Improving voice dictation results?

The following comment was apparently an auto-saved part of this discussion from long ago, though my fuzzy recollection is that I had posted it? If I could figure out a convenient way to avoid losing it while I checked to see if it was actually posted and the forum is somehow confused, then I would do so. Even better if the website would check with my other posts and tell me "This auto-saved draft appears to have been 85% incorporated into another reply you posted..." However, as the situation seems now, the easy approach seems to be to just post it, possibly for the second time (and wonder what went wrong the first time some months ago):

Well, I think I have to make some allowances because your English is pretty clearly not one of the mainstream dialects. It differs to the point that it makes your meaning a bit unclear, but let me make sure I understand what you're saying in your conclusion: "Can't believe that nobody told to Apple about this issue..." I think you mean either "I'm surprised that other users are not complaining about this [voice dictation accuracy] problem" or "Hasn't anyone noticed this and asked Apple about it?"

For either interpretation of your intention, I think the explanation has to do with the way Apple relates to the users, which I would actually describe by starting with a comment that a self-confessed fanbois wrote elsewhere on an unrelated topic: "It just works." Now he sees that as a good thing, but I'm seeing that as a problem because I'm not always willing to accept that the way it works is good enough... That's probably the real crux of my "problem" with the voice dictation results. Apple has said that this is how it works and they expect me to be satisfied with those results, whereas I want to improve the results and I think that understanding HOW it works would help me make it work better, possibly by adjusting the ways that I'm using it.

Your [pinkypinky's] observation on the ambiguous word feature is interesting, and I will attempt to do some testing to confirm whether or not it is accurate. My initial feeling is that it probably isn't correct, since I'm usually connected to the network, even though I have installed the offline "enhanced" software modules for several languages. I also (obviously) agree with you that it would be good if Apple support at some level or path was able to address such "issues" before they become undeniable "problems".

In my own case, I think the issue is already mooted. The result was that I mostly quit using the Mac and now regard it as an expensive mistake that will never justify the large investment. I'm probably going to give the machine to a friend and hope that person finds it more useful than I did.

I want to attempt to speak in defense of Apple's support system because I really do feel like the people I spoke to on the phone really made a sincere effort to answer my questions, but they don't have access to the required data. I cannot speak in defense of the Apple store in Ginza, since my visits there were completely useless and did not even feel "sincere", but perhaps that was due to my own failure to make advance reservations over the Internet. However, my access to both of those options is exhausted now, even though I barely used them and certainly received no satisfaction via those channels. Again, that's my own fault for not giving higher priority to this matter during my 3-month new-owner period. I also spent quite a bit of time on the Apple website, and it was quite disappointing. Lastly, I should mention this discussion forum as part of Apple's support system, but that's kind of hard to assess... It seems obvious that Apple has provided incentives to encourage participation, but I didn't receive any useful answers to the tough questions. (Or maybe there were some and I just failed to recognize them?)

Okay, returning to this topic after a long lapse. I didn't actually intend to reenter at this point, but perhaps it speaks to the consistency of my search strategies that I did wind up here again. Unfortunately, the problem remains unresolved.

What happened today was that I started working on a new article and almost immediately encountered an incorrect interpretation that was underlined as ambiguous, but I cannot find any way to get in there and make it show me the options so that I can correct it.

By the way, the reason for the long lapse is that I have largely abandoned this powerful new computer. I do perceive a high degree of sincerity from the Apple people for customer satisfaction, but wrestling with the computer I seems largely like an overly expensive learning experience. All I would like today Is to be able to direct the attention of the machine to the incorrectly recognized text so that I can correct it, but it seems that Apple's voice dictation thanks differently.

The lack of constructive responses here in Apple's discussion forums has become something of a downer for me... My direct dealings with the Apple people were mostly positive, but I can't recall getting much along the lines of useful information here, and the other reply to your comment seems to be additional evidence.

Having said that, I wish I could say something more constructive. These days I don't use the MacBook Pro much, but I had a chance this weekend and did some dictation on it... The results remained not so good, and it seemed to have developed a new idiosyncrasy regarding random capitalization. At least I couldn't figure out the rhyme nor reason of its behavior.

You mentioned changing the dialect of English to see if that would help. I actually tried to do so, but failed... Since rebuilding the machine to factory state, it seems to have taken things in a negative direction, actually... Maybe you can jog my memory about how to change dialects? However, even if the Mac thinks I talk like an Aussie, it should learn my pronunciation even if we wind up squabbling about the spelling.

(Hopefully I'll have more time to work with the Mac from next month, when my commuting time should decrease. I would prefer to believe that I'm just a slow learner rather than being a maker of such expensive mistakes...)