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From:

 J.J. Meddaugh

Subject:

 Re: SWITCHING LANGUAGE ON-THE-FLY??

Date:

 Fri, Dec 7, 2007 10:57:57 am
Wel done. Sounds like a good knowledge base candidate.


J.J.
www.BlindBargains.com
Deals, news, and resources for the blind and visually impaired
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Geoffray"
To: "Nathan Normal"
Cc: "Raul A. Gallegos" ;
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: SWITCHING LANGUAGE ON-THE-FLY??


Nathan,

I couldn't find you in our database by Nathan Normal but I did find you
under a different name with your email address which I won't say in this
public email. If this is you, I'm showing you as having Window-Eyes 5.0.
5.0 doesn't have everything I'm about to talk about so this may not apply
to you but it certainly applies to the current 6.1 version of Window-Eyes.

As you know, not all synthesizers are created equal. Some have 10 rates
others have several Hundred for example. So how can we adapt to handle
this wide range? With Window-Eyes we decided to store the percentage
instead of the value. So for example if you have a synthesizer with 10
rates and you select 5 then we store 50 in the set file. This means use
50 percent of the capable rate. So if you then switch to a synthesizer
with 100 rates you would start at 50 percent of that or rate 50. But
obviously 50 percent of one synthesizer still may not be usable at 50
percent of another.

This thread has talked about even within the same SAPI 4 version of
Eloquence the English version seems to be slower than the equivalent
Spanish version. To combat this we have setup the ability to override
what the default set file has when you start with any synthesizer. So for
example when you switch to DECtalk you can guarantee it will start at 75
percent regardless of what the default set file has set for it. Then when
you switch to English Eloquence you could make it automatically jump to 60
percent regardless of what the default set file has set for it. Then when
you switch to Spanish Eloquence you could make it automatically jump to 40
percent. I think you see the pattern here .

This all works as long as you have the voice settings for all your sets,
set to be using global settings. If for example you have your Notepad set
file set to not use global then when you go to Notepad it will use the
voice setting stored in the set regardless of what synthesizer you are
using. So this breaks us but there is very little reason to not use
global voice settings in all your sets. All our factory sets are set to
use global voice settings.

So how do you actually set this up? If you go to the Select Synthesizer
dialog which is found under the Window-Eyes file menu you will noticed a
checkbox called "Use Specified Speech Parameters" and another called "Use
Engine Specific Specified Speech Parameters" and a button called "Set
Speech Parameters To Current". It is these three controls that allow you
to override the global speech settings in the wineyes.000 set (that is the
global set file). These parameters are stored for each synthesizer and in
the case of SAPI and ViaVoice, it goes further and stores them for each
engine within SAPI or ViaVoice.

Lets say you want to set your speech rate to 70 for English Eloquence and
you want 50 for Spanish Eloquence. First, lets select English Reed. Then
set the speech rate to 70. Go into the Select Synthesizer dialog and
check the Use Specified Speech Parameters checkbox. Because we don't want
to set all SAPI to rate 70 you then need to check the Use Engine Specific
Specified Speech Parameters checkbox. Then tab to the Set Speech
Parameters To Current and select it. This will take the current setting
of 70 (that you just set) and store it with the Eloquence Reed engine
ONLY. Meaning any time you switch to Eloquence reed your speech rate will
go to 70 no matter what. Now select apply on the dialog. Then select the
Spanish engine you want (I'm not sure of the names). Set your rate to 50
and again make sure both checkboxes are checked and hit enter on the Set
Speech Parameters To Current button. Go ahead and select the OK button to
accept all the settings and close the dialog. Now whenever you switch to
English Reed it will be 70 and when you switch to the Spanish name you
selected it will be 50. Again, the set file is overridden by this setting
as this setting is stored globally in a special location.

Now when you set synthesizer specific voice settings, don't forget you did
this . One of our top support questions is people saying they
change their rate, save the set and when they relaunch Window-Eyes the
settings they stored don't hold and they believe they found an ugly bug.
But as you guessed, this isn't a bug but a feature. This is because you
told it to override the set file for that synthesizer and/or engine. If
you continue to keep the synthesizer specific settings but you want to
adjust them then you will need to go back into the synthesizer dialog and
accept the Set Speech Parameter To Current button instead of saving the
set.

Section 7.9 of the Window-Eyes manual also discusses this. I hope this
help clear things up and show the power you really have which makes the
fact that Spanish Eloquence may be faster than English a non-issue.

Regards,
Doug

Nathan Normal wrote:
Hey, Raul, I, too notice what everybody's been talking about as to the
rate differences between the English and Spanish eloquence voices.
I don't consider myself a native speaker of Spanish, but, studied it in
school for a long time, and can understand what is said while reading it
or listening on the radio, internet, etc.
Now, my question is, say, if I save Spanish rate 40, then, english rate
60, then, save the set file, am I still not going to get 60 rate for the
Spanish engine, instead of 40?
And, vice versa, say I set the Spanish rate at 40, then save the set
file, won't the rate for the other synthesizers still be at 40?
I'd say that's a little confusing.
Well, for another example, I downloaded the standalone version of Espeak
a couple weeks ago, now, Raul, I most of the time use the Dectalk, as I
go back with all the dectalks as far as 1992.
Now, when running the Espeak, which, I was really surprised how well it
works with Window-Eyes, when I went into the control panel, I only saw
rates from 0 to 21
now, say, I save a set file with that rate 8 or 10, I honestly don't see
how that setup is gonna correspond to the rates of most of the other
synthesizers I've got set up on these machines, mind you, with none of
the conflicts and bugs that so many people have been experiencing.
I now have almost 70 different SAPI voices, which, as I said, I use for
foreign languages, monkeying around with different files, etc., but, not
for every day text, still prefer that good old Dectalk.
Anyway, maybe you can shed some light on this subject for us.

Nate Normal, Montego Bay, Jamaica ,

----- Original Message ----- From: "Raul A. Gallegos"
To: "GW Info Discussion List"
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: SWITCHING LANGUAGE ON-THE-FLY??


Josh.

Just so you remember, you can set speech parameters specific to a
specific engine. Meaning for English Eloquence Reed I can have rate 90
and Spanish speaking Jose I can have 75.

Hope this helps.

josh n rivera said the following on 12/6/2007 2:55 PM:
But Raul,
I am a native speaker of Spanish, and I wrote a sentence in Spanish in
an
email to a friend, and reviewed it with the Mexican voice. It still
sounded much faster than the English voice.
Josh
On Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:15:11 -0500 "Raul A. Gallegos"

writes:
I personally think it sounds faster if one is studying, however, my
prior opinion still stands that there may also be some differences in
the way the speech engine does the speaking of words. For example, if
I am listening to Eloquence at rate 90, I usually have to slow it down
to rate 85 or 80 to fully understand and appreciate Spanish speaking.
Also, because I have just a regular version of Windows without the
Spanish
dialog boxes and menus, it's actually speaking the English words, but
they are Spanishafied which does not sound real good. So, usually the
only time when the Spanish sounds as it should is when you are reading
text which is already in Spanish to begin with.

Robert Spangler said the following on 12/6/2007 12:40 PM:
Raul,

Since you're a native speaker of Spanish, perhaps you can answer
this
question. Does the synthesizer actually speak Spanish faster or
does it
sound faster to someone studying the language because it is not
their
native language? I know that when I switch it to Spanish I must
slow it
down quite a bit in order to understand what I am reading because
it
sounds so much faster. In fact, and although this may be getting
a
little off-topic, it seems to me that native Spanish speakers talk
faster anyways

Robby
----- Original Message ----- From: "Raul A. Gallegos"

To: "GW Info Discussion List"
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: SWITCHING LANGUAGE ON-THE-FLY??


I honestly don't think it's running at twicr the speed. I do this
frequently and even though I have to slow down the speech at
times, I
think it has to do with the way the speech engine pronounces
words.
josh n rivera said the following on 12/6/2007 12:01 PM:
Raul,
I have a question about the language thing also. If I switch to
the
Mexican Spanish voice, it is running at twice the speed as my
English
Eloquence voice is running. Why is that, and what can I do to
make it
run
at the same speed as the English voice?
On Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:38:51 -0500 "Raul A. Gallegos"

writes:
You can do this by using the switch-language hot key which is
control-window-l in version 6.1 of Window-Eyes. Prior versions
may
not have the hot key defined. Also, this will only work with
SAPI
Eloquence synthesizer. You will have to have the other
languages
installed as well.
Hope this helps.

Olusegun -- Victory Associates LTD, Inc. said the following on
12/4/2007 10:56 AM:
Hi Everyone:
Hmm, I hope I am writing this out correctly, !!
Anyone
knows how
to SWITCH A LANGUAGE on-the-fly using Window-Eyes? Say, for
example, I
want to SWITCH between Spanish and English, how would I
accomplish
that?
If this CANNOT BE DONE on-the-fly, what other methods for
accomplishing
same task are there in Window-Eyes?
Thanks for all help!!
Sincerely,
Olusegun
Denver, Colorado


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--
Raul A. Gallegos .. GW Micro Technical Support
Voice: 260-489-3671 .. Fax: 260-489-2608
WEB: http://www.gwmicro.com
FTP: ftp.gwmicro.com

If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the
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--
Raul A. Gallegos .. GW Micro Technical Support
Voice: 260-489-3671 .. Fax: 260-489-2608
WEB: http://www.gwmicro.com
FTP: ftp.gwmicro.com

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--
Raul A. Gallegos .. GW Micro Technical Support
Voice: 260-489-3671 .. Fax: 260-489-2608
WEB: http://www.gwmicro.com
FTP: ftp.gwmicro.com

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--
Doug Geoffray
GW Micro, Inc.
Voice 260-489-3671
Fax 260-489-2608
http://www.gwmicro.com

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