Text-to-voice Software (Japanese)

[Ray Roman]

Do you use text-to-voice software? I have MS Word (ENG) 2003 and would like to be able to highlight a Japanese sentence and have the computer read it to me to help me when I proof my work. I have heard other translators talk about having a partner read the source text aloud while they proofread but I don't have that good fortune consistently. Suggestions.

--
Ray Roman J.D.
Japanese to English legal translation
japane...@gmail.com

[Jonathan]

I've used text-to-speech to make myself sound files for interpretation
practice, and occasionally to help me check translations in the manner
you describe. I believe you need both a TTS engine and a voice. For
the engine, I've used TextAloud (http://www.nextup.com/), which is
very serviceable and pretty inexpensive. There are probably free ones
too, and I think newer versions of Windows (at least XP and above)
include a basic one.

Getting a good Japanese voice might be trickier. There are good free
English ones, but after some pretty exhaustive searching around this
time last year, the only really good Japanese ones I found were Misaki
and Show by NeoSpeech, the company that did Stephen Hawking's current
voice (http://www.neospeech.com/). When I contacted their sales
department they weren't even interested in selling to an individual,
though they said that would change before long, and that was a year
ago. It still wouldn't be cheap, though. If you don't mind if it
sounds more robotic, it looks like the company that makes TextAloud
also sells a mediocre Japanese voice called Kyoko for $45 (http://
www.nextup.com/nuance.html).

Maybe someone else has more suggestions or a clarification about
whether Windows' built-in TTS engine is good enough for what you want.

Jonathan Michaels
Monterey, CA

[Richard Sadowsky]

I just did some searching and found this piece of software:

ドキュメントトーカ
http://www.createsystem.co.jp/

For Windows and Mac.

Don't know if it will suit your purposes, Ray.

ドキュメントトーカ 日本語音声合成エンジン for Windows (5,040円(税込))
ダウンロードソフト
Windows用音声合成エンジン。SAPI4とSAPI5のエンジンのほか、いろいろな文書ファ
イルや、インターネットを読上げるアプリケーションが付属。iPod nano(4G)音声化
可能。

ドキュメントトーカ for Mac (8,925円(税込)) ダウンロードソフト
Mac版では唯一の日本語音声合成・認識・歌唱ソフト。　iPod nano(4G)を音声化でき
ます。

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--
Richard Sadowsky, Awajishima

[Thomas Groendal]

I use TextAloud (http://www.nextup.com/), and the "mediocre Japanese

voice called Kyoko for $45 (http://www.nextup.com/nuance.html)."

In fact I just used them on a proofread project. Unfortunately the
software is not smart enough to switch between languages but when it
is better to have the Japanese read out loud than the English, this
will do the job quite acceptably.
(Kyoko can also read the English with a brisk and humbling loyalty to
Katakana pronunciation. A great source of mischief to those so
inclined.)

I used this for a long proofread to help me pace myself and continue
concentrating. Typically I would use an English Text to Voice to
audibly catch mistakes that my visual check was forgiving of. In this
case it helped me focus more on things like missed content or a switch
in mode of the source text.
A better use might be to record a source text before translation,
listen to it while in the car/on the train and get the big picture
before translating when you get home later that day.

My three cents.
Tom Groendal

[Ben]

I've given several presentations on using TTS (text to speech) to
proof first-draft translations. I'd be happy to send my handouts to
you (or anyone else interested). Just shoot me a private email.

If you still need Japanese, a program called Second Speech Center
(www.zero2000.com/) has a Japanese voice. I didn't use it very much
because I find it more productive to have my draft English
translations read to me (as others have said).

Ben Tompkins

[YK]

I have posted a similar question before.
http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/browse_thread/thread/602168bb4beb1d21/c61542c881b494e1?lnk=gst&q=wordspeaker#

I use Wordspeaker to have English text read,
and I use Lala Voice to have Japanese text read.
They're great!

Yuko Kubota@Yokohama