Hey Fernando. Interesting thoughts re spanish voice synthesis. I had my issues with english Vocalizer voices too, but generally not related to intonation and such, although not being able to raise pitch for capitalisation did annoy me when trying to proofread stuff. The intonation for different types of sentences was acceptable. I used the Daniel voice most of the time and it was probably one of the most pleasant synthesised voices I've ever come across. I also used Kate from time to time and sometimes when you use an exclamation mark, she can sound a little bit squeaky! It was cute. :P
-----Original Message----- From: JAWS-Users-List <jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com> On Behalf Of Fernando Gregoire Sent: June 25, 2018 5:24 PM To: jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Good ole' Eloquence I always used and still use Eloquence for dayly screen reading. Although other engines have more human-sounding voices, most do not change intonation correctly when there are question or exclamation marks, or change with random results. At least in Spanish, Eloquence is the only engine which clearly change intonation in all of these cases if the text is well punctuated. At least in Spanish, Eloquence only have two problems. First, whetter you use Castilian or Latin American, the y letter is read the same as i, which is not right when navigating by character. I solve this by adding a JAWS dictionary rule, only for Eloquence and Spanish, that makes a nonintrusive sound each time an y appears. It is important to choose a nonintrusive sound, because the y in Spanish must be pronnounced the same as “i” when in a phrase is like the English “and”. The second and most important problem is that there's not a Spanish Eloquence dialect that correctly read sillables with sh and, at the same time, distinct sounds of c, s and z. While the Castilian Spanish differentiates these sounds like in Spain but does not correctly read the sh sillables, Latin American is the oposite. While the behabiour of Latin American Spanish matches the way in which we treat these aspects in most Latin American countries (even when this language setting is made thinking in Mexico), there should be a language setting mixing these two advantages like other engines do. Last, but not least, Eloquence does not become unstable when activating the Caps During Say All option in JAWS, which allows to read a word in a louder pitch when it contains capital letters during a Say All. This option can be turned on also when using other engines like Vocalizer, but even the various Vocalizer versions specifically aimed for Freedom Scientific products become sluggish at changing pitch for specific words in long phrases. What about question and exclamation marks intonation with speech engines in English? <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> Libre de virus. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> 2018-06-25 10:32 GMT-03:00 JM Casey <crystallo...@ca.inter.net>: > Hey guys. > > > > After some thought, I decided to switch my primary synthesiser back to > Eloquence. I must say, that JAWS is now acting a lot more like the > robust and response screen-reader I would expect on such a relatively > fast machine. > I spent the past year listening to a nice, mannered, human-sounding > voice, but wondering why the devil my computer was being just as slow > and clunky at times as my XP machine was. Well, now I have the answer. > Duh. These Vocalizer voices are resource-intensive and slow the > machine down. Anybody else noticed this? I guess it's a foregone > conclusion, but I just assumed my machine would be able to handle it > well. I think it'd be ok for reading, but for all practical purposes, > well, the trade in favour of performance is an obvious no-brainer. > > > > So, what synths does everyone use here, anyway? What are your thoughts > on all the software synths out there nowadays? Curiosity question. > > > > Also, Eloquence - y'know, it's kind of good to have the old man back. > > > > > > For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: > http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ > For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
