Part 4 · Using software and AI · Chapter 4.15
Speaking instead of typing
Draft: the wording may change.
The idea
A salesman or a shop owner can now speak an order, a payment or an expense in Tamil, and the app turns it into a draft entry. Speaking is faster than typing on a phone, especially for people who don't type at all. But the app sometimes mishears, and it mishears in predictable places — numbers, units and names. So every spoken entry ends with a read-back: the app shows what it understood, and the person confirms before anything is saved.
At the counter
A salesman at Ravi Stores holds the phone and says, in the mix of Tamil and English most of us speak:
"Ravi Stores, biscuit 75 gram, fifteen box. Tea 250 gram, two case. Cash six hundred received."
The app shows a card:
| Heard | Understood as | Right? |
|---|---|---|
| Ravi Stores | Ravi Stores (from the outlet list) | Yes |
| biscuit 75 gram, fifteen box | Biscuit 75g — 50 boxes | No — "fifteen" heard as "fifty" |
| tea 250 gram, two case | Tea 250g — 2 cases | Yes |
| cash six hundred received | Receipt ₹600 cash | Yes |
The salesman sees 50, taps it, changes it to 15, and confirms. Ten seconds. Without the card, Ravi Stores would have been billed for 35 extra boxes. The delivery boy would have brought most of them back, and someone would have spent an hour on a return and a credit note (chapter 1.10).
Where it mishears
| Trouble spot | Example | Guard |
|---|---|---|
| Numbers that sound alike | fifteen / fifty, thirteen / thirty, sixteen / sixty | Read the number on the card, every time |
| Units | box, case, piece, strip — a case may hold 12 or 48 boxes | Say the unit clearly; check the unit column |
| Similar names | Ravi Stores / Ravi Traders; two products with one-word difference | The app should pick from your outlet and product lists, never invent a new one |
| Noise | Traffic, a busy shop, a mixer grinder at the back | Step aside; speak close to the phone |
| Local names | A retailer known by his nickname, a product by its old name | Add the common name to the master once (chapter 4.3) |
Notice that most of these are not Tamil problems. English numbers spoken quickly cause more trouble than Tamil words.
Good habits
- One line, one breath. "Biscuit 75 gram, fifteen box" — then pause. Long sentences get jumbled.
- Number, then unit. Always say both.
- Look before you tap confirm. The read-back card exists for exactly one reason.
- Don't speak what others shouldn't hear. A credit limit or a complaint about a retailer, said loudly in his shop, is a business mistake no software can fix.
Common mistake
Confirming the card without reading it, because the app was right the last twenty times. That is when "fifteen" becomes "fifty". On a ₹180 box, 35 extra boxes is ₹6,300 on one bill — and a retailer who now checks every bill you send.
Where you'll use this
Voice entry is still the rule from Part 1: every entry comes from a document (chapter 1.2). Here the "document" is the spoken order, kept as a recording with the draft, and the read-back card is the signature that says "yes, this is what I meant". The checking step is chapter 4.17.
Check yourself
- What is the read-back card for?
- Which is more likely to be misheard: the shop's name or the number of boxes? Why?
- A salesman says "two case" but the master stores the product in boxes of 24 per case. What should he check on the card?
Answers
- To show what the app understood, so the person can correct it before anything is saved.
- The number. Names are matched against the outlet list; numbers like fifteen and fifty sound alike and have nothing to be matched against.
- That the unit is "case" and the quantity is 2 cases (48 boxes), not 2 boxes.