http://www.has.it/linktous.php
Here's the has.it picture link to help me promote
http://www.has.it for granting me use of shortcuts:
http://speakonia.says.it and http://readplease.says.it
I've submitted this website to this website service as
they will submit it to the top search engines for me,
providing I promote their free service with this link!
Free search engine submission and placement services!
TEXT TO SPEECH?
EMAILS TO SPEECH?
POETRY TO SPEECH?
WHAT, ON MY PC?
REALLY!?
http://speakonia.says.it and http://readplease.says.it
are both shortcut names for addresses that link here:
www.denismartindale.supanet.com/dmpoems/dmspeechinfo.html
DOWNLOAD DELIGHTS: DICTATION STYLE...
Read Please and Speakonia programs featured on:
www.webattack.com/Freeware/system/fwvoicetech.shtml
Copy and paste links to Address Bar.
(Save web pages as offline Favorites for reference...)
(Speech programs on page called fwvoicetech.shtml)
See www.webattack.com downloads website.
More Read Please and Speakonia info on:
http://www.readplease.com and also on:
www.cfs-technologies.com/home/
For my purposes here, please note that Read Please
has a free version and a pay version yet Speakonia is
the one I am using as it has most of the Read Please
features already working as soon as you register...
It is useful because you can customise each word
in regard to how it sounds... I give examples below.
UK UPDATE:
Since learning of these two programs, I found them both
in the PC Format magazine issue for October 2002. The
CD-ROM included a full product of the Paint Shop Pro 5
graphics package... Just £5.99 and having checked for
viruses and found none of my CD-ROM I have installed
all of these and found them very useful!
NEW DOWNLOAD FOR READPLEASE 2003 VERSION:
I have just discovered that ReadPlease 2003 version
is available for download from the readplease website.
I found out that it is a huge download which is meant
for both the free version and the payable version...
If you wish to test this new download out it could take
some time. So it's perhaps better to disconnect from the
Internet to reconnect with a new connection. It is also
better to turn off your screensaver as it may interrupt
the download... So check your Windows button on your
keyboard, then select Settings, Control Panel, Display.
Select Screensaver then update if desired...
Reset your screensaver to appear after 60 minutes not
30 minutes of non-activity. My screensaver is the one
for 3-D text. It's a slow on-screen display which will
glide across the screen saying Care to waltz?
SPEAKONIA WEBSITE DETAILS:
This says the program contains no Spyware which is a
parasite program meant to track your Internet use!
The top web page link for Speakonia leads to their
extra information which includes 3 extra language
add-on downloads: French, German, Italian. These
could help students and those with holidays in mind.
www.cfs-technologies.com/home/?id=1.4
Follow instructions when each file's downloaded.
ADAWARE WILL SCAN YOUR PC FILES...
Double-check Spyware! Download the AdAware
program from www.lavasoft.nu if you've
downloaded any 'free' Internet programs.
CUSTOMISE AND UPDATE...
Here are details of two speech programs which can
convert text documents into speech. These are both
absolutely invaluable. For demonstration purposes,
consider the need for the spoken word in regard to
poetry. The voice programs feature several voices
and you can change the voice pitch and speed to
suit your needs. You soon learn that words will join
on after the last one if you don't add a gap using a
hyphen, dash or minus at the end of a poetry line.
SPEECH CONVERSION LEXICON UPDATING:
PHONETICS: SOUNDS THAT BUILD WORDS...
The Speakonia Lexicon icon's in Speech Properties.
To test this feature, double-click on a word to select
and highlight it... Use Control plus C to copy and
once in the Speakonia program use Control plus V
to paste that word into the top Lexicon word box...
This is how you can learn how each word is said.
The word is displayed and its components given.
The phonemes are tiny splits for vowels and
consonants and for syllable and word breaks...
You can compare similar words and their parts.
KEYBOARD COMMANDS PREFERRED?
As with most Windows-based programs like the
Notepad and Wordpad, keyboard commands are
underlined letters such as File where the F is shown
as underlined and that means you could use the
Alt plus F to see the File Menu, Alt plus E for the
Edit Menu and so on... The Lexicon shows the
command letters underlined so look out for them:
Alt plus N for NEXT, Alt plus P to PLAY...
LEXICON ICON: TYPE A WORD... NEXT...
To explain, here is a quick phonemes guide:
' (primary stress)
- - (syllable break)
(add a space for word-break)
" (secondary-stress)
# (word-break)
Silence
a (cat = k'at)
'ae (A or pay... K = k'ae)
aa (cot = k'aat)
au (caught = k'aut)
b (big = b'ig)
ch (chin = ch'in)
d (dig = d'ig)
dh (then = dh'ehn)
ee (feel = f'eel)
eh (pet = p'eht)
er (urn = 'ern)
f (fork = f'aurk)
g (tag = t'ag)
h (help = h'ehlp)
i (fill = f'il)
ie (tie = t'ie)
j (joy = j'oi)
k (cut = k'ut)
l (lid = l'id)
m (mat = m'at)
n (no = n'oe)
ng (sing = s'ing)
oe (toe = t'oe)
oi (toy = t'oi)
oo (book = b'ook)
ou (foul = f'oul)
p (put = p'oot)
r (red = r'ehd)
s (sit = s'it)
sh (she = sh'ee)
t (talk = t'auk)
th (thin = th'in)
u (cut = k'ut)
ua (ago = uag'oe)
uu (too = t'uu)
v (vat = v'at)
w (with = w'idh)
y (yacht = y'aat)
z (zap = z'ap)
zh (azure = azher)
Click on the left phoneme, once to hear and twice to
add it to the customised version you wish to make.
EVEN MORE WAYS TO MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!
I updated readplease to r'eedpl'eez in about a minute!
But minute would be tricky as it has two meanings...
Minute = 60 seconds and minute = very tiny... So if
there is only one minute and you needed it to sound
like my newt then you could use that for a while and
revert to the original providing you kept a COPY of
the way it was first spoken... Use the middle Lexicon
section for adding existing words that sound like the
word pronunciation you require... You can alter a word
later for general use... It's the same with the word read
which is spelt the same for present tense, I read, and
past tense, I have read, and future tense, I will read.
Even so, I have read should sound like I have red...
Speakonia pronounced each example correctly...
60 seconds = m'init and very tiny = m'ien'uut
WEB PAGE INFO UPDATE:
I decided to change the Speakonia program so it
would say w w w instead of world wide web when
reading web page URL addresses since people are
more used to this expression... I got this response:
www = d'ubualyuud'ubualyuud'ubualyuu
PHONETIC DICTIONARIES?
Many dictionaries include the phonetic sound in
brackets as part of a definition, yet these are not
alternative forms of spelling and the hyphens or
dashes merely serve as short phonetic pauses...
www.google.com is a search engine so for
some extra phonetic dictionary information you
use those two keywords to check for both the
common and special interests such as Bible words
or Bible names or medical or legal terms:
HOW I'M TESTING SPEECH PROGRAMS
AS I'M CREATING THIS NEW WEB PAGE...
I'm editing this using the Speech programs, using
Wordpad and its margin display. I'm trying to use
Times New Roman, bold, size 14 and keeping text
within 4.5 inches across so this text will appear in
the Read Please display box, too... Read Please
has a preset display box while Speakonia stretches
to a full screen display if required. I match the font
within Read Please using Tools Menu, Options,
Appearances, then choose to Change Font to the
Times New Roman style, for bold and in size 14.
My poetry site is http://poem.says.it
I'll 'say' that again...
My poetry site is http://poem.says.it
I set it up to create quick printouts and want to use the
speech programs to read my poems since this is also
a development of the website name leading to the poetry:
My poetry site is also on http://readmypoems.tk
I'll 'say' that again...
My poetry site is also on http://readmypoems.tk
SPEAK YOUR MIND...
You are the reader and your mind converts text to the
inner voice, a muted spoken text is replayed and then
converted into the unique translation that you grasp.
It's OK if English is your native or acquired tongue.
Read Please and Speakonia will not only assist in
general text comprehension but permit you to hear
your own words in new ways that may assist in
editing and improving by rephrasing or perhaps
embellishing descriptive passages. The spoken word
would assist language students since it's possible
to highlight a block of text to replay it in context...
IMMEDIATE PLAYBACK POSSIBILITIES...
Providing Speakonia's program has been opened, it
will playback the current Clipboard text as soon as
it's been selected and you use the Copy command, so
it's not advised to keep the program running while
editing a separate document, especially if external
speakers are connected... although speakers should
permit you to decrease the volume to mute the effect.
See the Tools Menu, to enable or disable the option
to read and speak the Clipboard contents in memory.
CLIPBOARD ENABLED HELPS THE DISABLED:
Can you imagine the uses for the disabled? Type
text, highlight, select it and use the Copy command.
The text is read aloud thus enabling some measure of
conversation or feedback. Adjusting the voice to the
user, male or female, voice pitch and speed, to create
a reasonable character. For this use, short sentences
would be preferred to maintain the momentum...
HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF USING SPEAKONIA:
SELECT THE TEXT: HIGHLIGHT AND COPY...
Hello - my name is - Denis - Martindale - and I am -
using a text-to-speech program - to share my words -
using the computer - to highlight and copy text -
so that - Speakonia can speak on here on my behalf...
I am using the Mike voice - set at - about 20% pitch
and - about 25% speed - and - about 80% volume...
I am also using - the dash symbol - to create some -
extra pauses between the words - to space the text -
as in - normal conversation - which requires us to -
breathe in - and out - and I have also found - that it
helps - to use short sentences - wherever possible.
If I had a speech disability - Speakonia could help -
to share my thoughts - with my family and friends -
and with others who could be disabled. All I'd need
to do - is to repeat - the highlight and copy actions -
to share the words. I could even adjust Speakonia -
to a slower speed - to help others to listen again...
Press Control plus C to copy or - click on the top -
Copy icon - of the wordprocessor screen display...
SPEAKONIA'S RECORDING ALTERNATIVE -
SHORT BLOCKS OF TEXT SUCH AS POEMS:
Speakonia's program allows you to record text as
a wav sound file that can be replayed in the sound
recorder program, yet these can be huge files so if
genuinely in need of a recording as a separate file,
there are many recording formats: CD quality and
Radio quality and Telephone quality... The sound
program can increase or decrease volume as well
as add an echo effect. Speakonia has effects, too.
Voices could be chosen for a hall sound or even a
stadium sound... In these instances, it's helpful to
have text read at a slower speed to increase gaps
between the words and the echo effects...
This graphic shows the use of the Speakonia wav file:
SOUND QUALITY...
It is also possible to convert mono to stereo quality.
The poems below required 3.5 MB to save about
80 seconds of text. I reduced this down to 850 KB
but quality at this level was so poor that it proved
an exercise in futility...
COMPRESSING FILES AND SHARING FILES...
Compressing files with Winzip and other programs
should be able to store a backup copy. These are
the norm for Internet storage. Website owners can
save to their websites and visitors click a link to the
zip file and download it to disk, usually to a special
directory called Program Files... The file's opened
and unzipped with the extracted sound file being
opened and played as the original version sounded.
MIND YOUR LANGUAGE...
There are language courses here in the UK. I've
just seen the tv advert for Linguaphone, so I'll add
it here as well: Telephone: 0800 123 300
Website: www.linguaphone.co.uk
TRAVEL BROADENS THE MIND...
The advert was seen on the Travel Channel. I saw
it on Sky Digital, channel 181. It features many
foreigners speaking words like machine gun fire...
It would be useful to have a program that could
replay words at a slower speed and at a reduced
voice pitch to catch up with the conversation.
PERSONAL CREATIVE WORK OR STUDIES...
Your letter or creative work could be saved as a
text document ie letter.txt and opened in either of
these programs. Playback of each word would be
adjusted for volume using the SOUND VOLUME
program or adjusting external speakers if you've
volume control on those.
Add C:\WINDOWS\SNDVOL32.EXE program to
your Desktop. Right-click on it having found it with
Windows Explorer (press Windows button next to
ALT while pressing E to open Windows Explorer).
Read Please and Speakonia are both featured on:
www.webattack.com/Freeware/system/fwvoicetech.shtml
(Speech programs on page called fwvoicetech.shtml)
Check www.webattack.com downloads website.
SAMPLES: FREE E-BOOKS ('Electronic books!'):
The Read Please speech program has samples of text
from a famous sci-fi novel, The War Of The Worlds
with details of e-books: text for humans and PCs.
Read Please can also highlight each spoken word.
PROJECT GUTENBERG:
For e-books online check out: Project Gutenberg.
www.gutenberg.net/ see it demonstrated in the
Read Please Help Menu, Samples, Read Free Books.
POETRY - PAUSES - CAN BE ADDED TO EDIT
TEXT FOR BOTH THE SPEECH PROGRAMS:
From further use, it's possible to see and hear that
certain words won't sound right eg for example
would be read as egg instead of 'for example'.
However, that can be customised to sound like the
two letters e g or I could just change eg to e g...
Even so, I could also change eg to actually say the
words 'for example', in a similar fashion to the
autocorrect feature in Microsoft Word... and it's
also possible to change MYEMAILS to say both
my email addresses...
That's why I checked out my poetry pages and I
found I could improve the readings. Speakonia
includes the extra option to read a web page, but
it also reads the TITLE section, so I created an
alternative web page for the reading option, plus
picture demos for Read Please and Speakonia.
APART FROM WEB PAGES, USE TEXT FILES:
No use trying Word documents or rtf files or others,
just use .txt files. Fortunately, you simply highlight
text and create a new text document in Notepad or
in Wordpad or in Word itself. (Wordpad like Word
shows text in margins so it is better than Notepad.)
I have to explain this further as this is a dramatic
increase in one's Internet experience! Say you've
a block of text like: Hello, my name is Simon...
Using READ PLEASE you hear: Hello and a pause
(due to the comma) my name is Simon point (as the
dot dot dot is read and said as 'point').
To avoid this, manually highlight text then click on
left SELECTION button. This avoids the problem,
to say it as: Hello, my name is Simon (with no point
added... just a pause.) I show this using the graphic:
based on using this file's highlighted text:
www.denismartindale.supanet.com/dmpoems/readpleaseinfo.txt
EDITING POETRY FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT:
Poetry can therefore be edited to add extra pauses
and by removing dot dot dot being spoken as point...
The Speakonia program doesn't have this problem
and can be resized to full-page viewing... I suggest
using both programs to find out what suits you...
More of my poetry is on www.poetry.com
search for a poet
Martindale Denis
This website has 4 million poets online with each
poem being freely available to use as an email
greeting with a selection of backgrounds... As
poems can be spoken, some poets add their voices.
With these Speech programs, highlighted poems
can be saved as text documents, with extra pauses
edited with dash gaps and the dot dot dots can be
replaced with a dash at the end of a line...
www.webattack.com/Freeware/system/fwvoicetech.shtml
This gives Speech programs and led to these two:
Here are the Maria poem demo picture pages:
SPEECH VERSION WEB PAGE EXAMPLE:
www.denismartindale.supanet.com/dmpoems/mariaspeechversion.html
Here is the speech text version:
MARIA
To say Maria's beautiful -
How could that prove enough?
To say Maria's wonderful -
Would merely hint at love!
Yet there's much more - than face and form -
Than one - would first esteem,
For she's so gentle, friendly, warm -
The best girl - one could dream -
I know this sounds - as if a crush,
Yet she - deserves acclaim -
This isn't some - romantic rush,
More like - a soothing flame -
The kind that warms - the soul, the heart,
The spirit - deep within -
The kind that stirs - the poet's art,
Another heart - to win -
Maria - what a gorgeous girl!
I pause - to dream - and sigh -
I'm like a man - who's found - a pearl,
The apple of - my eye!
A sweetish dish, eye-candy yes,
God-blessed - in every way -
To share my share - of happiness -
I wrote - this poem - today -
Denis Martindale - copyright - July 2002 -
More poems - on - http://poem.says.it
You could change the text for another girl's name:
Maria's 3 syllables could be spoken as 'that Lisa'
in verse one and as 'My Lisa' later on, or as
'Our Lisa' or 'My Lisa' each time like this:
EXAMPLE:
www.denismartindale.supanet.com/dmpoems/mylisaspeechversion.html
MY LISA
To say my Lisa's beautiful -
How could that prove enough?
To say my Lisa's wonderful -
Would merely hint at love!
Yet there's much more - than face and form -
Than one - would first esteem,
For she's so gentle, friendly, warm -
The best girl - one could dream -
I know this sounds - as if a crush,
Yet she - deserves acclaim -
This isn't some - romantic rush,
More like - a soothing flame -
The kind that warms - the soul, the heart,
The spirit - deep within -
The kind that stirs - the poet's art,
Another heart - to win -
My Lisa - what a gorgeous girl!
I pause - to dream - and sigh -
I'm like a man - who's found - a pearl,
The apple of - my eye!
A sweetish dish, eye-candy yes,
God-blessed - in every way -
To share my share - of happiness -
I wrote - this poem - today -
You'd highlight, copy and paste the text, save as a
.txt file and open it in Read Please or in Speakonia.
In the Read Please program, this version works in
the display box without problems yet the dot dot dot
version could be resolved by clicking Tools Menu,
Options, Voice Settings to view all of the voices:
Mary, Mike, Sam, Marilyn...
Speakonia has more voices with American twangs
which may be adjusted by reducing pitch and speed.
WITH THESE SPEECH PROGRAMS, IT'S LIKE
HAVING YOUR VERY OWN RADIO SHOW!
A radio show with the ability to have a PC running
a speech program then playing it back as a demo,
perhaps surprising someone like Lisa in your studio!
I prefer the MIKE voice as SAM can be quite deep...
Obviously some themes suit the male voice while
others would suit the female. Mary has a higher voice
than Marilyn does, yet each can be set to suit the text
and its best presentation...
(The Read Please program has the Marilyn voice
and can highlight each spoken word to help you
keep track of the reading...)
Speakonia has more sound effects and extra voices
and permits full-screen display as well as being
able to read a web page and can even save as a
wav sound file. It also avoids the dot dot dot 'point'
playback problem.)
EMAILS:
While most text is straightforward, there are times
when emails include forwarded text which begin
each new line with a right arrow and then a space.
If you highlight this text and select it in order to copy
it, you can insert or paste it into a Word processor.
I have used Word and Wordpad which will help to
clear the arrow and space with the Edit Menu, Find
and Replace. Find right arrow and add a space, then
leave the Replace section blank. Then search using
Find Next to test the Replace option... This should
clear the beginning of each line so it doesn't keep on
saying the right bracket symbol 'is greater than'...
PROJECT GUTENBERG GRAND FINALE!
I have just visited the Project Gutenberg web page to
see what's what... The Search web page allowed me to
search for The Holy Bible... The Olde Englishe text is
available as an online .txt page so it can be read by
these speech programs... Nearly 6 million characters...
Phew! I traced the Temporary Internet File using the
Windows Start Menu and then Find. I made a copy
elsewhere on my PC for reference... The file opened
in Wordpad, where I used the Edit Menu then Find so
I could locate some keywords such as names, places,
doctrines, known quotations and thus navigate my way
through millions of text characters and thousands of
human characters... I copied a short passage and then
Speakonia shared the words with me once again...
Here end-eth the speech program tutorial...
Each Speech program has a Help menu and you can
check the Content and the Index section to learn more!
Please email the websites above for extra guidelines...
Denis Martindale, copyright, August 2002 updated in
October to include PC Format magazine info and the new
ReadPlease 2003 download.
denismartindale@yahoo.com and
denismartindale@bushinternet.com
SOUND QUALITY...
It is also possible to convert mono to stereo quality.
The poems below required 3.5 MB to save about
80 seconds of text. I reduced this down to 850 KB
but quality at this level was so poor that it proved
an exercise in futility...
COMPRESSING FILES AND SHARING FILES...
Compressing files with Winzip and other programs
should be able to store a backup copy. These are
the norm for Internet storage. Website owners can
save to their websites and visitors click a link to the
zip file and download it to disk, usually to a special
directory called Program Files... The file's opened
and unzipped with the extracted sound file being
opened and played as the original version sounded.
MIND YOUR LANGUAGE...
There are language courses here in the UK. I've
just seen the tv advert for Linguaphone, so I'll add
it here as well: Telephone: 0800 123 300
Website: www.linguaphone.co.uk
TRAVEL BROADENS THE MIND...
The advert was seen on the Travel Channel. I saw
it on Sky Digital, channel 181. It features many
foreigners speaking words like machine gun fire...
It would be useful to have a program that could
replay words at a slower speed and at a reduced
voice pitch to catch up with the conversation.
PERSONAL CREATIVE WORK OR STUDIES...
Your letter or creative work could be saved as a
text document ie letter.txt and opened in either of
these programs. Playback of each word would be
adjusted for volume using the SOUND VOLUME
program or adjusting external speakers if you've
volume control on those.
Add C:\WINDOWS\SNDVOL32.EXE program to
your Desktop. Right-click on it having found it with
Windows Explorer (press Windows button next to
ALT while pressing E to open Windows Explorer).
Read Please and Speakonia are both featured on:
www.webattack.com/Freeware/system/fwvoicetech.shtml
(Speech programs on page called fwvoicetech.shtml)
Check www.webattack.com downloads website.
SAMPLES: FREE E-BOOKS ('Electronic books!'):
The Read Please speech program has samples of text
from a famous sci-fi novel, The War Of The Worlds
with details of e-books: text for humans and PCs.
Read Please can also highlight each spoken word.
PROJECT GUTENBERG:
For e-books online check out: Project Gutenberg.
www.gutenberg.net/ see it demonstrated in the
Read Please Help Menu, Samples, Read Free Books.
POETRY - PAUSES - CAN BE ADDED TO EDIT
TEXT FOR BOTH THE SPEECH PROGRAMS:
From further use, it's possible to see and hear that
certain words won't sound right eg for example
would be read as egg instead of 'for example'.
However, that can be customised to sound like the
two letters e g or I could just change eg to e g...
Even so, I could also change eg to actually say the
words 'for example', in a similar fashion to the
autocorrect feature in Microsoft Word... and it's
also possible to change MYEMAILS to say both
my email addresses...
That's why I checked out my poetry pages and I
found I could improve the readings. Speakonia
includes the extra option to read a web page, but
it also reads the TITLE section, so I created an
alternative web page for the reading option, plus
picture demos for Read Please and Speakonia.
APART FROM WEB PAGES, USE TEXT FILES:
No use trying Word documents or rtf files or others,
just use .txt files. Fortunately, you simply highlight
text and create a new text document in Notepad or
in Wordpad or in Word itself. (Wordpad like Word
shows text in margins so it is better than Notepad.)
I have to explain this further as this is a dramatic
increase in one's Internet experience! Say you've
a block of text like: Hello, my name is Simon...
Using READ PLEASE you hear: Hello and a pause
(due to the comma) my name is Simon point (as the
dot dot dot is read and said as 'point').
To avoid this, manually highlight text then click on
left SELECTION button. This avoids the problem,
to say it as: Hello, my name is Simon (with no point
added... just a pause.) I show this using the graphic:
based on using this file's highlighted text:
www.denismartindale.supanet.com/dmpoems/readpleaseinfo.txt
EDITING POETRY FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT:
Poetry can therefore be edited to add extra pauses
and by removing dot dot dot being spoken as point...
The Speakonia program doesn't have this problem
and can be resized to full-page viewing... I suggest
using both programs to find out what suits you...
More of my poetry is on www.poetry.com
search for a poet
Martindale Denis
This website has 4 million poets online with each
poem being freely available to use as an email
greeting with a selection of backgrounds... As
poems can be spoken, some poets add their voices.
With these Speech programs, highlighted poems
can be saved as text documents, with extra pauses
edited with dash gaps and the dot dot dots can be
replaced with a dash at the end of a line...
www.webattack.com/Freeware/system/fwvoicetech.shtml
This gives Speech programs and led to these two:
Here are the Maria poem demo picture pages:
SPEECH VERSION WEB PAGE EXAMPLE:
www.denismartindale.supanet.com/dmpoems/mariaspeechversion.html
Here is the speech text version:
MARIA
To say Maria's beautiful -
How could that prove enough?
To say Maria's wonderful -
Would merely hint at love!
Yet there's much more - than face and form -
Than one - would first esteem,
For she's so gentle, friendly, warm -
The best girl - one could dream -
I know this sounds - as if a crush,
Yet she - deserves acclaim -
This isn't some - romantic rush,
More like - a soothing flame -
The kind that warms - the soul, the heart,
The spirit - deep within -
The kind that stirs - the poet's art,
Another heart - to win -
Maria - what a gorgeous girl!
I pause - to dream - and sigh -
I'm like a man - who's found - a pearl,
The apple of - my eye!
A sweetish dish, eye-candy yes,
God-blessed - in every way -
To share my share - of happiness -
I wrote - this poem - today -
Denis Martindale - copyright - July 2002 -
More poems - on - http://poem.says.it
You could change the text for another girl's name:
Maria's 3 syllables could be spoken as 'that Lisa'
in verse one and as 'My Lisa' later on, or as
'Our Lisa' or 'My Lisa' each time like this:
EXAMPLE:
www.denismartindale.supanet.com/dmpoems/mylisaspeechversion.html
MY LISA
To say my Lisa's beautiful -
How could that prove enough?
To say my Lisa's wonderful -
Would merely hint at love!
Yet there's much more - than face and form -
Than one - would first esteem,
For she's so gentle, friendly, warm -
The best girl - one could dream -
I know this sounds - as if a crush,
Yet she - deserves acclaim -
This isn't some - romantic rush,
More like - a soothing flame -
The kind that warms - the soul, the heart,
The spirit - deep within -
The kind that stirs - the poet's art,
Another heart - to win -
My Lisa - what a gorgeous girl!
I pause - to dream - and sigh -
I'm like a man - who's found - a pearl,
The apple of - my eye!
A sweetish dish, eye-candy yes,
God-blessed - in every way -
To share my share - of happiness -
I wrote - this poem - today -
You'd highlight, copy and paste the text, save as a
.txt file and open it in Read Please or in Speakonia.
In the Read Please program, this version works in
the display box without problems yet the dot dot dot
version could be resolved by clicking Tools Menu,
Options, Voice Settings to view all of the voices:
Mary, Mike, Sam, Marilyn...
Speakonia has more voices with American twangs
which may be adjusted by reducing pitch and speed.
WITH THESE SPEECH PROGRAMS, IT'S LIKE
HAVING YOUR VERY OWN RADIO SHOW!
A radio show with the ability to have a PC running
a speech program then playing it back as a demo,
perhaps surprising someone like Lisa in your studio!
I prefer the MIKE voice as SAM can be quite deep...
Obviously some themes suit the male voice while
others would suit the female. Mary has a higher voice
than Marilyn does, yet each can be set to suit the text
and its best presentation...
(The Read Please program has the Marilyn voice
and can highlight each spoken word to help you
keep track of the reading...)
Speakonia has more sound effects and extra voices
and permits full-screen display as well as being
able to read a web page and can even save as a
wav sound file. It also avoids the dot dot dot 'point'
playback problem.)
EMAILS:
While most text is straightforward, there are times
when emails include forwarded text which begin
each new line with a right arrow and then a space.
If you highlight this text and select it in order to copy
it, you can insert or paste it into a Word processor.
I have used Word and Wordpad which will help to
clear the arrow and space with the Edit Menu, Find
and Replace. Find right arrow and add a space, then
leave the Replace section blank. Then search using
Find Next to test the Replace option... This should
clear the beginning of each line so it doesn't keep on
saying the right bracket symbol 'is greater than'...
PROJECT GUTENBERG GRAND FINALE!
I have just visited the Project Gutenberg web page to
see what's what... The Search web page allowed me to
search for The Holy Bible... The Olde Englishe text is
available as an online .txt page so it can be read by
these speech programs... Nearly 6 million characters...
Phew! I traced the Temporary Internet File using the
Windows Start Menu and then Find. I made a copy
elsewhere on my PC for reference... The file opened
in Wordpad, where I used the Edit Menu then Find so
I could locate some keywords such as names, places,
doctrines, known quotations and thus navigate my way
through millions of text characters and thousands of
human characters... I copied a short passage and then
Speakonia shared the words with me once again...
Here end-eth the speech program tutorial...
Each Speech program has a Help menu and you can
check the Content and the Index section to learn more!
Please email the websites above for extra guidelines...
Denis Martindale, copyright, August 2002 updated in
October to include PC Format magazine info and the new
ReadPlease 2003 download.
denismartindale@yahoo.com and
denismartindale@bushinternet.com