ReadSpeaker text-to-speech improves accessibility and interaction with learning content for all learners who choose to use speech technology to help them better engage with materials
* This release has been updated with the tribal names of several African languages. 12/6/22
BOSTON – November 28, 2022 – ReadSpeaker, the trusted, independent digital voice and text-to-speech provider for educational institutions and innovative brands worldwide, now offers its voice tools in 68 languages. The most recent additions are 11 South African tribal and native languages. ReadSpeaker also offers 245 different voices, the most recent of which is “Molly,” an expressive child’s voice (Click to listen to Molly read a section of text from Harry Potter).
These new voices and languages are important in education because they give learners options to choose a voice of their preference. “ReadSpeaker now offers so many voices and languages that millions more students can choose to hear their lessons read in a voice that resonates with them,” said Ginger Dewey, a 35-year veteran educator and now ReadSpeaker’s Educational Development Manager. “Having the option to use voice tools while learning makes it more equitable and accessible for everyone, not only for people needing accommodations.”
In fact, in the 2022 Students and Technology Report released by EDUCAUSE in October 2022, in a survey of 850 college-age students, “only 5% of respondents indicated that they have a disability for which they need assistive technology. However, when provided with a list of specific assistive technologies, every item on the list was selected as necessary by at least 18% of respondents.”
The 68 different languages now available through ReadSpeaker include:
- Afrikaans
- Arabic
- Basque
- Bulgarian
- Catalan
- Chinese (Cantonese)
- Chinese (Mandarin)
- Chinese (Taiwanese Mandarin)
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- Dutch (Belgium)
- English (AU)
- English (India)
- English (Ireland)
- English (New Zealand)
- English (Scotland)
- English (South Africa)
- English (UK)
- English (US)
- Farsi
- Finnish
- French
- French (Belgium)
- French (Canada)
- Frisian
- Galician
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Icelandic
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Latvian
- Norwegian (Bokmål)
- Norwegian (Nynorsk)
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Romanian
- Russian
- Sepedi
- Siswati
- Slovak
- * Sesotho
- * IsiNdebele
- Spanish (American)
- Spanish (Argentina)
- Spanish (Castilian)
- Spanish (Colombia)
- Spanish (Mexican)
- Swedish
- Thai
- * Xitsonga
- * Setswana
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Urdu
- * Tshivenda
- Vietnamese
- Welsh
- * IsiXhosa
- * IsiZulu
About ReadSpeaker
For over 20 years, ReadSpeaker has been giving a human-like synthetic voice to more than 10,000 education and industry applications in 70 countries. ReadSpeaker creates custom digital voices and offers more than 245 expressive off-the-shelf voices in over 68 languages to enhance the User Experience through engaging voice interactions. At colleges and universities, K-12 schools, and businesses, ReadSpeaker brings voice to websites and learning content. Learn more at ReadSpeaker.com or on LinkedIn and Twitter (@ReadSpeaker).
Media Contact
Jennifer Harrison for ReadSpeaker – jennifer at pandopublicrelations dot com
