Though you’ve never met Susan Bennett, you are probably more familiar with her than you think. You may have asked her for directions, what the weather is like, the score to baseball games and even to remind you to pick up dog food。
也許你和蘇珊·班尼特素未謀面,但你很可能對她比你想象中要熟悉。你可能曾經(jīng)向她詢問駕駛方向,詢問天氣狀況,棒球賽比分乃至需要她提醒你該買狗糧了。
Bennett has revealed herself the voice of Apple’s original Siri, and in a recent interview with CNN, she dished on, among other things, how she came to be the one to give life to your favorite snarky personal assistant。
在最近接受美國CNN采訪時,班尼特坦言,自己就是蘋果手機第一款語音助理的錄制者,在采訪中她絮絮叨叨的說出了自己成為語音助理的錄制者——那個給你你最喜愛的、有點小脾氣的個人助理賦予了生命的人——的始末過程。
Bennett has done voice work for automated systems since the 1970s. Her first job in the biz was as the voice of Tilly the all-time teller, the first ATM machine. She’s also lent her vocals to GPS devices, automated telephone systems and even Delta airlines terminals。
自上世紀70年代起,班尼特就開始從事自動系統(tǒng)聲音錄制方面的工作。她的第一份工作是為第一代自動取款機——“全天候柜員蒂莉” 配音。她也曾為全球定位導(dǎo)航GPS系統(tǒng)、自動電話系統(tǒng),以及三角洲航空公司終端系統(tǒng)獻聲。
“The Siri voices were recorded in 2005, in the month of July, four hours a day for the whole month,” Bennett told CNN. “When I recorded those voices, I had absolutely no idea where they would end up。”
“蘋果語音助理是我在2005年7月錄制的,每天工作4個小時,干了整整一個月,” 班尼特告訴CNN的記者說,“當我錄制那些聲音的時候,我完全不知道它們是干什么用的。”
Though Bennett’s thought was that those speech samples would be used in company telephone systems, according to CNN, she first heard her voice as Siri the same time many of us did - after the launch of Apple’s iPhone 4s in 2011.
根據(jù)CNN相關(guān)報道,當時班尼特以為她錄制的聲音樣本是被用在公司電話系統(tǒng)上的,結(jié)果在2011年蘋果公司推出iPhone 4s 時,她和其他人一樣第一次聽到了自己當時錄制的聲音。
“The first time I actually heard my voice as Siri was when my friend emailed me and said, ‘Isn’t this you?’ Bennett said. “And because I didn’t have the newest version of the iPhone, I went to the Apple site and that’s where I heard the voice, and I just went, ‘Ohh, hmm. That is me.’”
“我第一次聽到自己在蘋果語音助理上的聲音是因為朋友發(fā)郵件給我,問‘那不是你的聲音嗎?’”,班尼特說,“由于當時我沒有買最新款的蘋果手機,我登陸了蘋果官網(wǎng),我就是在那里聽到自己的聲音的,當時我就說,‘噢,那是我的聲音。’”
Apple has yet to confirm that the Susan Bennett recordings were what was used to create the original Siri voice, but legal representation for Bennett has vouched for her and audio-forensics have told CNN that Bennett and the Siri voice are a “100%” match。
對蘇珊·班尼特是否就是為第一代語音獻聲的人,蘋果公司尚未證實。但蘇珊的法律代理人已經(jīng)為她做了保證,并對蘇珊的聲音進行了音頻取證,證明她的聲音和蘋果語音助理“100%匹配”。
...for now, at least: With iOS 7, Apple has given users two options for Siri voices, a male and female now. And though Apple will neither confirm or deny, it sounds as though Bennett’s female voice has been replaced。
至少目前為止是。隨著蘋果iOS 7問世,蘋果公司已經(jīng)為用戶提供了男聲和女聲兩種語音助理以供選擇。盡管蘋果公司尚未承認或否認此事,但聽起來似乎班尼特錄制的女聲助理已經(jīng)被另外的聲音取代了。
As for the sometimes “snippy” tone of our beloved original Siri, there may be an explanation for that。
至于為什么替換掉我們最愛的、有時聽上去“傲慢”的第一代語音助理,蘋果公司也許應(yīng)該給出解釋。
"There are some people that just can read hour upon hour upon hour, and it's not a problem,” Bennett explained to CNN. “For me, I get extremely bored ... So I just take breaks. That's one of the reasons why Siri might sometimes sound like she has a bit of an attitude. "
“也許有的人可以數(shù)小時不斷的錄制聲音,沒有問題”,班尼特對CNN記者說,“但是我會感到特別厭倦……所以這時我需要休息。這就是為什么蘋果語音助理有時聽上去有些擺架子的原因之一。”