This note describes a tentative solution to the problem of mixed language texts in TTS applications. The multilanguage modular architecture of Loquendo TTS has been exploited to provide a range of user options, allowing to guess the language of paragraphs/ phrase/words and to switch between voices in different languages, or between foreign accents of the same voice. This note focuses on a Phoneme Mapping algorithm enabling any TTS voice to speak all the languages provided by the system. The approach is quite general and language independent, entirely phonetics based. The obtained foreign pronunciation is by definition approximated but plausible and suitable to reading foreign words or phrases embedded in a text.
Cite as: Badino, L., Barolo, C., Quazza, S. (2004) Language independent phoneme mapping for foreign TTS. Proc. 5th ISCA Workshop on Speech Synthesis (SSW 5), 217-218
@inproceedings{badino04_ssw,
author={Leonardo Badino and Claudia Barolo and Silvia Quazza},
title={{Language independent phoneme mapping for foreign TTS}},
year=2004,
booktitle={Proc. 5th ISCA Workshop on Speech Synthesis (SSW 5)},
pages={217--218}
}