Re: gperiodic

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

Kyle Burton wrote:
> 
> > How about providing an easy-to-use interface for the instructor using
> > the program to record those audio files him or herself?
> >
> > If the interface is made general enough it might be useful in a wide
> > variety of educational software.
> 
> my idea was to break the language/pronounciations out into seporate pakcages,
> and allow the user/installer to only download the particular portions
> they were interested in.  If space is really an issue, we could use the
> mp3 format (average 10 to 1 compression), or real audio format, and invoke
> an external player to output the sound.  That would keep the size down as
> a whole, and allow users to select only the portions they wanted/needed.

I wasn't thinking so much of the size problem (although smaller is
better), but of the problem of learning the pronunciation of the various
elements in an accent other than that spoken locally.  Would Quebecois
children have trouble with Parisian French pronunciations of the
elemental names?  How about Alabama kids with Australian
pronunciations?  I don't know the answer, but I thought that if the
audio was created by someone from the same language community the
pronunciations would be easier to learn.  Also, a generalized audio
input interface (does one exist for Linux?) could be useful in many
other situations too.

-- 
Doug Loss                 The difference between the right word and
Data Network Coordinator  the almost right word is the difference
Bloomsburg University     between lightning and a lightning bug.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Mark Twain