Robotic Tagalog

Robotic Tagalog
Robotic Tagalog is the synthesized speech of the Tagalog language from the SpeakJet speech synthesizer, being developed by MirandaSoft, using the BeagleBone Black with the SpeakJet Cape.

Raspberry Pi demos Robotic Tagalog
Before the BeagleBone Black, the development of Robotic Tagalog was being done on the Raspberry Pi. Here's the original article with video demonstration Robotic Tagalog. That article was written before MirandaSoft's professional-grade SpeakJet parsers were born.

The Phoneme-to-Speech Process
Using MirandaSoft's SpeakJet Parsers, the SpeakJet microcontroller is able to speak Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines. Since the produced speech sounds robotic, the new language is called, Robotic Tagalog. To have a better understanding of what phonemes & allophones are being used, please consult the SpeakJet User Manual.

FAQ: Why Not Use Text-to-Speech (TTS)?
As of this writing, a text-to-speech (TTS) engine has not been created for Tagalog speech synthesis, however, MirandaSoft is developing the Robotic Tagalog speech synthesizer dictionary for SpeakJet.

FAQ: Why Not Use Festival Speech Synthesis System?
The Festival Speech Synthesis System is an excellent software-based speech synthesizer, however none of the available digitized voices are suitable for speaking Tagalog in a non-comedial environment. Prior to receiving SpeakJet, MirandaSoft made several attempts to get Festival to speak Tagalog at best, but the output just made people laugh.

The Development of Robotic Tagalog
Traditionally, MirandaSoft has been using Tagalog phonology in making English-based speech synthesizers speak in the Tagalog language, but that only proved to be merely entertaining rather than being serious enough to be used by a blind person.

Various Tagalog Pronounciations
Since Kuya Marc of MirandaSoft resides in the Philippines, he hears various forms of spoken Tagalog, on a daily basis, mostly dependent on which Philippine province the Tagalog speaker is from; in other words, it is rare that two Filipinos will ever speak Tagalog with the same pronounciations as others.

The Making of Robotic Tagalog
Just using sensitive human-based hearing, Kuya Marc makes the SpeakJet speak the best pronounciation of Tagalog possible. Because synthesized speech (as opposed to digitized speech) of the SpeakJet microcontrollere sounds too robotic, Kuya Marc calls the speech, "Robotic Tagalog".

Blind Philippine People
Last year, Kuya Marc contacted the Resources for the Blind in Manila, Philippines, for demonstrating the World's First Tagalog Speech Synthesizer, however, development was dramatically slowed down due to financial reasons. Not every blind Philippine person understands the English language and not every blind Philippine person is willing to learn the English language, however, most blind Philippine persons understand the Tagalog language, whether it is exact or close to it.

Filipino Stroke Patients
A few months ago, the Filipino father of Kuya Marc had two back-to-back strokes, significantly impairing his speech. Kuya Marc's father is not the only Tagalog-speaking Filipino that lost speech after having a stroke, there are others around the world, not just in the Philippines.

Mobile GPS Devices
Here in the Philippines, where the commonly spoken language is NOT English, driving or riding in a vehicle, such as a car or SUV, with an English-speaking GPS is just not practical. Many Filipinos don't master the English language and a simple command, like "Turn Right in 200 meters" might cause the driver to do something entirely different. Implanting a Robotic Tagalog speech synthesizer will be of greater assistance to the Filipino driver.

Entertainment Purposes
Though not an original idea, the Philippine movie & television industry can use a Tagalog speech synthesizer for variety of purposes, ranging from drama to horror to Sci-Fi and beyond. Presently, all Filipino movies and TV shows I've seen are using human-generated robotic speech of the Tagalog language, which sounds completely fake. Having the SpeakJet speak Robotic Tagalog for a TV show or movie can greatly improve the quality of the production, itself.