Tips & Tricks

Telephones & Headsets

It is easier to make a Sitris call when you use hands free, using a headset with the phone or a hands free phone will definitely make a difference.

Quick Text

Avoid long delays on call by typing multiple short sections of dialog and speaking them rather than single long sentences. To speed up the dialog you can pick and mix phrases or portions of prepared phrases so you can click on a phrase without needing to type. Use the right click on the phrases box to select pieces of text or spell out a name or number. (Don’t forget you can also re-play all or part of a sentence from the Chat log by highlighted the required text, right clicking and selecting replay from the drop down menu.)

Standard Phrases

Make sure you have your greeting ready for when the other person answers the phone, you may want to ask them to be patient as you need to type what you say. Another good idea is to prepare a message in case you get voice mail!

Abbreviations

Use abbreviations to reduce the need for typing. Sitris uses lexicons to store common abbreviations e.g. NJ for New Jersey or USD for US dollars. It also has the standard instant messaging and TTY abbreviations, e.g. DQMOT “don’t quote me on this” or ADA “Americans with Disabilities Act”.

Punctuation

Try adding punctuation to a sentence and listen to the results, e.g. separating a number with commas will cause Sitris to speak single digits as opposed to a whole number.

Speed Control

If someone has difficulty understanding a phrase and asks you to repeat, try using the slider on the Call tab to slow down the phrase while on the call and click on the chat log to repeat.

Phonetic Spelling

Many place and family names will not translate phonetically as they originate in a language other than English and may sound odd, a way around this is to spell the name as it sounds, e.g. Nina (pronounced by the TTS as ‘nine a’ would be spelled Neena to get the right effect.

Gilded Phrases

A list of so-called ‘gilded’ phrases is appended;, these are commonly used phrases that have been groomed and contoured to make them sound very realistic when used in conversation.

For example: Great! or No Way!

‘Gilded Phrases’ are usually followed by an exclamation mark and can make a big difference to the conversation.

Gilded phrases will only work with Dave, Susan, Simon and Kate.

Date Formats

When using a US English voice like Dave, the date format should be 09/20/2006.

When using a UK English voice like Kate, the date format should be 20/09/2006.

Currency

To speak money amounts just put the $ sign in front of the number or you can type the 2 or 3 letter currency after the amount, e.g. 2,356.45 USD or 45.30 EUR