Some nice news!
Added 2023-06-09 18:32:45 +0000 UTCHey Y’all!
Firstly, I’m glad to tell you I’m very well again! :) Thanks for all your kind messages!
Apart from focusing on getting the platform (www.languagetransfer.org/platform) up and running this summer, I’ll also be dedicating some time to getting this whole ship in order! During course-creating periods a lot gets neglected and there’s so much I note down to do - anything from stultifying admin to ideas to pursue for calmer periods like this. So I’ll get onto that too, and hope to have some interesting news about whatever it is I find in my mountain of the pending! High up on the list of priorities is something new and unexpected though… the release of remastered tracks of existing courses!
Luckily, a learner recently wrote in with some samples of AI remastered audio that were too impressive to ignore. This new technology can correct the quality losses that my novice editing had left behind, and which I had come to accept as permanent. This was always kind of sad - after all the effort I made in creating the material, something so 'superficial' would let me down. So this is amazing news, not only should everyone’s audio experience improve greatly, but this corrects a big problem: there are a significant number of would-be learners that write in to tell me they didn't do the course solely due to the audio quality. With a little joint effort, both learners and these courses can get the audio quality they deserve. I snuck in the ‘joint’ there! For this to happen, I’ll need some help!...
Firstly, I’d love your opinion on the improved audio - what do you think? Any criticisms? Does it sound any less ‘human’? The AI is predicting what was lost from the voice and recreating it, so it may sound artificial or not totally like me at times. Is this tolerable? Any objections to the update? **You can play the new audio directly from this post (above), and compare it to track 2 of the original audio (ORIGINAL BAD QUALITY AUDIO: https://youtu.be/qP8YV5Dh250 )**.
Secondly, if you have some time on your hands and are excited about this improvement, I’ll be needing volunteers to check the audios and compare them to the originals carefully... it's possible that the AI mishears words and recreates some wrong ones! Let me know if you were looking for an excuse to review some Complete Spanish, even if just a bit! :) After Spanish, I’ll continue with the other courses that need this intervention (which may well be all of them) but I do need to focus on one at a time, so Complete Spanish it is for now!
Gimme a shout if you’d like to help out and feel free to spread the word beyond Patreon… I’l be posting on social media about it very soon too so hopefully the ball will get rolling!
And as per usual, if you are due a perk (check your tier if unsure) please give me a shout via direct messages so I can get it sorted :)
All the best and thanks again for all your support!
Mihalis
Comments
Thanks Robin! If you're listening online to any of the remastered versions, please leave a comment wherever you hear one of those blips! :) All the best and thanks again!
Language Transfer
2024-04-06 10:13:34 +0000 UTCI also appreciate the enhanced audio in general. Occasionally I feel like the original recordings are so noisy I can't listen with headphones, and I don't find that to be an issue with my the mixed sample you posted. But I also notice the occasional blip where a question or response seems like it was cut short. If professional remastering isn't feasible, then I feel like posting both versions of the audio would be the best of both worlds
Robin Beck
2024-04-04 00:35:21 +0000 UTC+1 for the AI audio. It sounds much clearer and it’s still very much you coming through the audio. The original isn’t terrible by any means but I do think a clear audio is important and less distracting.
Jacqueline Luchini
2023-09-08 16:02:51 +0000 UTCHey Tobias and sorry for my late reply, I've just seen this! Progress is slow but there are various people working on various things, so it's all a bit 'fingers crossed' at the moment that enough come through for a launch! :)
Language Transfer
2023-08-28 16:02:09 +0000 UTCHi Mihalis, I started giving $5/month in April, can’t figure out how to claim the ebooks or whatever you offer. I’m working on Greek in prep for a trip to Kos Sept.3. I’ve gone through your Spanish, French Italian and German, would be happy to help proof-listen. I listened to a Michel Thomas French years ago and like your way better. Despite your advice I use visual mnemonic devices to memorize vocabulary, e.g. chelona I see a turtle with a load of hay at the bank.
Shorty Robinson
2023-08-25 01:43:57 +0000 UTCThank you Heather! I'm still waiting for the remastered audio unfortunately so will post instructions once I have them! :) Thanks for offering to help out and your support too! As for Complete French, please spread the news about the platform and hopefully we can make it happen! :) www.languagetransfer.org/platform
Language Transfer
2023-08-23 11:32:40 +0000 UTCI just finished the French courses and I would like to volunteer to check the French courses audio! How are you wanting them checked? Am I supposed to listen to the original and then the ai one? Thanks for all you do! Also I hope the French course can go from an Introduction to a Complete course one day!!
Heather
2023-08-22 21:12:00 +0000 UTCWhat's the status on the probably glorious new platform? Looking forward to the Chinese course, hoping it will still be part of the release.
Tobias Bjormyr
2023-08-19 15:34:08 +0000 UTCSorry Doug I didn't see this previously! There has been some delay with getting the AI files ready so it might even be another month until I have them! Sorry again for the delay!
Language Transfer
2023-07-31 12:25:13 +0000 UTCHey Nico, sorry I've only just seen this somehow! Firstly, thank you for your support and also - for stopping your support, too. I do not want to be supported by anyone that expects me to be a course producing machine and doesn't understand - or only selectively understands - my role essentially as an activist. Of course, I started this project for what you would call 'political reasons' and have expressed them from the get go - monetary system, intercultural understanding etc. Now that I am worried about the usurpation of activist spaces with narratives that contradict those that we worked so hard for (and I've been involved for 25 years, shortly after I came out at the age of 13), it is my job to speak out and not just ignore it because my life is comfortable now. This is what real activists do, and trust me, there are so few of us left. Maybe you would like to tell me what you imagined the LT mission to be that you believe in so strongly, and what part of me speaking out contradicts it? And maybe if all of this contradicts with the person you have come to know, maybe that is the most important point I can make. Maybe if this 'gender non-conforming', foreign born perpetual immigrant is telling you that the 'anti-racist' (critical race theory) rhetorics, the LGBT+ and gender rhetorics are destroying our work (as well as the lives of far too many young people) maybe your thoughts could be "oh, maybe not all the people that say this stuff are what I have been taught they are".
Language Transfer
2023-07-31 12:24:23 +0000 UTCI didn't really notice the audio quality before. I listened to it in the car, but here with headphones on it's noticeably better!
John Heron
2023-07-29 22:56:13 +0000 UTCI think this AI remastered audio sounds great. I don't hear any downsides. To me, it's a large improvement.
Daniel T
2023-07-18 02:41:55 +0000 UTCDue to your posts on social media, I am stopping my support. Firstly because to use the platform to share anything vaguely political/of personal beliefs is inappropriate and not at all relevant to the LT mission. Secondly because the views are not those I can support nor do they seem consistent with the person I have come to know, who I thought was open-minded and supportive of diverse peoples. It's a real shame as I have been supporting for around 5 years and fully believe in the LT mission.
Nico Blake
2023-07-18 01:32:42 +0000 UTChey, if it's not too late I'd love to help review the Complete Spanish class!
Mike & Lena
2023-07-17 22:40:01 +0000 UTCUpdates on the Portuguese course?
Nick Kucskár
2023-06-24 17:20:57 +0000 UTCI would love to help out! I’m a fellow musician as well, and definitely am already taking the time over the next month or so to review the Spanish course.
Doug Giroux
2023-06-19 13:41:34 +0000 UTCThank you! Youtube would always keep the originals but I'm not sure how workable it would be to give that choice on the app... will have to check! We might also say the original audios are not 100% me due to what was lost in audio quality during editing so it'd be a trade off of sorts, but i get the concern... the more human the better and i'm worried we may lose something we don't quite understand. People often comment on how 'in person' or 'intimate' the experience feels, a change in voice timbre might somehow spoil one of the ingredients!
Language Transfer
2023-06-16 13:40:22 +0000 UTCThanks for that feedback! I agree it's a little weird, just a tiny bit which brings it over to the eery side! Youtube would always keep the originals but I'm not sure how workable it would be to give that choice on the app... will have to check!
Language Transfer
2023-06-16 13:33:30 +0000 UTCThanks for the feedback Diane! That's interesting, I'll have to listen for that difference - I have so many accents I wouldn't notice! haha And thanks for sharing your success story with me, it's a delight to read! 😍
Language Transfer
2023-06-16 12:49:50 +0000 UTCGreat, thank you Sarah! I'll be in touch asap! (I'm currently having computer issues hence the delay in me replying here! Ommmmm! 🧘🏼♀️)
Language Transfer
2023-06-16 12:46:40 +0000 UTCThank you Andre! For your kind words and for all your support! And get back to Spanish! ;) The sooner we do these things in life, the more they give us!
Language Transfer
2023-06-16 12:40:34 +0000 UTCSounds great! I restarted doing my lessons and listened to this version instead. It sounds very natural with few minor hiccups that can definitely be forgiven.
Somi
2023-06-14 14:46:03 +0000 UTCThe AI-remastered audio sounds great and doesn't seem "artificial" to me. I did notice the original audio quality was not the best, but overlooked it because of the quality of the content :) This is an excellent update!
modestmaoist
2023-06-13 23:55:40 +0000 UTCAs an audio person, do you think there are other ways of remastering aside from AI that would work as well?
Emma
2023-06-12 09:20:14 +0000 UTCAs a bit of an audio nerd, I remember the quality almost turned me away when I started, so this is a great idea — especially when hearing how good the results are. I am automatically concerned about applying any process which has the potential to alter content in a creative way (see David Kriesel’s discovery of Xerox “number mangling” for a dangerous example in the wild, his writeup is pretty fascinating IMO), but it sounds like you have a healthy amount of concern as well and plan to take appropriate steps!
Tuesday M
2023-06-10 13:54:55 +0000 UTCI agree with River: if it is possible to post both I think that'd be ideal. The purpose of the AI (cleaner audio to allow more listeners in) is lovely and should be encouraged in this instance, but I wouldn't want it to wholly replace the original just because of the inevitable things that will be lost. It's still you, but it's not 100% you, and even though a lot of people won't notice the "AI-ness" of the audio, I think having the original available would be valuable.
gkap
2023-06-10 01:43:35 +0000 UTCThis is a cool concept. Before even reading the first line, I immediately clicked on the play button of the audio up top and it did strike me as ''AI'' for some reason, maybe it reminded me of those AI voices of celebrities and such. It has those choppy underwater-robot ''pops'' throughout the audio, especially on your last syllables. Personally, I never had a problem with the original audio because it was either playing through my phone speakers, which aren't the greatest quality in the first place, or I had one side of my headphones off to listen to my own pronunciation which helped with the sort of reverberating double effect in the original. Would it be alright posting both that way people can choose?
River Nieto
2023-06-10 00:44:14 +0000 UTCA Spanish lesson given by a teacher ( I corrected my former post : (
Diane Pross
2023-06-09 20:17:43 +0000 UTCI think your voice sounds less like a dialect of English now. It is clearer and maybe slightly slower. This course ( the original ) is my go to course for refreshing my Spanish learning. I now go to a Spanish for the first time and I have recommended it to all the participants. Thank you so much!! No one believed when they heard me speak that I had never taken a Spanish course ( live ) before : )
Diane Pross
2023-06-09 20:15:43 +0000 UTCThe new audio sounds great to me! I actually have been looking for an excuse to restart my Spanish journey so I'd love to volunteer to check the audio :)
Sarah Shores
2023-06-09 19:14:42 +0000 UTCThis sounds much better. I didn't remember the original (which I listened to when it came out) to be "bad" like this. I guess that the excellent contents made me overlook any sound imperfection. Thank you for your work. I have [temporarily, for six years or so! ;-)] given up on learning Spanish properly, but I always have it on my list to go back to it, using your material again (which I did go through almost entirely once). I'm happy to have been able to support you in a minor way during all this time, as you are truly making a huge difference.
André Roberge
2023-06-09 19:02:06 +0000 UTC
