deebeedee

My sister’s 7-year-old daughter gets interviewed along with other Nutcracker performers by KQED radio. She’s the one who says, “The hardest thing about it is keeping the beat and getting to my place at the proper time.”

Here is my Macintosh reading the Panatang Makabayan (mp3, 604k).

A few posts ago, I mentioned I was going to find a way to record my Mac’s text-to-speech voice. Well, I found a couple of Applescripts at VersionTracker that does just that. Easy enough. The hard part was getting my Mac to speak in Tagalog. I chose the Philippines’ Pledge of Allegiance for my Macintosh to read because I figured the monotonous way in which this piece is usually recited would suit the intonation of the Mac’s robotic voice. But additional work was needed to be done in order for the Mac to read Tagalog convincingly. I modified the text so that it would be read phonetically, plus I used dashes, commas, and periods to add the proper pauses and syllable emphasis.

Here’s the text for reference:

Panatang Makabayan

Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas
Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan
Ito ang tahanan ng aking lahi.

Ako ay kanyang kinukupkop,
At tinutulungan upang maging
Malakas, maligaya, at
Kapaki-pakinabang

Bilang ganti, diringgin ko
Ang payo ng aking mga magulang
Susundin ko ang mga tuntunin
Ng aking paaralan
Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin
Ng isang mamayang makabayan
At masunurin sa batas

Paglilingkuran ko ang aking Bayan
Ng walang pag-iimbot
At ng buong katapatan
Sisikapin kong maging
Isang tunay na Pilipino,
Sa isip, sa salita at sa gawa.

An English translation can be found at Paulo’s site.

Here’s how much I butchered the text in order for it to be read properly:

I discovered a way to read web pages while working. All I do is plug my headphones into my Mac, launch my Safari browser, go to a page I would like to read (it’s better if it’s super long), highlight the text, then select Speech>Start Speaking Text under Safari’s Services menu. My Mac would then read me the page! The default voice I use is Bruce but I sometimes use Victoria. The Mac’s spoken text capabilities have always impressed me. It’s a technology that’s been around since the early ’90s I believe. Apple adding it to the Services menu, which is available to every application (though it doesn’t work with IE), has elevated it from mere novelty to practically usable.

Mind you, I can’t have my Mac read to me all the time. This type of thing is perfect only when I do production work, like creating graphics and coding. But if my task involves some thinking (yes, production work is mindless work, heh), I definitely wouldn’t try it.

One other thing I do is listen to sermons/talk radio online. My favorite places to visit are STR Radio, The Bible Answer Man, RZIM, and a couple of local pastors’ archives in OnePlace.com. Formats come in WMV, RealPlayer or MP3. When sermons are available in MP3 or RM formats, I just download a whole bunch of them at home, burn it on CD, then listen to the CD at work.

Apparently I can listen to the Bible while working now too - it’s available in streaming audio or MP3 (link via Phisch). But I may have to rethink that. The Word of God surely requires much more concentration, reverence and deeper study than I could ever give at work. Listening to the Bible in this format is probably more suited for commute trips and doing household chores. Maybe it’s time to save up for an iPod.

Here is my 6 year old son doing his best Gollum impression: aiff | wav (96k). And here’s the 2 1/2 year old doing his: aiff | wav (72k).