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Listen first, sample clip types

Synthetic (TTS) examples, a guide to the shape of each clip type, not a voice to imitate.

Code-switch
Disfluency
Filler word
Pause

Spanish recording battery

Thank you for recording these. There are sentences below; each row tells you how to read it, plain ones naturally, and the marked code-switch / disfluency / pause / one-word clips following the note in their row. Listen to the three samples above first to hear what those clip types sound like.

How to record each clip

  1. Find a quiet room, start recording once (Voice Memos or equivalent is fine), and keep the phone recording the whole way through, you don’t stop and start between sentences, it’s all one recording. Read down the list in order.
  2. Leave a clear gap of about five seconds of silence between one sentence and the next, just wait quietly, then start the next one. Those gaps are how the single recording gets split back into individual clips afterwards, so make them clearly longer than any pause inside a sentence. If you fumble a sentence, just pause, say the whole sentence again, and carry on, the last clean take of each is what’s used.
  3. Read each sentence naturally, at your own pace. If you’re not fluent in the language, that’s fine, read it as a learner would: slow down, mispronounce things, self-correct. That IS the population this benchmark measures. Don’t over-produce it, hesitation and imperfection are the data, not noise to eliminate.
  4. For clips marked code-switch: say the [[bracketed]] word or phrase in English, out loud, right in the middle of the sentence, like you genuinely forgot or never learned the word in the target language. Don’t translate it.
  5. For the disfluency clips: follow their instruction (read through an inserted filler word naturally, cut yourself off at the em-dash and restart the word right after it, read slowly and deliberately, or pause partway through). The small filler words in some of these sentences (eh, este) are ordinary Spanish hesitation sounds, roughly the Spanish version of “um” or “uh”; just say them out loud as written, like you paused to think. There’s a sample above so you can hear one. The short pause inside one of these sentences is part of the sentence, keep it shorter than the five-second gap you leave between sentences.
  6. For the robustness probe clips: follow them exactly, either say only the single word and nothing else, or (for the silent one) stay silent for a few seconds. These exist to catch a model hallucinating words that were never said, so it matters that nothing extra gets said, then leave your normal between-sentence gap and move on to the next.

The battery, all 48 clips

# Type Say Instruction
1 code-switch (how-do-you-say) este cómo se dice [[discount]] en español ? Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you’re asking how to say it.
2 code-switch (how-do-you-say) cómo se dice [[deadline]] otra vez ? Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you’re asking how to say it.
3 code-switch (how-do-you-say) no sé cómo decir [[schedule]] en español Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you’re asking how to say it.
4 code-switch (how-do-you-say) este cómo se dice [[receipt]] en español ? Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you’re asking how to say it.
5 code-switch (how-do-you-say) cómo se dice [[grocery store]] otra vez ? Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you’re asking how to say it.
6 code-switch (how-do-you-say) no sé cómo decir [[laundry]] en español Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you’re asking how to say it.
7 code-switch (noun) tengo que pedir un eh [[appointment]] mañana por la mañana Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you forgot the Spanish word for it.
8 code-switch (noun) he olvidado mi [[schedule]] en casa esta mañana Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you forgot the Spanish word for it.
9 code-switch (noun) tenemos un [[insurance]] la semana que viene creo Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you forgot the Spanish word for it.
10 code-switch (noun) tengo que pedir un este [[receipt]] mañana por la mañana Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you forgot the Spanish word for it.
11 code-switch (noun) he olvidado mi [[water bottle]] en casa esta mañana Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you forgot the Spanish word for it.
12 code-switch (noun) tenemos un [[grocery store]] la semana que viene creo Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] word in English, like you forgot the Spanish word for it.
13 code-switch (clause) quería decir que este [[actually I don’t know the word]] Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] phrase in English, like you switched languages mid-thought.
14 code-switch (clause) me preguntó si este [[sorry let me think for a second]] Read the sentence, but say the [[bracketed]] phrase in English, like you switched languages mid-thought.
15 robustness probe (one-word) sí. Say only this one word, then stop, nothing else before or after.
16 disfluency (pause) Ellas están nerviosas antes del examen. Read this sentence, but pause for about 5 seconds partway through, like you’re thinking mid-sentence, then finish it.
17 robustness probe (trailing silence) Visitamos el museo de arte en la Ciudad de México. Read this sentence normally, then stay silent for a few seconds afterward before stopping, like you trailed off without saying anything more.
18 robustness probe (trailing silence) Las llaves del hotel están en la mesa. Read this sentence normally, then stay silent for a few seconds afterward before stopping, like you trailed off without saying anything more.
19 plain vosotros tenéis que llegar antes de las cinco de la tarde Read this sentence naturally.
20 plain os espero en la plaza cerca del cine Read this sentence naturally.
21 plain ¿queréis cenar en casa o preferís salir? Read this sentence naturally.
22 plain vosotros sabéis dónde está la estación de cercanías Read this sentence naturally.
23 plain ¿os apetece ir al cine esta noche? Read this sentence naturally.
24 disfluency (slow) Nos vemos el viernes. Read this slowly and deliberately, like you’re carefully working out each word as a learner would.
25 disfluency (pause) Con mucho gusto le muestro la habitación, dijo el recepcionista del hotel en Cartagena. Read this sentence, but pause for a few seconds partway through, like you’re thinking mid-sentence, then finish it.
26 disfluency Sí, ahí est— estaré el domingo. Gracias. Read this naturally, including the self-correction exactly as written, the em-dash (—) marks where you cut yourself off and restart the word right after it.
27 disfluency (pause) El cielo está muy azul hoy en Santiago. Read this sentence, but pause for a few seconds partway through, like you’re thinking mid-sentence, then finish it.
28 disfluency (pause) Tal vez llueva esta tarde en Bogotá, mejor lleva paraguas. Read this sentence, but pause for a few seconds partway through, like you’re thinking mid-sentence, then finish it.
29 disfluency Me gustaría eh un café, por favor. Read this naturally, including the filler word exactly as written, like a real hesitation.
30 disfluency (slow) Este pueblo es tranquilo y bonito. Read this slowly and deliberately, like you’re carefully working out each word as a learner would.
31 disfluency Hay una eh nube gris sobre la montaña. Read this naturally, including the filler word exactly as written, like a real hesitation.
32 disfluency El taxi es— este amarillo espera en la esquina en Bogotá. Read this naturally, including both the filler word and the self-correction exactly as written, the em-dash (—) marks where you cut yourself off and restart the word right after it.
33 disfluency Mi este familia es muy grande. Read this naturally, including the filler word exactly as written, like a real hesitation.
34 disfluency El residuo plástico que llega al mar daña a mil— miles de animales marinos. Read this naturally, including the self-correction exactly as written, the em-dash (—) marks where you cut yourself off and restart the word right after it.
35 disfluency (slow) Firmaron el contrato después de revisar cada cláusula. Read this slowly and deliberately, like you’re carefully working out each word as a learner would.
36 disfluency El estrés se vol— volvió parte de su vida cotidiana. Read this naturally, including the self-correction exactly as written, the em-dash (—) marks where you cut yourself off and restart the word right after it.
37 disfluency Yo he eh vuelto a Buenos Aires muchas veces. Read this naturally, including the filler word exactly as written, like a real hesitation.
38 disfluency El es— este proceso de selección duró varias semanas. Read this naturally, including both the filler word and the self-correction exactly as written, the em-dash (—) marks where you cut yourself off and restart the word right after it.
39 disfluency Chateé con este mis amigos to— toda la tarde. Read this naturally, including both the filler word and the self-correction exactly as written, the em-dash (—) marks where you cut yourself off and restart the word right after it.
40 disfluency (pause) La reunión se extendió más de lo previsto. Read this sentence, but pause for a few seconds partway through, like you’re thinking mid-sentence, then finish it.
41 disfluency la canción eh me gusta mucho. Read this naturally, including the filler word exactly as written, like a real hesitation.
42 disfluency La eh política del país cambió tras las elecciones. Read this naturally, including the filler word exactly as written, like a real hesitation.
43 disfluency Es eh importante que tú duermas al menos ocho horas. Read this naturally, including the filler word exactly as written, like a real hesitation.
44 plain Gracias por explicármelo. Lo voy a tener en cuenta. Read this sentence naturally.
45 plain La cúpula militar negó cualquier vínculo con las operaciones denunciadas. Read this sentence naturally.
46 plain El revisor consideró pertinente incluir una comparación con estudios internacionales. Read this sentence naturally.
47 plain Los críticos sostienen que la reforma favorecería únicamente a los grandes contribuyentes. Read this sentence naturally.
48 plain La disidencia política fue perseguida durante los años más oscuros del régimen. Read this sentence naturally.

When you are finished, how to submit

Record all the clips (one continuous recording is fine, we split it into individual clips afterwards), then email your recording to hello@adammal.one. Any common format works, a phone voice memo (.m4a), .mp3, or .wav are all fine. Please include your first name or a nickname and your rough level (for example A2 or B1) so we can label your clips. Thank you so much for helping!

By emailing your recording, you agree that it can be used for this independent, non-commercial research project on speech-to-text, analysing it, reporting results, and including it in an anonymised research dataset that may be shared with other researchers to reproduce or build on the work. It is labelled only with the nickname and level you give, never your full name or contact details, and it will not be sold or used to train commercial products. If you change your mind later, email the same address any time and your recording will be deleted.