English TTS in foreign language

[LMD75]

Does anyone have any experience with using English TTS in a foreign country where the street names are not in English? Is this feature a waste of time for this scenario?

Example: English computer voice with spoken street names in Finland. How will it sound?

 

[dhn]

I used a US computer voice in Italy a couple of months ago. 'Suzie' butchered some names ... but she does that with English names as well........

Finnish, on the other hand.........you can set the voice preferences to speak aloud foreign names. Not sure how effective that'll be.

You may want a hard copy of your destination route as a backup, just in case........

 

[LMD75]

Thanks dhn. The reason why I ask is because I have two TomTom XL's arriving.

One is the older XL IQR and the other one is the '2' edition. The latter has TTS hence why I am asking but if its going to sound 'funny' then I am not sure if I should bother.

The older model has the full menus and the newer '2' edition has just had most of the menu features renabled.

The XL IQR has already been dispatched and the newer model is pending. Which one would you go for? Old XL IQR or XL IQR 2?

 

[dhn]

I would NOT touch the '2' model with EasyMenu though there is a way to get more functionality out of it.......

See here:
GpsPasSion Forums - [TIP] Enabling POI Alerts on TomTom Start/Ease

It is sneaky that, in the UK, TT provided TTS with the '2' model but did reduce functionality.

 

[LMD75]

I originally had the '2' model for about a day and RMA'd it. However I just read the following thread and TomTom have just re-enabled most of the features via TomTom Home so have just re-ordered it..

https://www.tomtomforums.com/tomtom-one-start-ease-xl-xxl/23136-major-update-easymenu-devices.html

 

[dhn]

That's true and I assume the same app update will apply to the European XL models as well.

But it still won't result in complete functionality that the full menu can offer, or the custom menu that can be created (see the link I provided)

But it does indeed provide more menu choices.

 

[LMD75]

I did the custom menu trick on the XL2 but there was no option to change the voices without having to first set it in the easy menu. This was the only downfall. Anyway I just checked TomTom website and the new XL2 has just shipped so I will be able to compare both models Thanks for your help.

 

[canderson]

Does anyone have any experience with using English TTS in a foreign country where the street names are not in English? Is this feature a waste of time for this scenario?

Example: English computer voice with spoken street names in Finland. How will it sound?

Pretty funny sounding to a native, actually. I just had mine in Finland last month using Susan for a voice. I've used that voice in a lot of European countries where it actually helped.

Funny sounding, but as it turns out, not all bad to my non-native ear!

Unless you speak Finnish, and are aware of the issues that are taking place, what you'll find is that an English speaking TT voice will tend to pronounce the words in a way that is actually easier for YOU to understand. Your TomTom will take the standard English pronunciation hints and apply them to the foreign street names. In other words, it pronounces the names more the way YOU would, and when you look at a sign, the match is more likely to register in your brain than if you heard the name pronounced in Finnish.

Just don't let your Finnish friends hear your TomTom. They'll think it's stupid!

 

[LMD75]

canderson - many thanks for sharing your experiences. What you say makes complete sense and I look forward to trying it out.

 

[canderson]

canderson - many thanks for sharing your experiences. What you say makes complete sense and I look forward to trying it out.

Lemme tell you, I still haven't got the faintest idea what they were actually calling that major street L?ntinen Mannerheiminv?yl? (talk about a German hybrid) in Porvoo, but my TomTom got it close enough that I knew were I was!

 

[LMD75]

I have recently moved to Finland from UK and just had two hours of driving tuition to get used to driving on other side of road, dealing with trams and different traffic laws etc. I am so glad that my XL's are on the way as its going to be a great aid.

I live in Helsinki and funny enough there is also a big main road called Mannerheimintia just around the corner from me.

Its a shame that they do not have the Live Services here Google Search /Petrol prices etc will not work. They only have Traffic RDS-TMS. Is this any good?

Also I bought an XL IQR2 from a retailer then discovered that it was missing TTS even though on TomToms Finnish website it clearly states that this model has this feature. A quick call to TomTom revealed that there are two versions of this (one with and one without) - I thought this was very sneaky but I got my money back from retailer.

 

[dhn]

RDS-TMC traffic info is better than nothing (especially on major roads) but not as good as LIVE traffic info.

We in Canada also don't have LIVE and are limited to the RDS traffic coverage, but only for four cities in Canada.......