Flavescit's guide to Maika's english

Hello!

So yeah, I'll try to explain how to use Maika's english in order to make her clear and with the minimun of accent possible. Of course I don't know everything about her bank, so every tip could be improved... if you have something to add or a question to ask, please, feel comfortable with doing so in the comments!

I'll start making a list of her phonemes and where to use it, after that I'll make a list with a conversion between engloids' X-SAMPA (the symbols and the brackets) and Maika's X-SAMPA.

Hope you enjoy it!

First of all, keep in mind that english is a language with many exceptions, so it will depends on your effort making her sound clear. Also, the consonants may change depending on their position in a word, that's very important.

Click the link below to keep reading~

Each of Maika's sounds and its usage

Phoneme	Usage	Notes
a	hot, cup, arm	I don't recommend using the [a] phoneme for these cases, it could be replaced with [Q] or [@] most of times. However, you could use it in case of bugs and stuff.
i	see, heat	Basically the long i ("ee"), don't use it in words like bit or sick, these words deserve the short i sound.
I0	hit, sitting, decided	Short I sound, it mostly occurs in words where a single 'i' appears between consonants or in the reduced 'e's in the suffix used for past -ed. Some users have reported this phoneme to be unconsistent, you can use [e] to replace it, playing with OPE could be a good idea in that case.
u	mood, blue	Long u sound, ("oo").
@	cup, away, believe, the	Can be used for the 'uh' sound in cup, usually occurs when u is surrounded by consonants in a word. It's also good for that 'uh' sound that can happen in many words of english, this sound is named schwa. More about it in the useful links in the end of this article. Users have reported that this phoneme can sound inconsistent, so you'll have to figure it out with [Q] or [a].
@ (lowered OPE)	good, could, little	This is probably one of the flaws in her english, there's not really a good solution, so you can use [o] instead of [@] if you prefer. Experiment with OPE.
Q	arm, hot	This phoneme should work for the 'a' and 'o' sounds in words like those, if any bug happens, try to use [a] or [O] instead. Experiment with OPE in that case.
E	let, bed	Usually occurs in words where 'e' is between consonants.
O	call, four	For a brittish accent, use this phoneme. If you want to try a more american-ish accent, use [Q] instead. Also, check the accent tips in this article.
a I	five, my	-
a U	how, now, out	-
e I	say, eight	-
o U	go, don't	For a more brittish accent, use [@ U] instead. Experiments with OPE may be necessary.
O I	boy, join	You can vary this from [Q I] to [o I], as always, play with OPE.
E a	cat, black	Usually occurs in words where 'a' is between consonants. It won't work with long notes, I still couldn't solve that issue.
E @ (r\)	where, air	[E a], [E Q] could work in case of any bug. Use [r\] in the end for an american accent.
I0 @ (r\)	near, here	[i @], [e @], [I0 Q], [I0 a] and variations could work in case of any bug. It's a really variable sound, experiment with the suggestions and with the OPE parameter.
@ (r\)	turn, learn	I don't recommend it, but you can use [a] or [Q] for this. For a more american accent, use the [r\].
p	boy, back	A more aspirated [b] could be achieved by using a non aspirated [p], besides that, voicing matters less in english than you think.
b	crab, sob	I'd rather use [p] in these cases because Maika's [b] are really close to [B] and this will give you a spanish accent.
p h_0	paper, piece	This trick is only possible through note splitting and consonant VEL manipulation, check the double phoneme trick in this article.
p	deep, wip	In the end of words or syllables, the [p] will generally not be aspirated.
d dz	did, don't	This trick is only possible through note splitting and consonant VEL manipulation, check the double phoneme trick in this article.
r	did, decided, ladder	Usually, double d's and ending d's are pronounced like spanish r. This is also the [4] sound in japanese vocaloids. Check accent tips in this article.
t ts	tip, tea	This trick is only possible through note splitting and consonant VEL manipulation, check the double phoneme trick in this article.
r	getting, later	Usually, double t's and ending t's are pronounced like spanish r. This is also the [4] sound in japanese vocaloids. Check accent tips in this article.
k h_0	cat, clock	This trick is only possible through note splitting and consonant VEL manipulation, check the double phoneme trick in this article.
k	back, clock	Non-aspirated k, usually in ending of words/syllables.
k	goat, give	A more aspirated [g] could be achieved by using a non aspirated [k], besides that, voicing matters less in english than you think.
g	flag, bag	I'd rather use [k] in these cases because Maika's [g] are really close to [G] and this will give you a spanish accent. Experiment with the phonemes.
dZ	just, large	-
tS	church, check	-
f	fight, five	-
v	vow, view, have	When positioned in the end of words, this phoneme may be switched to [f] when before voiceless consonants like [t], [tS], [k], [p], [s], [S]. E.G.: "have to" -> [h E a f t ts u]
s	say, piece	-
z	is, zoom, cause	When positioned in the end of words, this phoneme may be switched to [s] when before voiceless consonants like [t], [tS], [k], [p], [f], [S]. E.G.: "it is time" -> [I0 r I0 s t ts a I m]
S	she, crash	-
Z	pleasure, vision	-
T	think, both	-
D	the, mother	Maika's [d] is often close to [D], so you can switch between them if you feel it'd sound better.
r\	red, bar	The english 'r' sound, it's often dropped in the end of words by most real singers, so feel free to just don't add this sound in that case. Some users have reported that the ending r\ may also glitch or trill like the [rr], so feel free to remove it when that happens.
m	man, scream	-
n	man, screen	-
N	sing, finger	The "ng" sound, you can also switch to [J] or make a combo with both [N J] if you feel that sound doesn't satisfy your need.
l	longer, lazy	-
l @ (shortened)	will, ball	An attempt to reproduce the [l] from engloids, it won't sound really good, especially in fast songs, so you may have to go back to just [l].

Another phonemes ->

[j] -> yellow, yes

[w] -> will, what

Double Phoneme Trick

This consists in basically using two phonemes to mimetize the sound of another phoneme.

For example:

In order to make Maika sing the word "take" in the phrase "Let me take you", I'd do this:

click to enlarge

The [ts] phoneme already mimetize the [th] (aspirated t), but another [t] added there, makes the transition choppy, kind of nullifying the s from [ts] but still keeping the aspiration.
I like to lower the vel of the first consonant, to make the transition clearer before the choppiness.
Remember that this won't sound 100% natural.
You can do this with the following consonants, be sure to split the notes for better controlling of the vel consonant. (The first note is smaller)

Desired Phoneme	First note	Second note
ph	p E_0	h_0 E
kh	k E_0	h_0 E
th	t	ts

(E is just an example of vowel, replace it with the desired vowel)

Engloids symbols <-> Maika

If you have an english bank and Maika, you can type the words in the english bank to have a base and then change to Maika's options~

Engloids	Maika 1st option	Maika 2nd option	Maika 3rd option	Notes
@	@	a
V	@	Q	a
e	E	e
I	I0	e
i:	i
{	E a (US)	Q (UK)
O:	O	Q
Q	Q	a
U	@ (lowered ope)	o
u:	u
@r	@ r\ (US)	@ (UK)
eI	e I	e j
aI	a I	a j
OI	O I	O j
@U	o U (US)	@ U (UK)
aU	E a U (US)	a U (UK)
I@	I0 r\ (US)	I0 @ (UK)
e@	E r\ (US)	E @ (UK)
U@	o r\ (US)	o @ (UK)
O@	O r\ (US)	o r\ (US)	O @ (UK)
Q@	Q r\ (US)	Q @ (UK)
w	w
j	j
b	b	B (not recommended)
bh	p	b
d	r (before vowels)	dZ (before you/ your)	d (before consonants)	In case of brittish accent, [ d ] works for all the cases
dh	d dz	d		Check the double phoneme trick
g	g	G (not recommended)
gh	k	g
dZ	dZ
v	v
D	D	d
z	z
Z	Z
m	m
n	n
N	N	J
r	r\	w (Nana's accent like)
l	l @ (short @)	l
l0	l
p	p
ph	p h_0	p		Check the double phoneme trick
t	r (before vowels)	tS (before you/ your)	d (before consonants)	In case of brittish accent, [ t ] works for all the cases
th	t ts	t		Check the double phoneme trick
k	k
kh	k h_0			Check the double phoneme trick
tS	tS
f	f
T	T
s	s
S	S
h	h
R	rr			Only Prima, Tonio and Sonika have this

Nice links

Why are Phonetics Important? | Learn English | Vocabulary
The SCHWA in ENGLISH (ə)
her videos are funny
Turn your texts into phonetics (X-sampa, IPA conversion)
English Phonetic Transcription Converter (IPA, shows the aspirated consonants)

Thanks for reading it!
If you will, watch a video with my experiments with her bank

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Sobre o Autor

Gosta de línguas, reflexões introspectivas, UTAU/Vocaloid, discussões sobre gênero e sexualidade, do céu e de fazer da vida alheia um bordado de renda (de chita filó).

2 comentários:

vidhatanand28 de novembro de 2014 às 03:46
In any particular Language Vocabulary are words. The key part of any Language is to learn and understand its vocabulary. To be a successful reader, you must have enough knowledge of vocabulary, so learn more and more vocabulary words to become better reader.
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Sir Lorenzo da Cavalaria de Sealand20 de maio de 2015 às 10:42
Gostei da sua versão de Clarity, mas acho que teria ficado melhor se você tivesse o [Q l], por exemplo, em "all", por [Q w]. O [l] ainda deixa um sotaque muito forte do espanhol por razões de L. Fora isso e alguma entonações que eu achei meio estranhas, ficou muito show.
Meu sonho é ver a MAIKA em algum show de hologramas estilo Miracle Mirai ;-;
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