I had done the bookwork, I knew a reasonable amount of the grammar, my vocabulary was on the rise, I thought \u2014 I can do this!<\/p>\n
I hopped off the plane, got off the gate at the other side \u2014 and…..<\/p>\n
Hang on a minute…what?<\/em> I barely understood a word of what was going on around me.<\/p>\n The airport announcements flew in one ear and out the other without taking hold.<\/p>\n After two weeks in France, things improved enough to hold a basic conversation.<\/p>\n But being in Paris was much like listening to a radio that was sitting nicely in between two frequencies.<\/p>\n What was being said to me \u2014I understood \u2014 everything else was faint buzzing….<\/p>\n My French teacher told me it would take a good 3 months to tune in properly with the French.<\/p>\n I had three weeks…<\/p>\n Though French fluency I did not win, it was an experience that helped me appreciate the hardship learners of English have coming here to New Zealand.<\/p>\n According to Ministry of Education statistics there are 9,909 students are learning English here.<\/p>\n Many of these students will be trying to further their education or even work \u2014 a difficult task when what is being said around you sounds much like radio static.<\/p>\n I can remember sitting in various lectures at university, watching the many international students sitting in the front row.<\/p>\n They would type frantically away, trying to translate every fifth word coming out of their lecturer’s mouth.<\/p>\n After France, I feel their pain, listening requires a mental stamina of a different sort. The only thing I found that helped me, to understand French, was a written equivalent of the speech, be it subtitles or transcriptions.<\/p>\n Cue in – transcription software.<\/p>\n With little more than a touch of a button, international students can gain access to not just a recording, but the written word.<\/p>\n It’s just that easy!<\/p>\n By Corazon Miller, Journalist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had done the bookwork, I knew a reasonable amount of the grammar, my vocabulary was on the rise, I thought \u2014 I can do this! I hopped off the plane, got off the gate at the other side \u2014 and….. Hang on a minute…what? I barely understood a word of what was going on around me. The airport announcements flew in one ear and out the other without taking hold. <\/p>\n After two weeks in France, things improved enough to hold a basic conversation. But being in Paris was much like listening to a radio that was sitting nicely in between two frequencies. What was being said to me \u2014I understood \u2014 everything else was faint buzzing….My French teacher told me it would take a good 3 months to tune in properly with the French.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[82,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-4518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog","8":"category-transcription-services","9":"tag-english-transcription","10":"tag-transcription-translation"},"yoast_head":"\n