The Speln Ncorrector

Today I was experimenting with using a machine translation toolkit on problems besides translation. My first experiment was to try to make a system that would take in a word it hasn’t seen before and guess how it was pronounced.

I think I accidentally ran something backwards, because what I got was a system that takes in the legitimate pronunciation of a word, and usually outputs a creative new spelling that it hasn’t seen before.

I have created a spelling incorrector.

Or, as it would say when I put the CMUDICT pronunciations of these words in:

Tude I wuz expermentn wth usin a mhin translaun tulkt on problems besids translaun. M furst experment wuz 2 tri 2 mak a sstm thet wood tak in a word t haznt syn byfor and gs hu t wuz pranonst.

I think I axedently ran sumthn bakwards, bkuz wut I gt wuz a sstm thet takz in the logitamt prenanseaun v a word, and ugly otputs a creatv nu speln thet t haznt syn byfor.

I hav creatd a speln ncerector.

I am not kidding. Those are the actual spellings my backwards-wired system gives for dictionary pronunciations of those words, including spelling “usually” as “ugly”, “accidentally” as “axedently”, and “to” as “2”.