A system for generating multimedia information including audio
information, video information, or both is disclosed. The system includes
an interface, a text converter, and a first multimedia dictionary. The
interface is suitable for receiving a text-based message, such as an
email message, from a transmission medium, such as the internet. The text
converter is configured to receive the text-based message from the
interface. The converter is adapted to decompose the words of the
text-based message into their component diphthongs. The first multimedia
dictionary receives a diphthong produced by the text converter and
produces a set of digitized samples of multimedia information
representative of the received diphthong. The system may include a second
multimedia dictionary containing its own set of digitized samples. In
this embodiment, the system is configured to determine the author of the
text-based message and, in response, to select between the first and
second multimedia dictionaries.