Is text-to-speech software useful?

Emma   Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:58 am GMT
Have anyone tried the so-called "text-to-speech" software? like the AT&T one:
http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php
How do you think about the intonation by the software? How close is it to the native speaker? Is it useful in help improving intonation?
Johnny   Fri Oct 17, 2008 12:11 pm GMT
<<Is it useful in help improving intonation? >>
Noooo! For Christ's sake, do not use any artificial voices to learn anything about English. Text-to-Speech engines are good for blind people, not for learners.

I have to say it seems a really good one compared to most older ones, where the voices are way too crappy. But remember, an excellent one only for blind people. No TTS can be good for learning English.

Just try to make it say things like "This is not a test", or "Would you like your money back?", to test assimilation, tapped t's, weak forms, etc, for example. It fails, obviously, and this makes it crap for every learner.
Johnny   Fri Oct 17, 2008 12:17 pm GMT
Maybe I was wrong. It seems it uses some weak forms correctly, so it's not that bad. Anyways, the intonation is artificial. If you learned to speak that way, I guess people around you would start to call you "cyborg".