Adding languages and voices

If using Nuance Recognizer or Nuance Vocalizer you can set up a multi-lingual environment. Ignore this topic if not using those components.

Language and voice requirements

  • If using Nuance Recognizer you need at least one language pack.
  • If using Vocalizer you need least one voice pack.
  • For a multilingual system, get additional languages and voice packs.

You can install languages and voices during the initial Speech Suite installation and at any time thereafter. Optionally, you can store the packs on a single host that serves all recognition service and Vocalizer service hosts.

If you download a language and voice before running the Speech Suite installer, you can specify a Recognizer language and a Vocalizer voice during the Speech Suite installation. For example, you would download the files and set the value of Languages, voices to refer to their path during the installation.

At any time in the future you can add more languages and voices by installing them separately, without using the Speech Suite installer.S

Setting up a dedicated server for languages and voices

This example shows how you can perform Speech Suite installations on two hosts: one with Nuance Speech Suite, a Recognizer language, and a Vocalizer voice (we call this the speech host ), and the other with Speech Suite and any additional languages and voices (we call this the dedicated host). At runtime, the speech host runs the Nuance speech software, which retrieves languages and voices from the dedicated host when they are needed.

To set up this configuration, including to configure your Nuance products to retrieve the language and voices from the dedicated host, follow these steps:

  1. Set up your speech host as described in Run the installer on Linux or Run the installer on Windows.

    The one language installed on the speech host will be the default language for Recognizer, since it is the first language installed.

  2. Download the other languages and voices to a downloads directory on the dedicated host and extract them.
  3. On the dedicated host, run the installation to install Speech Suite, Recognizer languages, and voices (if using TTS).

    This installs all the languages to $SWISRSDK/config and all the voices to $VOCALIZER_SDK/languages on this host. (You can install the Vocalizer voices together in the languages folder or individually in subfolders beneath languages.)

  4. Ensure that the language directory and voice directory on the dedicated host are viewable and readable from the network.
  5. On the speech host, set NR_LANGUAGE_PATH on the recognition service to point to the $SWISRSDK/config directory on the dedicated host.
  6. On the speech host, set VOCALIZER_VOICE_PATH on the vocalizer service to point to the $VOCALIZER_SDK/languages directory on the dedicated host.

Explanation:

  • Recognizer on the speech host has access to the language on its own host, and to all languages in the NR_LANGUAGE_PATH location. In cases where a language is not specified, the oldest of these (that is, the language in the directory that has the oldest timestamp) serves as the default. In the order given above this default language is the language installed on the speech host, as this language is installed before the languages on the dedicated host.
  • Vocalizer on the speech host has access to the voice on its own host and to all voices in the VOCALIZER_VOICE_PATH location. In cases where a voice is not specified, the first of these alphabetically (that is, the voice whose three-letter language code comes earliest in the alphabet) serves as the default.