Audio files/facility to post audio files in this forum

[atitarev]

Hi,

This is both a question and a request. Please post your opinion about the idea.

Chinese tones are hard, especially in a sentence, Chinese dialects sound different.

On another language forum, people started posting their voice recording - Windows Sound Recorder is fine - it generates .WAV files. All you need is a microphone. Trouble is, not everyone has a web site to load that audio file into. So, if I ask someone and he/she is so kind as records a phrase, a fragment of text or a whole text. Where do they post the file?

Also, maybe someone can suggest how to convert .WAV into a smaller format. Someone recorded a short (about 2 minutes dialog) and it took about 8 MB.

Can moderators, owners of this forum consider this or explain why it's not a good idea. Maybe the files could be mad temporary and allow only registered users to upload files with limitation of the size.

I can see A LOT OF use for it in this forum. Rather than how do you pronounce this/that, let's hear it. Some basic dialogs could be there for everyone to download.

Please post your opinions and I 'd like to hear from moderators!

[gato]

dBpowerAMP Music Converter is a great free multi-format audio converter.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

For low-bitrate voice recordings (~ 32 kbs), Microsoft's WMA format probably provides the best quality. It was designed for use over dialup connection and is much better than mp3 at low bitrates.

[atitarev]

Thanks, Gato. I'll try this. What do you think of the idea?

[nipponman]

I agree and think this is a good idea, but let me point out, that you can upload zip. files and rar. files.

[gato]

Sounds like a great idea. If we do it here, a special section should probably be set up, maybe just a separate forum section to avoid any need for additional programming.

I'd like to learn some dialects if I can, maybe some Cantonese and Shanghainese.

Here're some Shanghainese monologues (in 22Kbps wma; a 15-minute piece takes up only 2.35 MB)

http://www.zanhe.com/listen.html

[nipponman]

I've been thinking about Shanghaiese lately and it sounds like a good language. But the writing system is still ify, so I don't think I would like to learn it right now. Maybe down the road though.

nipponman

[atitarev]

Thanks, Nipponman, I didn't know you can attach files here. Can't listen to you file right now - I am at work

Gato, you could ask someone to record Shanghainese dialogs for you and post them in a separate location here or attach them in the reply.

[nipponman]

Thanks, Nipponman, I didn't know you can attach files here.

Roddy just told me about it the other day. For all those who don't know, It is that button that says, "Manage Attachments" in the additional options section of your posts.

nippponman

[roddy]

I've added .mp3, .wav, and .wma to the types of file you can upload. All of these have a limit of 3MB, but I can increase this if necessary.

I'm happy for this to be used for samples of speaking / short dialogues. It should be stuff that's not available for download elsewhere, and must not be copyrighted.

There are freeware programs which let you record as mp3 - Audacity for example, which will give you much smaller files sizes than .wav.

If you have trouble uploading a file, let me know and I'll see what the problem is.

Roddy

[atitarev]

Thanks heaps, Roddy! How much can you increase the size of the attatchments for?

Is Audacity downloadable for free? I haven't looked at the site - has anyone used it?

[roddy]

I can make the limit as much as I want - but clips of reasonable length at reasonable compression should be no problem at 3MB. If it becomes limiting I can increase it.

Audacity is free - have a look and answer your own questions . While we're on the subject, there are a couple of other useful programs linked to here

[atitarev]

Thanks again, Roddy.

I've got stuff at home I would like to be sound recorded - some short texts and dialogs from textbooks where there was no audio. There shouldn't be a copyright problem to record audio, should there?

3 MB seems a bit too little but we'll see how we go with Audacity or other tools.

[gato]

I've posted this link before to China Radio International's audios (w/ transcripts) for learning Mandarin.

http://en1.chinabroadcast.cn/2432/more/2406/2406more_5.htm

Have you tried them, atitarev? It's a little cheesy, but I suppose that's hard to avoid for beginner material.

[roddy]

I've got a 1:40 minute 128kps Mp3 clip which is 1.5MB - so assuming 3MB gives you three minutes worth, I don't see that it would be a problem.

There's also the issue of bandwidth. I'd like to see how much traffic the smaller files generate before upping the limit - but if it's needed, I'll do it.

Roddy

[atitarev]

Oh, that's a good one, Gato! It looks though you have to be always online to listen, correct? You can't download and listen offline.

Anyway this great. A mixture of Chinese, English and pinyin transription. Can't appreciate the sound right now - I don't even have a sound card at work I'll check it out at home.

BTW, My real first name is Anatoli (in the signature)

[atitarev]

Here are my first requests - a text and a dialog: (no fear - OK )

A text:

选择旅馆

Hotel 这个词的中文可以是宾馆、饭店、旅馆旅店。饭店和宾馆一般很大,旅馆和旅店一般不大。馆和店都是 "house" 的意思。"宾"的意思是 "guest","旅"的意思是 "travel"。"饭"是 "food" 的意思。

在中国很多旅馆和旅店不让外国人住。为什么?有各种各样的原因。以前很多大饭店、大宾馆不让中国人住,现在让了。大饭店、宾馆的条件比旅馆、旅店的条件好多了。当然他们也比旅馆、旅店贵多了。

Doesn't matter if you have some regional accent - but I'm learning Mandarin. Let me know if you prefer that in traditional characters, I prefer simplified but I can convert (and error check) if you can't read simplified.

A dialog:

老钱,好久不见。

小赵,是你呀!

您现在在做什么?

跟以前一样。每天打打牌、下下棋、打打太极拳,挺有意思。

您不以前年轻多了。

哪里,哪里。老多了。小赵,您最近在做什么?

我正在谈恋爱。整天买东西、看电影、跳迪斯科。真没意思。

你比以前瘦多了。

谈恋爱又累又不自由。

你的女朋友呢?

他还没来呢。我在等她。

I am not pushing my luck. If you can do it, please do, if you can't, don't laugh.

The texts are from a pinyin only textbook and I typed in the Chinese text myself. I hope there are not many typos.

[roddy]

Hmmm, I'd assumed people would be posting audio clips they already had rather that requests - still, someone might be kind enough . . .

Will close this now, and suggest you repost your request as a new topic, it'll get seen more. I'll make an announcement so that everyone knows they can upload audio files.

Roddy