Abstract: Automated systems for “speaking” telephone numbers, zip codes and the like typically produce unrealistic results that do not sound like an actual human speaking the telephone number or zip code. By using templates together with four or more types of fragment for each alphanumeric character this problem is addressed. A fragment is a recording of a spoken alphanumeric character as spoken at a particular location within an utterance. A template is a sequence of fields, each field representing part of a sequence of alphanumeric characters. Templates comprise information about the manner in which a sequence of alphanumeric characters is to be played, such as which fragments to use and when to use pauses. Using this method alphanumeric character sequences such as telephone numbers, zip codes and the like are played with human-like intonation in real time.