eSpeak for Windows

Post date: Dec 31, 2011 10:21:34 PM

The eSpeak for Windows program allows you to experiment with different languages on your Windows computer. You can create custom pronunciation settings for local names and words. The quality of eSpeak pronunciation varies from language to language. If you are using your computer to learn a new language, you may want to have a native speaker compare the pronunciation of eSpeak with commercial SAPI5 voices.

Installation

• • Download the latest version of eSpeak for Windows from Sourceforge.

  • The installation files will be in your downloads directory in a zip archive.

  • Double click the zip archive to open it, and transfer the contents to the desktop.

  • Read the release notes, then double-click setup_espeak.exe to start the installation.

  • If asked for approval, click OK to approve the installation of the program.

  • Click Next, and approve the default location for the installation.

  • Click Next.

  • A dialog asks you to specify languages and voices to install. With Windows systems, you can specify up to five voices.

    • af is an Africaans voice.

    • bs is a Bosnian voice.

    • ca is a Catalan voice.

    • cs is a Czech voice.

    • cy is a Welsh voice.

    • da is a Danish voice.

    • de is a German voice.

    • el is a Greek voice.

    • en is an English voice.

    • en-us is an American English voice.

    • eo is a Esperanto voice.

    • es is a Spanish voice.

    • es-la is a Spanish Latin American voice.

    • fi is a Finnish voice.

    • fr is a French voice.

    • fr-be is a French Belgian voice.

    • hi is a Hindi voice.

    • hr is a Croatian voice.

    • hu is a Hungarian voice.

    • hy is an Armenian voice.

    • hy-west is an Armenian-west voice.

    • id is an Indonesian voice.

    • is is an experimental Icelandic voice.

    • it is an Italian voice.

    • ka is a Georgian voice.

    • kn is a Kannada voice.

    • ku is a Kurdish voice.

    • la is a Latin voice.

    • lv is a Lativian voice.

    • mk is an experimental Macedonian voice.

    • ml is a Malayam voice.

    • nl is an experimental Dutch voice.

    • no is a Norwegian Bokmal voice.

    • pl is a Polish voice.

    • pt is a Brazilian Portuguese voice.

    • pt-pt is Portuguese voice.

    • ro is a Romanian voice.

    • ru is an experimental Russian voice.

    • sk is a Slovak voice.

    • sq is an Albanian voice.

    • sr is a Serbian voice.

    • sv is a Swedish voice.

    • sw is an experimental Swahili voice.

    • ta is a Tamil voice.

    • tr is a Turkish voice.

    • vi is a Vietnam voice.

    • zh is a Mandarin Chinese voice.

    • zh-yue is a Cantonese voice.

Testing and Learning about eSpeak

Once you have installed eSpeak, you can test the voices you installed with All Programs – eSpeak – TTSApp. The eSpeak command line program includes several options that can change the speed and pitch of eSpeak voices. For more information about the switches, you can visit the Sourceforge eSpeak documentation pages.

Using with Read Text Extension

If you are using the Read Text Extension with the default settings, it will use the default system voice at the default speed and pitch. To select an installed eSpeak voice, select it from the drop down menu on the main dialog. You can also select the speed. For example,

• • to speak using a specific SAPI5 voice like eSpeak-FR, under command line options choose

  • "(TTS_WSCRIPT_VBS)" /voice:"eSpeak-FR" /rate:-2 "(TMP)".

  • If you set the language of the text in LibreOffice or OpenOffice.org correctly, you can also get the extension to select a voice for you. Under cpmmand line options, choose

  • "(TTS_WSCRIPT_VBS)" /language:"(SELECTION_LANGUAGE_CODE)" /rate:-2 "(TMP)"