But in fact, speech synthesis has come a long way in the last ten years, and it is now firmly part of virtual reality.
Speech synthesis sounds much more natural than ever, much more realistic.
The learning of a second language involves a great variety of skills where speech synthesis can be used meaningfully. A good model of the language is particularly useful in the training of prosodic and articulatory competence . Speech synthesisers can slow down stretches of spoken language at will, which eases familiarisation and articulatory training with novel sound sequences. Learners can begin with speech sequences that are produced very slowly, and they can increase the speed as they please. Advanced learners, on the other hand, may wish to experiment with accelerated reproduction speeds.