Making your AAC app Multilingual

As many of you know, due to my moderately severe speech impediment, I have been paying close attention to the development of Augmented Assistive Communication (AAC) devices/apps and Text to Speech  Technology/Voice Engines. Those, who have paying attention to my articles through the years, may note, that as far as Text To Speech Voice Engine goes, I swear by IVONA, a Polish software company that was acquired by Amazon in 2012. And as far as reproducing human-like quality speech goes, IVONA Voice Engine is still second to none; however, while offering 23  High Quality European languages, the conspicuous absence of Asian Languages, even the major ones, such as Chinese Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean has left something to be desired. This is why, if one wants one’s AAC app to speak Asian languages, one has to turn to Google TTS.


Most of you linguistic enthusiasts probably encountered Google Text to Speech Engine from Google Translation app and web services, and the first thing one may notice is the copious number of languages are on the offer, and many comes with Speech Engine; and once Google (Alphabet) made Google TTS downloadable to individual Android Devices, Multi-Lingual AAC becomes simply a matter of matching keyboards with corresponding voice engine. My favorite third party keyboard for this particular purpose is SWYPE by nuance, because, like google, it offers a copious selection of languages. Below are some screenshots from my phone: The device is LG G Flex (first generation), the AAC App is Speech Assistant by Asoft.nl communication, and the third party keyboard is Swype by Nuance.






So, I am happy, even with my Cerebral Palsy and Speech Disability, I can now be Multi-Lingual too, thanks to technological advancement. 

Comments

  1. William JessieMarch 20, 2020 at 1:22 AM

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