you work directly in the segment in Trados, you need to be really strict with yourself and make corrections properly, because otherwise your lexicon will get hopelessly messed up and the corrections will keep on haunting you.
The same does apply to MemoQ, incidentally, but there all you have to say is “Select + word” and, nine times out of ten, it will suggest the correct word. If that doesn’t happen, you simply have to say, “Correct that”, and the correction window opens so that you can correct it manually.
The longer you work with Dragon – and as long as you correct mistakes! – the less susceptible to errors Dragon becomes, certainly if you always translate for the same customers and Dragon can get ‘used to’ the terminology.
Dragon and its limitations
Dragon renders certain functions such as a term base, AutoSuggestDictionary and pre-translation unnecessary. That makes a text with a lot of fuzzy matches less suitable. I suspect dictating is still faster than those functions, although a lot will depend on how you go about it: if you use Fragment Assembly in MemoQ, for example, you will find dictation less useful than if you prefer to start from scratch.
Dragon may also be less helpful in texts for the tourism sector containing the names of many towns and villages. Although you can add the names to the lexicon, that might be a waste of time if they only occur once.
It is less useful in texts with a lot of tags as well. Although Dragon can learn your keyboard shortcut for adding tags, it is a clumsy way to work if your segment is full of different tags.
Remember too that Dragon won’t recognise your voice if you have a cold.
Dragon in figures
For those still wondering whether this investment is worth the money – because Dragon is quite pricey, after all – I have added a graph below of estimated times without Dragon and the times I actually needed with Dragon (from translation to final delivery). The times are expressed in half days.

By the way: if you work in Wordfast Classic, you will probably find it as easy as in MemoQ (or maybe even easier), because it is entirely based on Microsoft Word and so it should be completely compatible with Dragon.
Incidentally, a scientific article (*) has appeared on this subject – dictating translations – that identifies the benefits very clearly:
- Dictation is up to six times faster.
- A multimodal approach (combining dictation with your mouse and keyboard) is the most efficient method.
- Dictating your translation is better for your concentration than typing in the text, and you do not get tired as quickly.
- It improved the quality of some translators’ final translation because they had more time to spare (when working to a tight deadline) for research and thorough checking.
- Translating as you dictate reduces your stress level and increases the number of words you can translate per minute.
I don’t entirely agree with that last point: in my experience it can also increase your stress level. Especially if you haven’t dictated your translations for a while and you start using Dragon again to pick up the pace. In that situation, it isn’t Dragon so much as pressure of time that increases stress.
(*) Source: Traduire à haute voix (‘By Julián Zapata & Elizabeth C. Saint (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Hi!
This article is very useful. Have you tried both products? Can you confirm if either of these products can be used exclusively with Dragon?
This is for a physically disabled translator, not to save time.
Also, have you found any way to get tags in there with Dragon?
Thanks for?
Hi Isabelle,
Yes I have worked with both CAT-tools. I prefer using Dragon with MemoQ. What you do you mean with „can be used exclusively with Dragon?“
You can get tags into your CAT-tool by using the key combination you have installed, for me that is „Push F9“. So if I say that, Dragon puts the tags.
A lot of my collegues work with Dragon because of physical issues.
I hope this give you already an answer…
Regards
Els
I find that combining MemoQ with Dragon slows my machine down, and it gets worse the longer I dictate. Somehow resources seem to be gobbled up. I have a farily new Dell Inspiron with 16 GB of RAM. Very disappointing. I also still use DVX as a TM tool (since 1994), and no resource issues with Dragon there… BTW, I don’t find I translate faster when I dictate. I still have to think just as long.
Groetjes, Hans Christian
Hello Hans Christian,
That is very strange. I have no problem at all with the speed when combining both programs. Perhaps it is the version of Dragon that is the difference? I still have version 13, as I can’t imagine what can improve (it is you who learns the program your voice and your words). What you say about DVX, I have heard that DVX is not being developed anymore. I have several collegues who have changed to MemoQ for that reason. Concerning the speed of translating when dictating. It is right, what you say: you still have to think just as long, but dictating is going much faster as typing: there are studies who claims it is going x6 faster, but I find that a bit exagerated. In my experience, I am approximately double so fast, but I have to say that dictating is not the best solution for each text. Perhaps that is also the difference between us? In any case, I use it as much as I can, certainly when I have the feeling it will improve the quality of the translation (I have the idea that when I translate out loud, I translate not the same as when I type, but perhaps this is just an idea).
Regards
Els
Hi, so far the only CAT that uses all features of Dragon is Deja Vu.
Contextual correction menu, correct word spacing and capitalization.
All the others I know (Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast) do not have those virtues (aka features).
Also Deja Vu is fast all day long.
I hope we will get DV 4 soon. (it is not abandoned, but the company is quiet).
Hello Erik, I don’t understand quiet well what you mean. I can correct very easy in MemoQ and MemoQ also learns very quickly (as quickly as in Word). Concerning DV, I have heard they stop developping the CAT Tool. I know a few collegues who changed to MemoQ as more recent features are not implemented anymore. Don’t know if it true, I only worked with DV in 2003-205 when I was an inhouse translator.
Hello,
I have a question: does anybody know if Dragon works with the CAT tool Across?
Thank you in advance for any reply.
Kind regards
Michelle
Hello Michelle,
I have no experience with Across, but I guess it will work just like in Trados: you should use the apart ‚Dictation Window‘ (under Extra – under ‚Dragon Pad‘. This is meant for software that are not compatible with Dragon. I hope this helps.
Regards
Els