16. Uncommon Languages
So I told you about common Japanese and English bank types, but what about other languages? Well, often these languages aren't used commonly enough in UTAU to have a uniform method and system in place. Many times the reclists are made custom by one person for their bank specifically, and these custom reclists don't follow the same recording and otoing formulas as each other. This is where flexibility comes in.
What Kind of Oto?
Look at the recordings and think about what Japanese reclist it resembles the most. CV? VCV? CVVC? Set up your base oto accordingly. Pay close attention to whether you need ending consonants or not. If it's not VCV, you will definitely need blending VCs. Pay attention to the types of vowels you have as well - be wary of diphthongs.
Oto the bank the way you would oto the bank it resembles the closest. If it's closest to VCV, oto it like that. Closest to CVVC? Do that. Looks more like VCCV English? CZ's method will suit you well. You may even need to combine methods. For example, Spanish only has five vowels like Japanese does, but it also needs ending consonants. Look at how the reclist accounted for that, and combine the CV and VC methods from CVVC Japanese with the ending consonant methods from VCCV and Delta English.
Oto the bank the way you would oto the bank it resembles the closest. If it's closest to VCV, oto it like that. Closest to CVVC? Do that. Looks more like VCCV English? CZ's method will suit you well. You may even need to combine methods. For example, Spanish only has five vowels like Japanese does, but it also needs ending consonants. Look at how the reclist accounted for that, and combine the CV and VC methods from CVVC Japanese with the ending consonant methods from VCCV and Delta English.
What Kind of Aliases?
If there's no consistent aliasing method for the language of choice, you're going to have to decide one on your own. There's two main ways to go about this: choose a phonetic system like X-SAMPA, or use what you think native speakers of that language would understand the easiest.
I'm a huge fan of the second one. You shouldn't need a degree in linguistics to use UTAU in your native language. After all, most Japanese banks are aliased in hiragana, right? This is also why I prefer CZ's phonetics for English over any other system - they make sense without knowing any linguistics at all.
So, my recommendation is to think about what would make the most sense to a native speaker. For example, Spanish is pronounced almost exactly how it's spelled, so why not just do that? Korean has a Hangul alphabet, so that would probably be the most accessible to Korean users. How is the language of choice written in relation to how it's pronounced?
Alternatively, you could research a phonetic system like X-SAMPA, and transcribe the sounds that way. But that does take a lot of research and knowledge of phonetics, both for you to use in the oto and for those who download the bank to use. It may make your bank less accessible.
I'm a huge fan of the second one. You shouldn't need a degree in linguistics to use UTAU in your native language. After all, most Japanese banks are aliased in hiragana, right? This is also why I prefer CZ's phonetics for English over any other system - they make sense without knowing any linguistics at all.
So, my recommendation is to think about what would make the most sense to a native speaker. For example, Spanish is pronounced almost exactly how it's spelled, so why not just do that? Korean has a Hangul alphabet, so that would probably be the most accessible to Korean users. How is the language of choice written in relation to how it's pronounced?
Alternatively, you could research a phonetic system like X-SAMPA, and transcribe the sounds that way. But that does take a lot of research and knowledge of phonetics, both for you to use in the oto and for those who download the bank to use. It may make your bank less accessible.