echo le train | espeak -v mb-fr1 # mbrola voice: OK
echo le train | espeak -v mb-fr4 # mbrola voice: OK
echo les traines | espeak -v mb-fr1 # mbrola voice: BAD
echo les traines | espeak -v mb-fr4 # mbrola voice: BAD
Error from mbrola (which espeak calls) is:
mbrola: Warning: l-e- unkown, replaced with _-_
This is rather annoying as "les" is rather a useful article in French!
Work arounds:
1) Use the espeak voice.
echo le train | espeak -v fr # espeak voice: OK
echo les traines | espeak -v fr # espeak voice: OK
Works, but sounds rather robotic.
2) An approximation of the correct pronunciation can be generated by converting "les" to "lay" or "lai":
echo "les traines" | sed 's/\<les\>/lai/g' | espeak -v mb-fr1 # OK-ish
echo "les traines" | sed 's/\<les\>/lai/g' | espeak -v mb-fr4 # OK-ish
This gives a passable result, atleast to a naïve ear such as mine ;-)
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: mbrola 3.01h-6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-18.28-generic-pae 3.2.9
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-18-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.94-0ubuntu2
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Mar 7 11:13:03 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
TERM=xterm
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=fr_CA.UTF8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: mbrola
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-01-12 (54 days ago)
Err - and ignore my appalling French - that should be "les trains" I think.