I agree, Nic. It seems like if the program is localized, the speech/ voice should be as well. Donna On Nov 16, 2009, at 6:58 AM, Nicolai Svendsen wrote:
> > Hi, > > I have to agree wholeheartedly. Not to start a debate here, but many > languages are usually forgotten. What strikes me as ridiculous in > this instance, however, is the language is actually supported for > the operating system, but no voices exist to support the claim. > Which, in my opinion, is completely outrageous and there should be a > fix to this. Americans do not have to purchase voices, because they > get an American voice by default. So why should many other countries > have to spend even more money? On the Windows-side, at least, non- > English speaking people probably spend enough on the screen reader > alone if they are not funded. I know this from personal experience. > And, let's not forget how long it actually takes for the funding to > be approved. In Denmark, ever since my part of the country became a > region, the procedure of getting anything approved has been this: > > 1. Send in a request, stating why you need this equipment or > software, and what benefits it will provide to you. > 2. In a couple of months, you will be holding a letter stating that > your request has been taken into consideration, and you will receive > a notice shortly. > 3. You will receive said notice, and you will be told a meeting is > to be held Wednesday within possibly a couple of weeks. > 4. The meeting has been held, and it has been decided you are going > to go to the institute so they can evaluate your needs again. > 5. The long-awaited decision that most certainly will take forever > and a day. > > In about two to three months, you might be lucky enough to get a > reply. With all that waiting, you might as well not get it funded > but it pay for it yourself. Which, I might add, still seems > ridiculous since it should not be necessary to have to pay for > localized voices, as the operating system itself has already been > translated. > > Regards, > Nic > Skype: Kvalme > MSN Messenger: [email protected] > AIM: cincinster > yahoo Messenger: cin368 > Facebook Profile > My Twitter > > On Nov 16, 2009, at 11:52 AM, Krister Ekstrom wrote: > >> >> >> Hi, >> Ok, i'll probably get lynched by americans and other anglosaxen >> people on this list for saying this, but sometimes, the anglosaxen >> folks tend to forget that there's a world outside their language >> sphere. When a program or speech synth is "multi lingual" it often >> mean various dialects of english, spanish, german, french and so on >> but small odd languages like Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and so on >> are often forgotten. Too bad, but that's the way of the world, shrug. >> /Krister >> >> 15 nov 2009 kl. 21.05 skrev Donna Goodin: >> >>> >>> Wow, that's just amazing. Over the years I've worked with/known a >>> number of blind individuals in other countries who simply did not >>> have >>> access to the financial resources needed to purchase a PC and a >>> screen- >>> reader, and who, consequently, just went without. The Mac could be >>> such a great answer for people in that situation. I mean, granted, >>> buying an InfoVox voice is still cheaper than the PC with screen- >>> reader route, but still, even that cost would have been >>> prohibitive to >>> some of the people I am thinking of. It also deprives them of the >>> out- >>> of-the-box access that we English speakers have been enjoying so >>> very >>> much. >>> >>> Don't misunderstand, I'm not slamming Apple, I just think that their >>> inclusivity ought to include people outside the English-speaking >>> world. I think I'll join you in your hammering. :) >>> Cheers, >>> Donna >>> On Nov 15, 2009, at 2:48 PM, Anne Robertson wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Hello Donna, >>>> >>>> On Nov 15, 2009, at 8:43 PM, Donna Goodin wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> Ah, licensing issues, I should have thought of that. Still, if >>>>> that's >>>>> the case, how is it that they can be included on the iphone? >>>> According to Apple, they are licensed specifically for the iPhone >>>> and iPod Shuffle. I've been hammering Apple about this for at least >>>> four years but they're not budging. >>>> >>>> The only concession to non-English speakers I got from Apple was >>>> the >>>> change from contracted to uncontracted Braille during installation. >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> >>>> Anne >>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>>> >> >> >>> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
