[NABS-L] Ideas for delivering remarks that must follow a script

[Gary Wunder]

Hello, Elizabeth. I think that you have touched on a most intriguing topic.
We have argued for a long time that most of us get too little Braille too
late. Mostly we have suggested that people speak from notes, the advantage
being that you don't need as much Braille speed and in the right case you
can add spontaneity to what you're saying. But there are times when what is
said has to be very scripted. So what is the Braille reader who reads so
slowly that it does not sound natural do? What does the reader who reads
print but has to hold it up to his or her face do in the same situation?

By no means do I have definitive answers. I know one person who gives
significant speeches and simply memorizes them. He has a Braille card which
prompts him with a few words from each paragraph, but there is no question
that he has an ability that many of us do not have or certainly have not
cultivated.

I know another person or two who use a Victor Stream with a near phone. They
write in text the speech they want to deliver. Then they play with learning
to listen and to speak. You have certainly seen this done when translators
at the United Nations do what they do. Very often when I transcribe, I do
this very thing, and when I am lucky, I can insert the correct punctuation
on the fly. But often I am not lucky, so it often takes a second look. I
have never tried the technique of taking a text document and seeing if I can
speak from it and have the result be anything like spontaneous or acceptable
as a speech. What will be crucial, of course, is that you have a device that
will allow for an immediate stop and an immediate restart. The second thing
that I am quite sure will be required is repeated practice. You will
certainly not want your words to come out with the same intonation given by
the synthesizer. In addition to that, you really won't want them to come out
sounding as though you have read them. Some politicians are able to speak
from a transcript through a Teleprompter, and what they say does not sound
read. George W. Bush could do it. Jimmy Carter could do it. I think that
Barack Obama was pretty good at it, but I have so enjoyed media parities of
him that they get in my way when I try to remember exactly how he sounded.

I hope this is not the end of this discussion. We love and encourage
Braille. We love for people to use large print when they can. We want people
to adopt any speaking style that a situation requires, and I don't think
we've talked about the alternatives that will allow that to happen in a way
that sounds natural and easy. I am always fishing for a piece we can use in
the Braille Monitor, and may be a discussion on this list might be just what
we need. We might have a panel discussion with opinions that converge and
diverge. Maybe finding the right way means presenting people with several of
them from which to choose. Maybe our discussions will create ways we have
not thought of.

Warmly,

Gary