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Can I get JAWS to switch to another voice when a language is detected? (self.Blind)
submitted by Plumeria_Chicken
Hello everyone. Recently, I decided to learn Russian, because why not. However, I have come across some challenges with my windows computer running JAWS. I downloaded Melina, I think she is a vocalizer expressive voice, in order to read Russian content. I set her up a voice profile and everything. However, When I get to Russian content, I still have to manually switch the profile in order to read it. Just as a note, in case you didn't know, eloquence cannot read Russian at ALL! So, I am left with these options.
1. Stay on eloquence at all times. Obviously, this isn't much of an option as Russian content is not read at all.
2. Stay on Melina at all times. It works and I can read the Russian, but the English part of the material is read according to Russian pronunciation rules. The result is a very thick, almost incomprehensible Russian accent on everything.
3. Switch between the two profiles when Russian is detected. This is what I have been doing, but it is tedious and does not make the learning process smooth.
Can I make the profiles switch automatically when Russian is detected? Or do I have to use a voice that supports both English and Russian, but I have not come across one of these? Do any of you bilingual JAWS users in which the other language is not supported by eloquence have any tips for me?
Please and thank you for all help.
1. Stay on eloquence at all times. Obviously, this isn't much of an option as Russian content is not read at all.
2. Stay on Melina at all times. It works and I can read the Russian, but the English part of the material is read according to Russian pronunciation rules. The result is a very thick, almost incomprehensible Russian accent on everything.
3. Switch between the two profiles when Russian is detected. This is what I have been doing, but it is tedious and does not make the learning process smooth.
Can I make the profiles switch automatically when Russian is detected? Or do I have to use a voice that supports both English and Russian, but I have not come across one of these? Do any of you bilingual JAWS users in which the other language is not supported by eloquence have any tips for me?
Please and thank you for all help.
pitermach 3 points 2y ago
Jaws can switch voice languages, but only between one synthesizer. So, you'd have to swap out eloquence for an English vocalizer voice and you could use the language switching feature then. Something else to consider is that this feature only works on web pages and some word documents, assuming the author marked up the languages properly which they sadly often don't, so you'll still need to occasionally switch profiles manually
Something else that could potentially help is that the code factory vocalizer synthesizer for nvda has a smarter language switching system which can do it if it sees anything written in cyrilic alphabet, but you'll have to pay for it. VoiceOver on iOS also can do this which should just happen automatically.
Something else that could potentially help is that the code factory vocalizer synthesizer for nvda has a smarter language switching system which can do it if it sees anything written in cyrilic alphabet, but you'll have to pay for it. VoiceOver on iOS also can do this which should just happen automatically.
Plumeria_Chicken [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Yup, I've been using my iPhone for Russian stuff so far, and it works beautifully. But I'd rather use my computer. Anyway, thank you so much for the tip. So so much!
zersiax 2 points 2y ago
Pretty much seconding the other comment. Some NVDA addons are able to read different alphabets in different voices , I describe most of these in my language learning guide for screenreaders. Unfortunately, I know of no such mechanism for JAWS, which means that if content isn't properly marked up, you're kinda stuck, and if it is, you will need to use an English Vocalizer voice, rather than Eloquence, because JAWS's language switching doesn't allow for switching between different speech synthesizers. Eloquence is a different synthesizer than your Russian voice, so it would never work. Rather silly arbitrary limitation, that, but there you have it.
Plumeria_Chicken [OP] 1 points 2y ago
So, say I download an English vocalizer voice. Do I just put it in a profile, and use that one when I'm looking at bilingual content, and it will switch automatically to my Russian profile when it finds properly marked Russian? I don't want to completely scrap eloquence for work related stuff and English only stuff, because I love it for that. I'm a bit new to voice profiles; that's why I'm asking. Thanks for the tip.
zersiax 2 points 2y ago
It should switch the voice at least. I am going to assume it will use the profile-specific settings for that voice if they exist, but I will admit that that is where my JAWS knowledge falls short. I haven't used it in any real capacity for several years. It should at least switch the voice though, yes.
Plumeria_Chicken [OP] 1 points 2y ago
And it's me again with another question. I am in the middle of switching my learning all the way over to my computer from my iPhone. But, I'm stuck on the braille part of it. Somehow, the braille Russian shows up on my display perfectly, but I didn't do anything to make it do that. But, I don't know how to use it to type in Russian. I know what the characters in braille are, but when I write them on the display, it just puts in the UEB equivalent. Do I have to switch the braille table or something? I read your guide and you said to do that, but I don't think I read anything in it about input. Write now, I have to type with my normal keyboard; I added Russian as an input language so I can switch to it. But it's really annoying since I don't no the layout that well. So, how do you switch the input language for braille, hopefully not permanently?
Note: I have a focus blue if that helps.
Afterthought: I looked up some key strokes. Switch braille translation table = 2 3 4 5 7 cord. I went into notepad and pressed it. I heard: Not available while the braille translator is on. To turn it off, press dots 1-2-4-5-7 cord." That switches between contracted and uncontracted input. When I turned off contracted and did it again, I heard: "US\_UNI code is the only preferred braille table selected." So how do I add a so called preferred braille table to the input options? Sorry for the length and thanks so much for all the help.
Note: I have a focus blue if that helps.
Afterthought: I looked up some key strokes. Switch braille translation table = 2 3 4 5 7 cord. I went into notepad and pressed it. I heard: Not available while the braille translator is on. To turn it off, press dots 1-2-4-5-7 cord." That switches between contracted and uncontracted input. When I turned off contracted and did it again, I heard: "US\_UNI code is the only preferred braille table selected." So how do I add a so called preferred braille table to the input options? Sorry for the length and thanks so much for all the help.
zersiax 1 points 2y ago
Hmm. So ... I will again admit that my JAWS knowledge here falls short a bit. Generally, you can set the input table irrespective of the output table, as in ... you can have one table for input and another for output. In NVDA, these are two comboboxes next to each other or, in the case of the BrailleExtender addon, you can set a braille table to be output, input or both. See if you can find a setting in JAWS to set your braille input table, and try setting it to Russian.
As for the preferred tables, that I truly don't know I'm afraid. Presumably, you can somehow cycle between various braille tables with a hotkey, again, NVDA's BrailleExtender lets you do this, but I have no idea where you would set what tables you cycle between in JAWS. Let me know how you get on, and if you can't find it I'll go take a look :)
As for the preferred tables, that I truly don't know I'm afraid. Presumably, you can somehow cycle between various braille tables with a hotkey, again, NVDA's BrailleExtender lets you do this, but I have no idea where you would set what tables you cycle between in JAWS. Let me know how you get on, and if you can't find it I'll go take a look :)
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