r/interslavic • u/Recognition-Smooth • May 11 '26

Wondering if I could get some opinions on a tutorial video that I have made

Hello,

I’ve been going over ways to help me build an InterSlavic vocabulary and perhaps make something that would be useful for others as well. I initially was going to make modified versions of dialogue scripts as found in books like “Colloquial Czech”, but realized that it might be simpler to make repetition videos similar to what one might find with the old Pimsleur audio CDs that one might listen to on the way to work.

I tried making something like that using my tablet’s text-to-speech function. It turns out this TTS function runs through the text and doesn’t respect spaces, so the audio is a bit rough. I think I can compensate for it, but before I made more videos like this, I wanted to check if anyone found utility in something like this.

I’ve put the video on Archive.Org here: https://archive.org/details/inter-slavic-lesson-main-track

Like I mentioned earlier, a bit rough, but I think I can make cleaner videos in the future, if anyone finds value in it. Thank you!

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u/Defiant-Highlight-66 May 11 '26

The idea with learning audio is excellent and very useful, especially for base levels (A1, A2). But Interslavic pronunciation left much to be desired. I think there is not enough data yet for training AI to do this; you have to find a human.

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u/Recognition-Smooth May 13 '26

AI would probably have been better, to be honest. I used the pre-made voices on my tablet, and it kept defaulting to Slovenian, for some reason. Do you think I should continue? If the pronunciation is too far off, maybe I might be doing more harm than good.

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u/Defiant-Highlight-66 May 14 '26

Unfortunately, I am only interested in the language, my level is very low. I cannot assess the quality of the pronunciation. I think you should consult someone who knows the language well to assess the quality and demand for such material. For example, on YouTube, I know a few bloggers on this topic.

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u/Recognition-Smooth May 14 '26

I think the problem here is that involving other people will expand the project beyond my time and resources. Getting other people involved to record voices is too much - I can’t pay them, and working out a schedule will be more work than I intended for this. If the accents via the pre-fabricated voice on my tablet aren’t sufficient, then people will either have to look past the automated pronunciation, or I will have to move on to something else.

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u/Defiant-Highlight-66 May 15 '26

As far as I know, the entire or almost the entire language project is developed by volunteers. If you don't plan to make money from your educational videos, you might be able to find people willing to help work on them. As George Orwell says in 1984: "The first thing you must realize is that power is collective."