5 ms·

now if I could just get the pixel buds tech to remove the voice of the original speaker and translate some youtube videos from thick accent english into no acce

now if I could just get the pixel buds tech to remove the voice of the original speaker and translate some youtube videos from thick accent english into no accent am-english.

ChuckMcM 3y ago
This is a really interesting use case. I could definitely see this as a service for content providers to get more reach and I think you could justify a subscription price for the service based on this. By keeping creating speaker specific tonal ranges and profiles you maintain the better cohesion on the final product.
keerthiko 3y ago
Obligatory, not directed at you in particular since I'm sure you mean no offense, but just voicing a pet peeve: I grew up bilingual outside the US, and speak English with a hybrid British/Indian/Middle Eastern accent (with some of my personal quirks, and mixing increasing amounts of various American accents over time). I can understand English in nearly any accent (Singaporean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Nigerian, eastern European) as long as the words involved are globally used and the grammar is passably queen's. Especially after hearing it for about an hour. And people who natively speak English with these various accents usually can understand my English better than they can an average American accent. Yet in this country, my accent is belittled, despite being perfectly understood and more versatile. Even by others who don't speak with the American accent! This is the problem of the "default accent" anywhere being referred to as "no accent", and therefore anything deviating is considered "having an accent". This makes "accent" a negative trait, scaling from 0-bad to heavy-bad. But if the vernacular were such that we said "American accent" instead of "no accent", then noone's accent is bad, just not used to. Most of my non-American peers who were raised on English have a better command of the language than my American ones, yet they are mocked for their accents as if they don't know the language, when in reality it's the Americans lack of familiarity with the language (as its used globally) preventing them from comprehending the language. So yes, put in more work, the world is shrinking and English is the global language (for better or worse). What you're saying is spoken from a position of privilege because the culture allows you to mock others' accents and imply your version of it is the correct one that everyone else should put in work to provide you with, rather than the other way around. Every time you hear English with an accent other than British, American or Australian, remember that it usually means the speaker knows at least one entire other language as well, probably one that you would sound like an idiot if you tried to speak it. Don't be rude or dismissive of their command of English. In fact, you were so close — you called it a "no accent am-english", when you could have just called it what it is — "an american accent".
- freedomben 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - archagon 3y ago
    I don’t think it’s unreasonable to remind people that a “default” accent does not exist, and that AI-editing an accent out starts to feel a bit like dystopian identity erasure and homogenization. Even if we scope ourselves to Americans speaking English as a first language, there are dozens of diverse accents across the country.
    - ChuckMcM 3y ago
      I think this is one of those times when my Mom, understanding my desire to be understood and to ask questions about motives and related understanding, would observe the, oblivious to me, effect of inflaming the conversation and say, "Charles, this is not the time." :-)
      - archagon 3y ago
        I don’t like seeing a comment that’s relatively reasonable get greyed out just because it grinds somebody’s gears. Alas, I only have one counter-downvote to give, so I feel obliged to comment.
    - stevenicr 3y ago
      My original statement was wanting a translator device, hardware or software, so I could understand and learn better. There was not desire for identity erasure or homogenization, leave whoever's voice the way it is online, give me an option to translate it. I added more about my issue downthread. Diverse accents across the country. - absolutely! which is why I said 'no accent am-english.' (for me, as I can't learn well outside that) - and assuming if this tech exists it could help me, and perhaps be tweaked to change to other accents for other people.. also mentioned in downthread reply.
      - 3y ago

now if I could just get the pixel buds tech to remove the voice of the original speaker and translate some youtube videos from thick accent english into no accent am-english.

ChuckMcM 3y ago

This is a really interesting use case. I could definitely see this as a service for content providers to get more reach and I think you could justify a subscription price for the service based on this. By keeping creating speaker specific tonal ranges and profiles you maintain the better cohesion on the final product.

keerthiko 3y ago

Obligatory, not directed at you in particular since I'm sure you mean no offense, but just voicing a pet peeve: I grew up bilingual outside the US, and speak English with a hybrid British/Indian/Middle Eastern accent (with some of my personal quirks, and mixing increasing amounts of various American accents over time). I can understand English in nearly any accent (Singaporean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Nigerian, eastern European) as long as the words involved are globally used and the grammar is passably queen's. Especially after hearing it for about an hour. And people who natively speak English with these various accents usually can understand my English better than they can an average American accent. Yet in this country, my accent is belittled, despite being perfectly understood and more versatile. Even by others who don't speak with the American accent! This is the problem of the "default accent" anywhere being referred to as "no accent", and therefore anything deviating is considered "having an accent". This makes "accent" a negative trait, scaling from 0-bad to heavy-bad. But if the vernacular were such that we said "American accent" instead of "no accent", then noone's accent is bad, just not used to. Most of my non-American peers who were raised on English have a better command of the language than my American ones, yet they are mocked for their accents as if they don't know the language, when in reality it's the Americans lack of familiarity with the language (as its used globally) preventing them from comprehending the language. So yes, put in more work, the world is shrinking and English is the global language (for better or worse). What you're saying is spoken from a position of privilege because the culture allows you to mock others' accents and imply your version of it is the correct one that everyone else should put in work to provide you with, rather than the other way around. Every time you hear English with an accent other than British, American or Australian, remember that it usually means the speaker knows at least one entire other language as well, probably one that you would sound like an idiot if you tried to speak it. Don't be rude or dismissive of their command of English. In fact, you were so close — you called it a "no accent am-english", when you could have just called it what it is — "an american accent".

freedomben 3y ago
[flagged]
- archagon 3y ago
  I don’t think it’s unreasonable to remind people that a “default” accent does not exist, and that AI-editing an accent out starts to feel a bit like dystopian identity erasure and homogenization. Even if we scope ourselves to Americans speaking English as a first language, there are dozens of diverse accents across the country.
  - ChuckMcM 3y ago
    I think this is one of those times when my Mom, understanding my desire to be understood and to ask questions about motives and related understanding, would observe the, oblivious to me, effect of inflaming the conversation and say, "Charles, this is not the time." :-)
    - archagon 3y ago
      I don’t like seeing a comment that’s relatively reasonable get greyed out just because it grinds somebody’s gears. Alas, I only have one counter-downvote to give, so I feel obliged to comment.
  - stevenicr 3y ago
    My original statement was wanting a translator device, hardware or software, so I could understand and learn better. There was not desire for identity erasure or homogenization, leave whoever's voice the way it is online, give me an option to translate it. I added more about my issue downthread. Diverse accents across the country. - absolutely! which is why I said 'no accent am-english.' (for me, as I can't learn well outside that) - and assuming if this tech exists it could help me, and perhaps be tweaked to change to other accents for other people.. also mentioned in downthread reply.
    - 3y ago