For the August 2026 episode of In a Manner of Speaking, Paul explores text to speech — but NOT just the AI type. Instead, this episode is devoted to the ancient art of turning the written into the spoken word.
How do actors, public speakers, bards and other speakers do it while mastering the art of spontaneity? Paul dives into all these topics while giving great advice to performers who want to sound natural, as if they were speaking these words for the first time.
Several past podcast episodes address similar topics, and these will serve as a great accompaniment to this episode:
March 2018 (Episode 2): Audiobook Narration, with Tavia Gilbert and Julia Whelan2
May 2018 (Episode 4): The Art of the Newscaster and Broadcast Journalist, with Cameron Meier
November 2020 (Episode 34): “It’s All Greek to Me,” with Rush Rehm. This is particularly relevant in light of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
August 2021 (Episode 43): Heightened Language and Black Playwrights, with Jacqueline Springfield
September 2021 (Episode 44): Let’s Talk, with David Crystal
October 2021 (Episode 45): Read Me a Story, with Elizabeth Wiley
October 2022 (Episode 57): How We Learn to Talk, with Jenny Saffran
March 2023 (Episode 62): Fast-Talkin’ Dudes
October 2023 (Episode 69): Orality and Literacy, with Brian Ott
December 2023 (Episode 71): The History of Silent Reading, with Paul Saenger
Here is the extended clip from Communion that Paul references in this episode. The film, from 1989, is copyright New Line Cinema / Allied Vision, and the excerpt heard in the podcast is used under fair use.
And below is the extended clip from Much Ado About Nothing that Paul references in this episode. The film, from 1993, is copyright BBC Film / Renaissance Films / Samuel Goldwyn Company, and the excerpt heard in the podcast is used under fair use.
To contact Paul and follow Paul Meier Dialect Services on social media, go here.
(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)
