e language

More Languages for Amazon Transcribe Speech Recognition

Until recently, Amazon Transcribe supported speech recognition in English and Spanish only.
Now they included French, Italian and Portuguese as well - and a few other languages (including German) are in private beta.

Update March 2019:
Now Amazon Transcribe supports German and Korean as well.

The Auphonic Audio Inspector on the status page of a finished Multitrack Production including speech recognition.
Please click on the screenshot to see it in full resolution!


Amazon Transcribe is integrated as speech recognition engine within Auphonic and offers accurate transcriptions (compared to other services) at low costs, including keywords / custom vocabulary support, word confidence, timestamps, and punctuation.
See the following AWS blog post and video for more information about recent Amazon Transcribe developments: Transcribe speech in three new languages: French, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Amazon Transcribe is also a perfect fit if you want to use our Transcript Editor because you will be able to see word timestamps and confidence values to instantly check which section/words should be corrected manually to increase the transcription accuracy:


Screenshot of our Transcript Editor with word confidence highlighting and the edit bar.

These features are also available if you use Speechmatics, but unfortunately not in our other integrated speech recognition services.

About Speech Recognition within Auphonic

Auphonic has built a layer on top of a few external speech recognition services to make audio searchable:
Our classifiers generate metadata during the analysis of an audio signal (music segments, silence, multiple speakers, etc.) to divide the audio file into small and meaningful segments, which are processed by the speech recognition engine. The results from all segments are then combined, and meaningful timestamps, simple punctuation and structuring are added to the resulting text.

To learn more about speech recognition within Auphonic, take a look at our Speech Recognition and Transcript Editor help pages or listen to our Speech Recognition Audio Examples.

A comparison table of our integrated services (price, quality, languages, speed, features, etc.) can be found here: Speech Recognition Services Comparison.

Conclusion

We hope that Amazon and others will continue to add new languages, to get accurate and inexpensive automatic speech recognition in many languages.

Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or feedback about speech recognition or our transcript editor!






e language

11yo Kobe is proud of his Aboriginal heritage, now he wants to be fluent in the language of his people

For Kobe Dare, the revived Tasmanian Aboriginal language of palawa kani is "one of the strongest there is". He's learning to speak it, then going home to teach his parents.




e language

Chaser, the language-learning dog with a 1,000-word vocabulary, has died

The border collie achieved international fame for her remarkable grasp on vocabulary and sentence structure.




e language

Direct sales of ebooks in multiple languages

O’Reilly has long been a leader in fostering community and building a direct sales channel. This week we took the next step in enhancing the customer’s direct buying experience by offering German editions for many of our ebook titles. Take …




e language

How Can the EU Learn the Language of Power?

3 December 2019

Vassilis Ntousas

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Academy Fellow, Europe Programme
The new EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has an eye-catching declaration of intent. But what does it mean in practice?

2019-12-03-Borrell.jpg

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Policy and Security Policy Josep Borrell answers the questions of members of the European Parliament in Brussels in October. Photo: Getty Images.

The new European Commission has finally started its work this week. In a world increasingly defined by great power competition and deprived of the certainties of a strong transatlantic partnership, this might well be the first commission where foreign and security policy issues will be equally important to internal EU ones.

Amid an escalating Sino-American rivalry, there is a growing realization in Brussels that something has to change in the way the EU thinks and acts internationally.

Charting a more successful path forward will not be easy. Josep Borrell, the EU’s new high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, during his confirmation hearing, offered a hint as to what might be needed to get there: ‘The EU has to learn to use the language of power.”’

What might this mean in practice?

Four issues illustrate some of the key dilemmas ahead for the EU and its new executive.

Hard power

The most revealing of these concerns hard power.

For a union so addicted to the US security guarantee, and so used to the softer approaches of exercising its influence, this was always going to be a difficult discussion. The recent disagreement between Germany and France over the future of NATO gave a taste of how fraught and complex this discussion can be.

Underpinning it are three fundamental questions. If the EU has to enhance its capacity to defend its interests with military power, how (and how quickly) is it to move ahead, how much additional responsibility will that mean and to what degree will this responsibility need to be shouldered autonomously, potentially distancing itself from NATO or Washington? Moving forward with this agenda while balancing the competing interests of member states and preserving the fragile progress already achieved with initiatives such as PESCO will not be easy.

Discussion and debate among member states should not be discouraged, but the new commission has a role to play in ensuring that such discussion is constructive. Distracting talks about an EU army or a nuclear ‘Eurodeterrent’ should be shelved, with the focus as much as possible on acquiring tangible capabilities, getting the defence architecture right, ensuring operational readiness and spending defence budgets smartly.

How to use power

Great powers have traditionally been able to cooperate in certain areas while competing in others. Given their wide reach, powers like the US have generally not allowed disagreement on one issue to interfere with the ability to work together on others.

If the EU aspires to be a more assertive global player, it will need to grow comfortable with this compartmentalization. For example, if Brussels wants to stand up to Beijing regarding human rights, the South China Sea or issues of acquisition of European infrastructure, this should not mean that cooperation on areas such as peacekeeping, arms control or climate change needs to be blocked.

Footing the bill

Ursula von der Leyen, the new commission president, has announced that she wants an increase of 30% for external action in the 2021–27 Multi-annual Financial Framework (the EU budget). But with the Brexit budget gap looming, and little appetite to increase contributions or reduce the funds allocated to costly schemes, like the Common Agricultural Policy, compromises will have to be made for this to happen.

This will be one of the first key tests for the new commission. Power costs money, not just gestures, and therefore specific commitments already made under the Juncker mandate regarding the European Defence Fund or the new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument need to be guaranteed, if not expanded.

Internal politics

None of these steps are possible if the internal workings of the EU become too dysfunctional. A stronger stance internationally would make the sometime incoherence of internal EU management more of a liability to the bloc’s credibility. For example, how can the EU advocate for the rule of law beyond its borders while some of its own member states violate the same principles? 

And there remains the perpetual question of how much more power member states are willing to cede – if any – to deliver faster and more efficient decision-making. If the bloc’s reflexes – often slow, consensual and risk averse – are out of place with the role of a modern great power, how does the commission envision introducing decision-making mechanisms, like qualified majority voting, in foreign and security policy matters?

Borrell’s résumé shows his extensive experience in handling critical policy dossiers. He is also expected to travel less than his predecessor, being mindful of the even heavier institutional work ahead, not least in working with a more politically fragmented European Council and a more politicized European Parliament.

Ultimately, learning the language of power might mean that the EU finally deals with the basics of international affairs as a coherent and cohesive actor, rather than as an occasional ensemble. This endeavour clearly lacks a fixed path or destination. But the new commission seems to be mindful that the EU will have to find new ways to use power as the world changes around it. In doing so, it should keep in mind that the language of power is best articulated not with words, but with actions.




e language

CBD News: New publication to help better understand the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The Secretariat is pleased to announce the production of a new short brochure that describes the purpose and function of the Protocol in a simple language in each of




e language

Application for Exemption from the Language Proficiency Requirement is to close on 29 May 2020




e language

How Can the EU Learn the Language of Power?

3 December 2019

Vassilis Ntousas

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Academy Fellow, Europe Programme
The new EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has an eye-catching declaration of intent. But what does it mean in practice?

2019-12-03-Borrell.jpg

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Policy and Security Policy Josep Borrell answers the questions of members of the European Parliament in Brussels in October. Photo: Getty Images.

The new European Commission has finally started its work this week. In a world increasingly defined by great power competition and deprived of the certainties of a strong transatlantic partnership, this might well be the first commission where foreign and security policy issues will be equally important to internal EU ones.

Amid an escalating Sino-American rivalry, there is a growing realization in Brussels that something has to change in the way the EU thinks and acts internationally.

Charting a more successful path forward will not be easy. Josep Borrell, the EU’s new high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, during his confirmation hearing, offered a hint as to what might be needed to get there: ‘The EU has to learn to use the language of power.”’

What might this mean in practice?

Four issues illustrate some of the key dilemmas ahead for the EU and its new executive.

Hard power

The most revealing of these concerns hard power.

For a union so addicted to the US security guarantee, and so used to the softer approaches of exercising its influence, this was always going to be a difficult discussion. The recent disagreement between Germany and France over the future of NATO gave a taste of how fraught and complex this discussion can be.

Underpinning it are three fundamental questions. If the EU has to enhance its capacity to defend its interests with military power, how (and how quickly) is it to move ahead, how much additional responsibility will that mean and to what degree will this responsibility need to be shouldered autonomously, potentially distancing itself from NATO or Washington? Moving forward with this agenda while balancing the competing interests of member states and preserving the fragile progress already achieved with initiatives such as PESCO will not be easy.

Discussion and debate among member states should not be discouraged, but the new commission has a role to play in ensuring that such discussion is constructive. Distracting talks about an EU army or a nuclear ‘Eurodeterrent’ should be shelved, with the focus as much as possible on acquiring tangible capabilities, getting the defence architecture right, ensuring operational readiness and spending defence budgets smartly.

How to use power

Great powers have traditionally been able to cooperate in certain areas while competing in others. Given their wide reach, powers like the US have generally not allowed disagreement on one issue to interfere with the ability to work together on others.

If the EU aspires to be a more assertive global player, it will need to grow comfortable with this compartmentalization. For example, if Brussels wants to stand up to Beijing regarding human rights, the South China Sea or issues of acquisition of European infrastructure, this should not mean that cooperation on areas such as peacekeeping, arms control or climate change needs to be blocked.

Footing the bill

Ursula von der Leyen, the new commission president, has announced that she wants an increase of 30% for external action in the 2021–27 Multi-annual Financial Framework (the EU budget). But with the Brexit budget gap looming, and little appetite to increase contributions or reduce the funds allocated to costly schemes, like the Common Agricultural Policy, compromises will have to be made for this to happen.

This will be one of the first key tests for the new commission. Power costs money, not just gestures, and therefore specific commitments already made under the Juncker mandate regarding the European Defence Fund or the new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument need to be guaranteed, if not expanded.

Internal politics

None of these steps are possible if the internal workings of the EU become too dysfunctional. A stronger stance internationally would make the sometime incoherence of internal EU management more of a liability to the bloc’s credibility. For example, how can the EU advocate for the rule of law beyond its borders while some of its own member states violate the same principles? 

And there remains the perpetual question of how much more power member states are willing to cede – if any – to deliver faster and more efficient decision-making. If the bloc’s reflexes – often slow, consensual and risk averse – are out of place with the role of a modern great power, how does the commission envision introducing decision-making mechanisms, like qualified majority voting, in foreign and security policy matters?

Borrell’s résumé shows his extensive experience in handling critical policy dossiers. He is also expected to travel less than his predecessor, being mindful of the even heavier institutional work ahead, not least in working with a more politically fragmented European Council and a more politicized European Parliament.

Ultimately, learning the language of power might mean that the EU finally deals with the basics of international affairs as a coherent and cohesive actor, rather than as an occasional ensemble. This endeavour clearly lacks a fixed path or destination. But the new commission seems to be mindful that the EU will have to find new ways to use power as the world changes around it. In doing so, it should keep in mind that the language of power is best articulated not with words, but with actions.




e language

The Language of Science and the Tower of Babel


And God said: Behold one people with one language for them all ... and now nothing that they venture will be kept from them. ... [And] there God mixed up the language of all the land. (Genesis, 11:6-9)

"Philosophy is written in this grand book the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and to read the alphabet in which it is composed. It is written in the language of mathematics." Galileo Galilei

Language is power over the unknown. 

Mathematics is the language of science, and computation is the modern voice in which this language is spoken. Scientists and engineers explore the book of nature with computer simulations of swirling galaxies and colliding atoms, crashing cars and wind-swept buildings. The wonders of nature and the powers of technological innovation are displayed on computer screens, "continually open to our gaze." The language of science empowers us to dispel confusion and uncertainty, but only with great effort do we change the babble of sounds and symbols into useful, meaningful and reliable communication. How we do that depends on the type of uncertainty against which the language struggles.

Mathematical equations encode our understanding of nature, and Galileo exhorts us to learn this code. One challenge here is that a single equation represents an infinity of situations. For instance, the equation describing a flowing liquid captures water gushing from a pipe, blood coursing in our veins, and a droplet splashing from a puddle. Gazing at the equation is not at all like gazing at the droplet. Understanding grows by exposure to pictures and examples. Computations provide numerical examples of equations that can be realized as pictures. Computations can simulate nature, allowing us to explore at our leisure.

Two questions face the user of computations: Are we calculating the correct equations? Are we calculating the equations correctly? The first question expresses the scientist's ignorance - or at least uncertainty - about how the world works. The second question reflects the programmer's ignorance or uncertainty about the faithfulness of the computer program to the equations. Both questions deal with the fidelity between two entities. However, the entities involved are very different and the uncertainties are very different as well.

The scientist's uncertainty is reduced by the ingenuity of the experimenter. Equations make predictions that can be tested by experiment. For instance, Galileo predicted that small and large balls will fall at the same rate, as he is reported to have tested from the tower of Pisa. Equations are rejected or modified when their predictions don't match the experimenter's observation. The scientist's uncertainty and ignorance are whittled away by testing equations against observation of the real world. Experiments may be extraordinarily subtle or difficult or costly because nature's unknown is so endlessly rich in possibilities. Nonetheless, observation of nature remorselessly cuts false equations from the body of scientific doctrine. God speaks through nature, as it were, and "the Eternal of Israel does not deceive or console." (1 Samuel, 15:29). When this observational cutting and chopping is (temporarily) halted, the remaining equations are said to be "validated" (but they remain on the chopping block for further testing).

The programmer's life is, in one sense, more difficult than the experimenter's. Imagine a huge computer program containing millions of lines of code, the accumulated fruit of thousands of hours of effort by many people. How do we verify that this computation faithfully reflects the equations that have ostensibly been programmed? Of course they've been checked again and again for typos or logical faults or syntactic errors. Very clever methods are available for code verification. Nonetheless, programmers are only human, and some infidelity may slip through. What remorseless knife does the programmer have with which to verify that the equations are correctly calculated? Testing computation against observation does not allow us to distinguish between errors in the equations, errors in the program, and compensatory errors in both.

The experimenter compares an equation's prediction against an observation of nature. Like the experimenter, the programmer compares the computation against something. However, for the programmer, the sharp knife of nature is not available. In special cases the programmer can compare against a known answer. More frequently the programmer must compare against other computations which have already been verified (by some earlier comparison). The verification of a computation - as distinct from the validation of an equation - can only use other high-level human-made results. The programmer's comparisons can only be traced back to other comparisons. It is true that the experimenter's tests are intermediated by human artifacts like calipers or cyclotrons. Nonetheless, bedrock for the experimenter is the "reality out there". The experimenter's tests can be traced back to observations of elementary real events. The programmer does not have that recourse. One might say that God speaks to the experimenter through nature, but the programmer has no such Voice upon which to rely.

The tower built of old would have reached the heavens because of the power of language. That tower was never completed because God turned talk into babble and dispersed the people across the land. Scholars have argued whether the story prescribes a moral norm, or simply describes the way things are, but the power of language has never been disputed.

The tower was never completed, just as science, it seems, has a long way to go. Genius, said Edison, is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. A good part of the sweat comes from getting the language right, whether mathematical equations or computer programs.

Part of the challenge is finding order in nature's bubbling variety. Each equation captures a glimpse of that order, adding one block to the structure of science. Furthermore, equations must be validated, which is only a stop-gap. All blocks crumble eventually, and all equations are fallible and likely to be falsified.

Another challenge in science and engineering is grasping the myriad implications that are distilled into an equation. An equation compresses and summarizes, while computer simulations go the other way, restoring detail and specificity. The fidelity of a simulation to the equation is usually verified by comparing against other simulations. This is like the dictionary paradox: using words to define words.

It is by inventing and exploiting symbols that humans have constructed an orderly world out of the confusing tumult of experience. With symbols, like with blocks in the tower, the sky is the limit.




e language

Computational processing of the Portuguese language : 14th International Conference, PROPOR 2020, Evora, Portugal, March 2-4, 2020, Proceedings

PROPOR (Conference) (14th : 2020 : Evora, Portugal)
9783030415051 (electronic bk.)




e language

The language of faith

Puerto Barrios, Guatemala :: Logos Hope's volunteers bring an international aspect to a motivating festival for young people.




e language

Predictors of Phrase and Fluent Speech in Children With Autism and Severe Language Delay

Autism is a disorder that significantly affects language/communication skills, with many children not developing fluent language. The rate of spoken language acquisition after severe language delay and predictors of functional language, beyond comorbid intellectual disability, is less clear.

This study uses the largest sample to date to examine the relationship between key deficits associated with autism and attainment of phrase and/or fluent speech after a severe language delay, providing information to guide therapeutic targets and developmental expectations. (Read the full article)




e language

Shipping: the Privy Council’s interpretation of permissive language in arbitration clauses

Anzen Limited & Another v Hermes One Limited In the case of Anzen Limited v Hermes One Limited [2016] UKPC 1, the Privy Council considered the use of permissive language in an arbitration clause.  Specifically, the Council considered what o...




e language

Deepfake software translates videos from one language to another

An AI based on deepfake technology can translate videos of a person speaking in one language into another. In future, it could help people who don’t speak the same language communicate




e language

For Centuries, People Dreamed of a Machine That Could Produce Language. Then OpenAI Made One

OpenAI’s GPT-2 program churns out natural language that’s remarkably coherent—and that’s a problem



  • robotics
  • robotics/artificial-intelligence

e language

Justice Department Issues Guidance Letter to State Courts Regarding Their Obligation to Provide Language Access

The Justice Department today issued a letter to chief justices and administrators of state courts clarifying the obligation of courts that receive federal financial assistance to provide oral interpretation, written translation and other language services to people who are limited English proficient.



  • OPA Press Releases

e language

Justice Department Reaches Agreement with Colorado State Courts to Remove Language Barriers

The Justice Department today announced it has reached an agreement with officials of the Colorado Judicial Department to ensure that limited English proficient (LEP) individuals seeking services throughout Colorado’s state court system will have access to timely and competent language assistance.



  • OPA Press Releases

e language

The Language of “Recovery” in the Age of COVID-19

There have been many parallels drawn between this pandemic and the AIDS pandemic that began in 1981. And in fact while many obvious differences exist there are many valid comparisons. Moreover, there are some common threads that run through crises … Continue reading




e language

Electronic toys impede language development in children

Often marketed as educational, electronic toys have the opposite effect, resulting in parents and children speaking less to each other.




e language

The Language Of Love : Morse Code

Personally I find Morse Code incredibly romantic. What could be sweeter then a love note fashioned out of code? I was excited when I stumbled upon this video by the amazing Robert Mahar showing you how to make a morse code necklace out of little beads, just fantastic! Be sure … Continue reading




e language

Behavioral Intervention can Improve Language Skills in Youth with Fragile X

New study finds more evidence for the efficacy of a telehealth-delivered behavioral intervention in treating language problems in youth with fragile X syndrome (FXS).




e language

Portuguese Language Expert

Company: Golden Opportunities Private Limited
Experience: 3 to 9
location: Chennai
Ref: 24738579
Summary: Description Portuguese Language Specialist Job Description: ? Looking for candidates who interact well in Portuguese -2 way communication. Candidate should able to read, write and translate from Portuguese to English and....




e language

From one language to another: What’s at stake?


Indian cinema has, of late, witnessed high-decibel debates over the desirability of dubbing Hindi films into regional languages. But does dubbing really pose a threat to vernacular cinema? Shoma Chatterji explores.




e language

Learning to Talk: Speaking the Language of Patients

In this narrative medicine essay, a resident physician recalls the joy she felt while learning the formal language of medicine as a student and anticipates the lifelong joy of learning to interpret that language in ways most helpful for her patients.




e language

The language of advertising [videorecording]




e language

Seeing and saying: the language of perception and the representational view of experience / Berit Brogaard

Hayden Library - B828.45.B76 2018




e language

Development of linguistic linked open data resources for collaborative data-intensive research in the language sciences / edited by Antonio Pareja-Lora, María Blume, Barbara C. Lust, and Christian Chiarcos

Online Resource




e language

Informal learning and institution-wide language provision: university language learners in the 21st century / Denyze Toffoli

Online Resource




e language

Computational processing of the Portuguese language: 14th International Conference, PROPOR 2020, Evora, Portugal, March 2-4, 2020, Proceedings / Paulo Quaresma, Renata Vieira, Sandra Aluísio, Helena Moniz, Fernando Batista, Teresa Gonçalves (ed

Online Resource




e language

ACM transactions on Asian and low-resource language information processing [electronic journal].




e language

Paul Muldoon and the language of poetry / by Ruben Moi

Online Resource




e language

Youth culture in Chinese language film / Xuelin Zhou

Zhou, Xuelin, author




e language

Speech-language pathologists' professional efficacy beliefs about assessing the language skills of bilingual/bicultural/bidialectal students




e language

Recognizable languages defined by two-dimensional shift spaces




e language

Darshan’s Kurukshetra to release in multiple languages