Microsoft Smart Voice now supports a variety of Chinese dialects and can also read classical poetry.

CTOnews.com, January 17, 2007. Over the years, Microsoft has been exploring AI speech synthesis and recognition technology. Azure Neural TTS (text-to-speech, speech synthesis) and STT (speech-to-text) support more than 140language regions and support more than 400timbre.

In the past two years, Microsoft has stepped up its research on intelligent pronunciation of Chinese dialects. Microsoft announced that it has achieved support for Wu dialect and Guangdong dialect in speech synthesis, as well as a variety of mandarin sub-dialects such as Southwest Mandarin, Northeast Mandarin, Jilu Mandarin and Central Plains Mandarin (including Henan and Shaanxi). Support Wu dialect, Guangdong dialect and southwest mandarin in speech recognition.

Microsoft said that Chinese is one of the oldest languages in the world, and many dialects representing regional cultural characteristics have emerged under the influence of historical and geographical conditions. Since 2017, Microsoft has been committed to advancing the AI for Good program, including protecting cultural heritage and creating a more sustainable and convenient world by providing cutting-edge technology, resources, and expertise. Microsoft will also continue to devote itself to the research on intelligent pronunciation of dialects to help protect and inherit Chinese traditional culture.

Besides dialects, classical poetry is also an important carrier of cultural inheritance. CTOnews.com learned that Microsoft can better express the rhythm, pause and emotion of poetry by learning a large amount of voice data from poetry readers. Microsoft Smart Voice now supports the recitation of traditional poetry, modern poetry, five-character, seven-character law and other intelligent voice.

Dialect reading example: click here to listen