TTS voices project

[Henrik Nilsen Omma]

Hi Jonathan!

I didn't realise you followed this list :) Cool!

Jonathan Duddington wrote:
> I've recently added (very) "Preliminary" data for some new languages to
> eSpeak:
>   Hindi, Swedish, Vietnamese.
>   

What, Swedish, but no Norwegian? ;)  So I have to admit one ulterior 
motive here: In addition to wanting to see localised speech support 
improved generally I would really like to see Norwegian TTS. I'd like to 
start pushing Linux accessibility quite actively here locally and 
Norwegian TTS would be a killer feature in that regard. I'm happy to 
help tweak files and learn a bit about this in the process.

>> Most of this work does not involve programming or audio mixing, but
>> merely altering language definition files.
>>     
>
> That's partly true.  If the language includes certain sounds that
> aren't currently supported (usually consonants), then audio editing or
> programing work may also be needed.
>   

Right, so I was being a bit liberal with the truth there :) Bit my 
secret plan is to make a start and then invite people who work with 
audio to help with those aspects.

> The question is how to find people who are interested in helping. I'm
> anxious to get any feedback that might give me a clue about how to
> improve a language.
>
> I posted a message on the Ubuntu Translators list a few weeks ago, but
> it didn't get any response.
>   

Open source dynamics is a tricky process. You may have to try to 
kick-start a project in several places at once or several times before 
it takes root.

At least now there are two of us who think this is a good idea. Anyone 
else? :)

Henrik