"Mal from Oz" > writes:

> Just a thought... would any of the group (who do not speak Chinese) find a
> 'talking' bablecarp useful ?
>
> While I use Babelcarp extensively (and appreciatively) , I'm constantly
> wondering if I am interpreting the words/phrases properly. if we could say
> type in 'Shu' to get the description as we usually do, what if you could
> also click a button and hear a sound bite of the correct (or more common)
> pronounciation.
>
> Obviously a lot of work for someone, but do others on the group think that
> this feature may be useful ?

First of all: In the absence of a Pronounce button on the Babelcarp
page, you can find everything you need to know about Mandarin
pronunciation he

http://www.zein.se/patrick/chinen8p.html

Actually, I'm tempted to say that most of the hard work is already
done, since virtually all the Mandarin phrases in Babelcarp's database
are now annotated for tones. Not that I've looked yet, but somehow I
think that somewhere on the Web there must be a site that'll generate,
say, an MP3 file that pronounces a Pinyin phrase for you. It would be
kind of robotic, because it wouldn't parse the phrase, but especially
for short phrases, not too bad. If there is such a thing out there,
then I should be able to work it in. Assuming, that is, people really
want it...

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html