[espeak-gaeilge] launching espeak?

From: RobbieS <robbiesin@xxxxxxxxx>
To: espeak-gaeilge@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:12:01 +0000
A Rónáin agus a dhaoine uaisle eile,

I would counsel against an immanent launch because I don't think it's quite
fit for purpose yet.  I'd be worried that, since the initial introduction
to the 'public' may be the best publicity that espeak-ga gets; there's the
likelihood of attracting people who will go away disappointed, and it'll be
hard to get them back again.  First impressions last.

I'd say it's three quarters ready, but the work that's needed is
important.  I write and read several emails in Irish per week.  I tell
people not to write to me in irish, but they will always respond to Irish
with Irish regardless.  Yet, I wouldn't consider espeak to be useable for
reading - and I'm putting up with jaws or voiceover English pronunciation
of Irish in the meantime.

The testing isn't the biggest issue, imo, but problems with some of the
jigsaw pieces or building blocks themselves - namely rder of
importance(assuming the slender 'r' is sorted): broad 'd' vs. broad 't',
slender 'n', slender 'd' and slender 't', slender 'n', slender 'l' and
slender 'c'.

I find that testing takes quite a bit of time, and I wish I had more of it.
Intuitively, one might think that the wisdom of the crowd, or at least
suggested changes by hundreds of users would be advantageous, but, without
knowing their linguistic perspective, e.g., dialect preference, this would
be difficult to sift through.

Now, all that being said, one of the many things more important than my
opinion on the matter, is Ronan's perspective.  I realise his eagerness to
have the project up and running, and used by all.  Ronan finds espeak
useful, so who am I to say that others won't find it useful too.  By dint
of his programming, at leats, Ronan is central to the project.  Although,
Ronan, I would ask your patience while I send you recorded phonemes to try
out, I would understand completely if you preferred to launch it in the
next few days, and I defer to yourself - as well, of course, as being very
interested in the opinions of everyone else on the list.

Regards,

Robbie
[espeak-gaeilge] launching espeak?

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