Mandarin v 1.1 Liedong Zheng, Nov. 1993 liedong@chem.columbia.edu Version 1.1 has a minor change of the naming scheme of "snd " resources, it should be transparent to end users. Thanks to Ed Lai (lai@apple.com) for numerous help! The new internal naming scheme uses ShuangPin instead of PinYin, and enables Mandarin to use other sound libraries available in public domain. To use these sound libraries, you will have to rename the public domain sound data file to "sound.lib" and put it in the Mandarin folder. One alternative sound data file is the stack from Ed Lai's Cihui package (available from ftp.apple.com:pub/lai/cihui/dict/ chinese.sound.sit.hqx) The sound.lib is compressed by 3:1, and is about 4.3MB now rather than 12MB in the first release. The sound.lib included in the package is still a "demo" version, it ONLY has those "snd " resources to speak the sample files, if you want to speak other chinese files, you will need the complete sound.lib file, which is now *ONLY*available for anonymous ftp on two Internet sites: cnd.org:software/mac/sound, and ifcss.org:software/mac/sound This complete sound.lib file can also be opened by Hypercard, and is itself a standalone Chinese Pronunciation Tool, please see more info in the stack. I would like to thank those who sent me suggestions and comments on the network, especially Canhao Li for his encouragement, and special thanks go to a netter who revised the readme file for the first release, I apologize for losing his name. Mandarin version 1.1 still remains a freeware, please send bug reports, suggestions etc. to me. Liedong Zheng liedong@chem.columbia.edu November, 1993, New York City ========================================================= **************readme file for version 1.0************** ||||| FREEWARE ||||| Mandarin v 1.0 should run on any Mac running with either System 6.x.x or 7.x. Ever get tired of simply staring at a Chinese text on your screen, or on your printout? Here is an alternative :-) ÒMandarinÓ is a small Macintosh FREEWARE program I wrote in the past few weeks. It *reads in* a Chinese text (GB- or BIG5-coded), and *speaks Mandarin aloud* through the Macintosh's speakers. :-) You can enjoy listening to Mandarin Chinese as you might a radio, and better yet, ÒMandarinÓ can run in the background, while you are working on your term paper, viewing an image, or whatever you feel like. :-) It is also helpful for those who may wish to learn how to speak Mandarin Chinese: just run ÒMandarinÓ in background, and use any Chinese viewer in the front to display the characters. (*please note, you will need to make a duplicate copy of your Chinese file for viewing*) This program is also a good tool for proofreading. No special hardware is needed on your mac, just double-click and have fun. The program uploaded to sumex-aim.stanford.edu is a "demo" version, it only contains sound resources to speak the sample files included. NO Chinese Operating System (OS) is required to run ÒMandarinÓ but it WILL need about 500K of RAM to run--and ÒMandarinÓ should run on any Mac running under either System 6.x.x or System 7.x, though I haven't had a chance to test it on *all* models. Your ÒOptionsÓ? 1) you only need to select either the so-called GB dictionary, or else the BIG5 dictionary before ÒMandarinÓ can read anything. And, 2), if you wish to switch to the other dictionary, you will need to restart the ÒMandarinÓ program. Finally, 3) if you wish to Pause, choose "About Mandarin" from Apple menu, and then when you are ready to resume, click OK. ThatÕs it! The dictionaries are public domain dictionaries, and have been heavily edited/corrected to fit this program. I concentrated most of my energy on the GB dictionary, though I did correct a few errors in the BIG5 dictionary--nothing exhaustive. If you find any more errors in BIG5, please let me know, and I will try to remedy them later. Limitations =========== * This program bypasses special characters and non-printable characters in the text. * The program has not been designed to pronounce English words, but it will spell out any such word it encounters. * The program has not been designed to function as a voice-synthesizer. * Please bear in mind that the ÒMandarinÓ you will hear has been ÒexpressedÓ from a machine, so please don't expect native-speaker sound qualityÑÑ in fact, your first listening session may involve some slightly humorous ÒlearningÓ and a dose of patience on your part. * Mandarin Chinese is a tone language; this program does NOT attempt to differentiate polyphonies, and instead picks a single tone for a polyphony. * The sound-library named "sound.lib" is far from perfect; I intend to improve the sound quality as I find the time. Acknowledgements ================ I should like to thank Jim Reekes for his DTS archive. I should also like to thank the editorial staff of Hua Xia Wen Zhai for their continuing and enthusiastic support of community service; the publication of this magazine has substantially promoted Chinese computing in many aspects, at least having introduced me to the world of Chinese computing. Legal stuff =========== All rights reserved. This program can be freely distributed provided the whole package is not altered or modified in any way. The file named Òsound.libÓ may not be used without permission from the author. Please pass along to me your suggestions and any bug reports. ***** Sit back and enjoy! ***** Liedong Zheng, June, 1993 liedong@chem.columbia.edu