Hi, I'm not subscribed but wanted to share this (maybe useful) hint: As pointed out by NOKUBI Takatsugu on Planet Debian, there exists an open-source synthesis + recognition engine for Japanese. http://aniki.daionet.gr.jp/~knok/blog/blosxom.cgi/2005/11/24 http://hil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~galatea/index.html Josef