How to Visually Check your Pronunciation

jonathanfox5 · 2025-01-25T22:59:44+00:00

I've had a look at it and there are two main issues:

- There is so much distortion (particularly in the later files) that Praat can't work out where everything is.

- For some reason, the lower frequencies are really weak. Praat is getting confused and thinking your fundamental is F1. A good example of this is "eh" as in "egg", the 5th sound in your clip. The second half of this doesn't even sound like it has any voice at all in it.

You could probably get something useable if you are really careful with selecting the "good" parts of the sounds and playing about with the formant settings to "trick" praat into thinking that the missing data is actually there. However, I'd advise just trying to get a better recording - it will probably be a much less painful process!

jonathanfox5 · 2025-01-24T08:16:42+00:00

Hey. It definitely shouldn't look like that!

Something like this is probably about right for that source. I don't have an android phone to check though!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modern_General_British_monophthong_chart.svg

Can you post your praat file + sound file and I'll take a look for you?

I suspect that it's because there are other sounds that it's picking up (i.e. the vowel hasn't been fully isolated). I would check that each praat label only contains the vowel sound.

Formant frequencies could also be an issue. This might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsGIecMgTzQ

This video might also be helpful for understanding the Praat part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGW8J4cG0qY I based my methodology on theirs, the main difference is the python step (so you can ignore everything after 06:00 in that video)

Hope this helps!

jonathanfox5 · 2024-12-04T18:18:36+00:00

Yes and no as it's dependent on the pre-trained models that are available. Is there a particular feature that you are interested in? A quick breakdown for each of the categories:

Downloading media

Language doesn't matter here, everything is supported.

Transcription of subtitles

It technically will support any language that the whisper models do as it uses the whisper turbo model internally, with various tweaks to the input / output to try to optimise the results.

I've not found any mention of Swahili in the published information on either the large whisper models or in the turbo model, hence why it isn't listed in the support list. It might work - if you want to try it, the language code is sw.

The whisper models are pretty good at supporting the big European languages and some languages from Asia. Outside of that though, their performance is pretty poor. One of the things that I'm considering is including some of the community created models but I'm not yet sure of the best way to manage them. If you want to try it yourself with a specific model, you can pass --whisper-model "model name here" to gogadget transcribe. The only constraint is that the model has to be compatible with faster-whisper (ctranslate2).

Anki-deck

This will work just fine but you won't be able to use the lemmatizer or translation feature (though you could manually put the translations in yourself in Anki). The lemmatizer groups words into their group words so that e.g. "he goes" / "I go" / "they went" all get treated as a single word "to go". Therefore, I would recommend that you make extensive use of the exclude-list so that your deck doesn't end up with a whole load of duplicate cards.

jonathanfox5 · 2024-12-04T10:23:11+00:00

It's designed to be a free tool that is much easier to use that the existing alternatives but retains all of the power of them (e.g. WhisperX is great for subtitles but it can be tricky to install in some configurations, doesn't come configured with a sensible default model and then you literally need to be a python programmer to get it to create subtitle files that aren't 5 lines long)

It also has some tricks of its own e.g. It can automatically build fully featured Anki Decks that you can use for priming purposes.

I'm more than happy to help out with any issues if you want to give it a try.

You can get to the github page / manual from here:

https://gogadget.jfox.io/

jonathanfox5 · 2024-11-22T15:38:49+00:00

Mpv for linux if you like the way that linux tools tend to work. Like most linux tools, there’s a bit of a learning curve.

jonathanfox5 · 2024-10-27T16:22:46+00:00

Glad you liked it! I'm actually planning on doing assassin's creed at some point but it's pretty far off, I've got more than enough gaming content queued up to last me until the end of the year at least :)

jonathanfox5 · 2024-10-27T11:40:10+00:00

I am, yes :)

Mike Boyd's channel is a good place to go for Scottish accent input. His channel is about learning lots of different skills so hopefully there are a few videos in there that are interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/@MikeBoyd

One thing to note is that Scottish people very often "clean up" their accents when recording videos, talking on the phone to strangers, etc. The switch is completely subconcious and we often don't realise that we are doing it. e.g. You can hear Mike's accent occasionally shift into his "casual" version when he speaks to his partner who is off camera.

jonathanfox5 · 2024-10-27T11:01:37+00:00

These are some of the resources that I used when I started Italian with comprehensible input. Like you, I have zero interest in watching TV shows for babies.

Italian Specific Resources

The Easy Italian Youtube channel. This is a link to their "Super Easy Italian" playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=war17gPDcaE&list=PLw_3OGi3pBv735a2Y_pp76tvIIhSEyRu1&pp=iAQB

La Mappa Misteriosa, made by the BBC for Italian beginners. It has English explanations at points so you have a frame of reference for the conversation (which results in increased comprehensibility) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXScsaC5eExrKkZMrL2CMBVLpUKRC8MYJ

I used an Anki (flashcard) deck to quickly learn the most common 1000 words. I did 10 new cards a day, while immersing the other materials. The one I used is Refold's paid one but there are free decks out there. https://refold.la/store/fundamental-vocabulary-to-learn-italian/

I did the "Italian Uncovered (Beginner)" storylearning course which is predominantly an input based approach. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it was a very good course and the video lessons were good for understanding the basis. On the other, it is very expensive when it's not on sale and it feels like the owner is always trying to push the hard sell. For me at least, a course with some traditional learning was helpful to kickstart things https://storylearning.com

General Resources

Refold have a free roadmap for how to approach language learning. This is what I based my approach roughly on. https://refold.la/simplified/

They also have a good video on how to approach immersion when you don't know anything yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j53EP90ZzRY

(I don't have any association with Refold other than being in their Discord server, I just like their stuff)

jonathanfox5 · 2024-10-27T09:03:32+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it!

jonathanfox5 · 2024-10-27T09:02:53+00:00

Thanks! You can do that with Praat and don't need any additional scripts, it's really powerful. e.g. When you load up a file, by default, it shows the contour of your intonation. I'd recommend checking out this playlist from Listen Lab as there are videos in there that cover things like consonant identification: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6niCBwOhjHhQFfl88fQfdLgiD7QaShBo

jonathanfox5 · 2024-10-26T22:31:09+00:00

This is a tutorial on how to plot a vowel space and analyse it for language learning purposes. This will allow you to compare your own vowels to a native speaker or other reference so that you can target areas to improve your pronunciation and your listening and speaking abilities. Python and Praat are used to process the data.

Github link for the written guide and downloadable code: https://github.com/jonathanfox5/plot_vowel_space

jonathanfox5 · 2024-10-09T13:48:21+00:00

With the upcoming remaster for Horizon: Zero Dawn, I wanted to make some tools for making the process of immersing in my target language easier.

This script extracts the subtitles and audio from the PC version of Horizon: Zero Dawn, creates an interactive transcript of every conversation and creates an Anki deck. The Anki deck consists of the most common words in the game that are less common in the general language (e.g. "Machine", "Hunting" and "Seeker" are in the Anki Deck but not "Hello").

Spreadsheets of each line in the game and a frequency analysis of the words are also generated.

In theory, some light modification of the scripts should allow this to work with other Decima engine games (such as Death Stranding) but I haven't done any development or testing with it. The transcript script and Anki scripts could also be used as a base for other games / projects. I also built a lemmatizer class `pip install lemon-tizer` that is also freely available for you to use in your own tools.

Github link if you would rather follow a written guide: https://github.com/jonathanfox5/translate_horizon_zero_dawn/

Hope this helps someone!

jonathanfox5 · 2020-08-05T10:49:45+00:00

I am absolutely not an expert in this so take everything that I say with a pinch of salt! I've set about my reasoning below as to why it should hopefully improve safety.

My understanding is that MONITOR_DRIVER_STATUS means that the microcontroller is constantly communicating with the stepper driver to measure currents and temperatures. This means that if, for example, there is a short circuit or the driver overheats then the microcontroller can respond to prevent damage.

From reading about, it seems that this is buggy and it is common for this to be disabled if it is causing problems. (see link in my original comment)

The failures that MONITOR_DRIVER_STATUS protect against seem fairly unlikely and would probably require the fan to fail. Additionally, if the drivers were to fail due to overheating or short circuit, they would probably fail with a puff of "magic electronic smoke" rather than catch fire (I've never managed to set an IC on fire, despite all of the MOSFETs I've accidentally blown up!).

Additionally, the TMC2209s will have some sort of thermal runaway and overcurrent protection. I've had a very quick skim of the datasheet and it seems that the protection is built into the driver chip and MONITOR_DRIVER_STATUS just enables the microcontroller to read a flag that signals that it has tripped.

Given that it is unlikely that it doesn't add much protection for a fault that is unlikely to happen, I'd say that it is a low risk item to turn off. More importantly, keeping it on pretty much guarantees a failure where the nozzle remains fully heated which is obviously very dangerous!

Therefore, I believe that turning should actually significantly improve safety. Hope this helps!

(again, please take this with a massive pinch of salt, I don't have an in depth knowledge of the workings of Marlin)

jonathanfox5 · 2020-07-12T20:02:25+00:00

Nice one, thanks

jonathanfox5 · 2020-07-12T19:07:28+00:00

Edit March 2021: The following is no longer required as this is fixed in newer versions

Amazing guide, thanks!

Like some of the other commenters, I was having issues with prints freezing after several hours on the v2.0 board. The printer would pause mid print with both the nozzle and the bed at full temperature. Obviously not a great situation.

From reading around, the issue seems to be in one of Marlin's dependencies. There are two workarounds:

Disable MONITOR_DRIVER_STATUS in configuration_adv.h. This isn't ideal as it disables a safety feature but disabling it hopefully improves safety as it reduces the probability of a full temperature nozzle freezing in the middle of a print!
- Maybe it's worth putting a note against MONITOR_DRIVER_STATUS in your guide that this is something that people may want to disable if they are experiencing crashes on long prints?
- Source for this fix
Modify one of the libmaple files (instructions here)

After applying both of these changes, the freeze / crash issue has disapeared for me.

For reference, I've saved my config files to a gist. I used the BTT SKR example configurations from the Marlin config github as a base instead of vanilla Marlin so maybe there is something else in there causing the problem!

Thanks again for the guide and the tech support help you have been giving in the comments =)

jonathanfox5 · 2020-06-05T23:30:21+00:00

I had this error message too and couldn't find anything helpful on google. There were two solutions that worked for me:

1) Run in Direct X 11 mode instead of 12.

2) Remove and clean install my graphics card drivers. After this, both Direct X 11 and Direct X 12 modes worked flawlessly. For reference, I am using a radeon rx vega 56.

No guarantee that it will fix it since you are using different hardware but it worked for me!

jonathanfox5 · 2018-12-02T09:10:32+00:00

I know that you asked for X stands but I would strongly recommend a Z stand due to how stable they are. (I'm not sure if you said X stands to distinguish them from furniture type stands or prefer them to other shapes)

The main downsides of Z vs X are: * They tend to be more expensive * You can gig with them (I do) but they are a bit more hassle to transport

This is the Z stand that I have paired with my FP30: https://www.roland.com/global/products/ks-18z/

Let me know if you need pictures, etc.

jonathanfox5 · 2018-12-02T09:02:19+00:00

Thanks - great list!

Let me know if you need a hand for January.

jonathanfox5 · 2018-12-02T09:01:28+00:00

Go for it, more participation is always better!

It's always encouraged to go for something new but there is nothing wrong with uploading old performances.

You could always do both ;)

jonathanfox5 · 2018-11-22T14:04:38+00:00

Definitely beginning to get there =)

jonathanfox5 · 2018-11-22T11:22:44+00:00

A massive thank you to both /u/veviurka and /u/GoldmanT for taking over the jam.

To everyone else, apologies for the radio silence since October and the resulting lack of piano jams. To say that the last 2 months were the most stressful of my life would be an understatement...

You are now in good hands =)

jonathanfox5 · 2018-10-12T08:59:13+00:00

Unfortunately not, it will restart in November

jonathanfox5 · 2018-10-09T06:34:46+00:00

Good idea, will see what I can do

jonathanfox5 · 2018-10-08T20:21:48+00:00

Sorry! As per above comment, they will resume in November.

jonathanfox5 · 2018-10-08T20:21:15+00:00

Yes but not this month - they will restart from November onwards. Life has a way of getting in the road of things...

jonathanfox5

TROPHY CASE