苹果小秘书深入人心 Siri背后的人
Robotic. That is what the voice message on Jon Briggs’s phone sounds like. It is not the delivery, which is perfectly human. But because his voice is on so many technological applications, most notably on Siri, the iPhone’s personal assistant, his voice, which is so familiar, seems synonymous with technology.
Friends often complain they cannot get rid of him. His voice is on their satnav and on automated telephone systems. One friend recently heard a chorus of Mr Briggs’s voice coming from their daughter’s room; upon investigation they discovered all the animated penguins on her game app spoke with his voice. Most disturbing for Mr Briggs, was when he received a phone call from himself trying to flog payment protection insurance.
布里格斯的朋友们常常抱怨他们无法摆脱他。他们的卫星导航系统和自动电话系统都用了布里格斯的声音。最近，他一个朋友听到女儿房间里传出一阵阵布里格斯的声音；调查一番后才发现，原来女儿游戏应用里的所有卡通企鹅讲话用的都是布里格斯的声音。最令布里格斯气恼的是，他还接到过用他的声音来向他推销支付保护险的电话。An offer of work to provide the voice for Reading’s bus service was rescinded, he claims, after local employer, Microsoft, discovered that the voice of a competitor, Apple, might be escorting its employees to work.
布里格斯说，他还曾失去一份为雷丁(Reading)公交车配音的工作邀约，因为当地雇主微软(Microsoft)发现，伴随其雇员上下班的或许将是其竞争对手苹果(Apple)的声音。
In fact, the 50-year-old’s voice was dropped by Apple three years ago after he disclosed that he was the person behind the UK version of Siri. Apple has not confirmed any of the various voices used for Siri and declined to comment for this article.
实际上，自从3年前，现年50岁的布里格斯发文章披露自己是英国版Siri的配音者以后，苹果就不再使用他的声音。苹果从未证实过各版本Siri语音的来源，并拒绝对布里格斯的文章发表评论。“Apple would have stamped on me very swiftly if I was claiming something that was untrue,” says Mr Briggs. “I have a very good reputation of over 30 years work as a [voiceover artist] and claiming something like that falsely would ruin that reputation totally.”
“如果我所说的有什么不实之处，苹果早就立刻制止我了，” 布里格斯说，“从事配音工作30年来，我的声誉一直非常好，说那样的假话会让我身败名裂。”The notoriously secretive tech company was foolish, believes Mr Briggs, for thinking his identity would never be revealed. “Apple got upset but if [it is] going to put you in the pocket of millions of people how can they not expect you to reply when they ask, ‘Is it you?’ Other people recognised me . . . It’s an act of complete imbecility not to think someone would recognise you.” The company might be a whizz with technology and design, says Mr Briggs, who is also a broadcast journalist and presenter, but they are “not very good with people”.
布里格斯认为，以事事保密而著称的苹果公司，认为他的身份永远不会暴露，这是很愚蠢的。“苹果很不高兴，但是假如把你放进数百万人的口袋里，当人们问起来‘这是你么？’，他们怎会预计不到会有一个答复？还有人都听出来是我了……觉得没人能听出来是我，这种想法实在蠢到家了。” 同时也身兼电视新闻记者和主持人的他表示，苹果公司或许是技术和设计方面的奇才，但他们“不太擅长与人打交道”。In any case, Mr Briggs had not signed a contract with Apple. The work was originally done for Scansoft, he claims, which has since merged with Nuance, a software and technology company. The text-to-Speech service was recorded over three weeks: 5,000 sentences delivered in a flat, even way. These were later taken away and dissected so that the phonics could be reassembled in new sentences in response to any question the user poses. Aside from asking Siri predictable questions about locations of restaurants or the day’s weather forecast, there is pleasure to be found demanding “who let the dogs out”, or “the best place to bury a body”.
布里格斯从未和苹果签订过任何合同。他说，这份工作原本是为Scansoft而做的。Scansoft后来和软件技术公司Nuance合并。这个文本转语音服务中的所有语音都是在3周内录制完成的：用平和的声音匀速念5000个句子。这些句子之后会被抽取并分解，这样语音就可以重新组合成新的句子，来回答用户提出的任何问题。除了问Siri一些可预见的问题，比如餐厅的位置或者当天的天气预报，要求Siri回答“谁把狗放了出来”，或者“哪里最适合埋尸体”也很有意思。Scott Brave, the co-author of Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the HumanComputer Relationship , notes that users imbue technology with human attributes. “We respond socially to the voice even when we know it’s a machine,” he says. He cites the example of BMW, which had to recall German cars installed with its navigation system. Male drivers objected to taking directions from a woman’s voice.
《连线语音：电子语音如何激发和深化人机关系》(Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human Computer Relationship)一书的作者斯科特•布雷夫(Scott Brave)提出，是用户给技术注入了人性。他说，“即使我们知道那是机器的声音，我们还是会像对待人一样回应它。”他以宝马(BMW)为例，由于男性司机不愿听从女性声音的指示，宝马不得不召回安装了女声导航系统的德国车。More generally, he says, dominant personalities prefer to have submissive-sounding machines.
布雷夫表示，总的来说，支配型的人更青睐听上去很服从的机器。Mr Briggs loves Siri and uses it all the time, particularly to schedule appointments. “It’s very clear.” He thinks it is an important breakthrough for those who cannot read or have poor sight.
布里格斯很喜欢Siri，一直在使用它，尤其用来安排日程。“它非常明了，”布里格斯认为，对于那些无法阅读或者视力较差的人来说，这是一个重大突破。This view is not shared by Susan Bennett, the former US voice of Siri. (Ed Primeau, a forensic audiologist has analysed her voice and confirms that it was used in an older version of Siri).
前一版美国Siri的配音苏珊•本内特(Susan Bennett)则不同意这一观点。(声音鉴定专家埃德•普里莫(Ed Primeau)对本内特的声音进行了分析，确定她就是老版Siri的配音)。The 65-year-old confesses she found listening to Siri a bit creepy. It was not that she hated hearing herself — that is an everyday occurrence for the voice recording artist. She is used to hearing her voice over tannoys at airports and stores, as well as telephone on-hold systems. She is her son’s bank’s automated voice and it tickles her to assume that voice and taunt him by saying: “Thank you for calling the bank. You are overdrawn.”
现年65岁的本内特坦言，她觉得听Siri说话有些怪异。倒不是说她讨厌听自己的声音——这对配音工作者来说是家常便饭。她已经习惯了听到自己的声音从机场和商场的扩音系统，以及电话接线系统中传出。她儿子所在银行的自动语音也是她配的。她常用“感谢致电本银行，您已透支”那样的腔调逗他儿子，觉得这样非常有趣。It was interacting with herself that felt so peculiar. “It was very strange having my voice coming back to me from my hand. I said, ‘Hi Siri, what are you doing?’ Siri said, disgustedly: ‘Talking to you.’” Why did the company choose her? “They wanted an otherworldly voice and had to have a sense that the voice would have a dry sense of humour — I don’t think the new voice has that quality.” The identities behind Siri’s voices on newer operating systems (iOS7 and iOS8) are unknown.
让她觉得别扭的地方是与她自己互动。“听着自己的声音从手里传回来相当怪异。我说，‘嗨，Siri，你做什么呢？’Siri回答：‘跟你聊天啊。’这真让人别扭。”苹果为什么选择她呢？“他们想要一种超凡脱俗的声音，还要带点冷幽默感——我觉得新版Siri的声音还不够格。”目前还不知道给新操作系统(iOS7和iOS8)的Siri做配音的人是谁。Secretly, the Atlanta-based Ms Bennett is rather pleased to no longer be the “voice of Big Brother”, as she refers to Siri. She is far more gloomy about the creep of technology than Mr Briggs.
私下里，家住亚特兰大的本内特为自己不再是“老大哥的声音”（Siri）感到相当高兴。对于这项别扭的技术，她比布里格斯悲观的多。Originally a singer for jingles, she was “discovered” one day when the talent — the person who was meant to do the advertisement’s voiceover — failed to turn up and the studio manager asked her to stand in. “A lightbulb went on in my head” after delivering the lines.
本内特本来是一名广告歌歌手，有一天本应为广告配音的人没有来，导演就让她顶上，她因此被“发掘”了。读完台词后，她登时“心头一亮”。The work, she says, has been “fun and creative”. Moreover, “it paid pretty well”.
她说，这份工作“有趣又有创意”。更重要的是，“报酬不菲”。The business was changed with the arrival of the web, she says. Suddenly producers could get talent from anywhere in the world. “The internet has devalued things,” she reflects. “Voiceover is no different from any other industry.” Producers can get a voiceover from , the global online marketplace offering creative services for just $5 a job, she says.
随着互联网的到来，这个行业也发生了变化。忽然之间，制作方可以从世界各地招募配音人员了。“互联网让很多东西贬值，”她思考后说道，“配音业也不例外。”她说，制作方可以从创意服务全球市场平台上招募配音人员，每份工作仅需5美元。“As long as you have a microphone you can do it. No one wants professionalism any more. They want the guy next door.” Mr Briggs is more sanguine. “I didn’t have to work for my voice. I was blessed with it.” He believes the shift means the industry is better reflecting a broad range of accents.
“只要有个麦克风你就能干。没人再需要专业人士。他们想要的是隔壁小伙儿。”布里格斯更乐观一些，“我不用再靠自己的声音工作了。我有幸得到了我的嗓音。”他认为，这种转变意味着配音业的口音会变得更加广泛多样。Will these two voices of the machine find themselves redundant come the “second machine age”, to use the title of the book describing the jobs revolution (and job losses) triggered by technological advances? Ms Bennett is bleak. “Digital voices will probably replace voiceover artists. The danger is we’re giving our jobs to computers.”
借用一本描写由技术进步而导致的岗位革命（以及岗位流失）的书名来说，随着“第二次机器时代”的来临，这两名为机器配音的人会觉得自己变得多余吗？本内特持悲观态度。“电子语音很可能取代配音工作者。危险正是我们把自己的工作交给了电脑。”Mr Briggs is more circumspect. “I don’t think you can replace people yet.” Once machines can emote, things will change, he says. Nonetheless, he is hopeful. “Humans are very adaptable.”
布里格斯则更谨慎一些。“我觉得目前人类还无法被取代。”他说，一旦机器能表露感情，事情就不一样了。尽管如此，他依然心存希望。“人类的适应能力很强。”
