Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: (OT-sort of) Fun with Paola on my Mac

Until today I have had my Mac set to announce the time on the hour and 
half-hour. This morning I decided to investigate some of the other 
voices available — Susan was lovely, but I was getting tired of her.
 
Digging deeper than I had anticipated, I discovered a slew of foreign 
voices, among them, some Italian. Thinking this would be helpful to me 
in my aural comprehension, I decided to try Paola.
 
When I went to select Paola as the default voice, I was warned: “The 
selected voice does not speak the current system language.” (I knew 
this) “Do you want to continue using the selected voice?” (I did.)
 
At the first announcement, I was a little surprised to hear “Paola” 
tell me “It’s ott’o’clock,” in her best Italian-accented semi-English.
 
It seems, except for the actual hour and minute, the rest is in 
English. I like this so much that I now have the system set to announce 
the time every 15 minutes.
 
“It’s dodici e trenta,” just now, for example. Then came “It’s dodici e 
quarantacinque.”
 
Next will be "It's un'o'clock."
 
Yes: just heard it.
 
Smiling. Nice.
 
-- 
JoeWolfDee
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, 
but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.  --WH 
Auden
 


 
Every 15 minutes?! Joe, I'm afraid you'll be sick of Paola very soon... :)


Yes, I'm afraid our relationship is already on the rocks. I'm "seeing" 
her only every hour now.  :>(
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 Smiling. Nice.
 
 
:-)
 
Have you tried other languages?
 
 
-- 
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such
wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling
investment of fact.
    -- Mark Twain
 

 
 
No, but now you've piqued my curiosity... downloading Mandarin Chinese. 
Will report back.
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 Will report back.
 
Ting Ting reports the time all in Mandarin, no English. Back to Paola..
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 Ting Ting reports the time all in Mandarin, no English. Back to Paola..
 
Before I switched back to Paola, Ting Ting reported the next time and I 
realized she, too, says "It's ..." followed by the rest in Mandarin. 
I'm far from fluent in Mandarin, so I didn't pick up on that the first 
time.
 
Still, I switched back to Italian.
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 Still, I switched back to Italian.
 
 
Strange that Apple® didn't fix the error.
 
Maybe you are the only one on Earth who tried to change that
language setting.
 
Have you reported that error to them? In change, ask for a
rebate on their products...
 
 
-- 
"The primary aim of education should be to equip a man to earn
his own living. This is so important that it should be
repeated. The primary aim of education should be to equip a man
to earn his own living. Indeed, it cannot be said too often
that the primary aim of education should be to equip a man to
earn his own living."
                -- Exam howlers as noted by Eric W. N. Smith
 

 rebate on their products...
 
I think Apple have covered themselves with the disclaimer I mentioned, 
where it warns me that the language I've selected is not the same as 
the system language. If I changed the system language I believe the 
announcement would be complete and correct, as in, "Sono le cinque e 
quindici."
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