This wikiHow teaches you how to set up and use the Text-to-Speech (TTS) feature on your Android smartphone or tablet. Currently, there are not many applications that use TTS technology as a whole. However, you can use it with Google Play Books, Google Translate, and TalkBack.
Step
Method 1 of 4: Setting the Text to Speech Feature
Step 1. Open the device settings menu or “Settings”
This menu is indicated by the gray gear icon which is usually on the page/app drawer. However, these menu icons may look different if you apply a different theme.
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You can also swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the gear icon in the top right corner
Android7settings
Step 2. Swipe the screen and select “Accessibility”
It's at the bottom of the page, next to the stick figure icon.
Step 3. Touch Text-to-speech output
This option is above the “Display” section of the page.
Step 4. Select a TTS engine
If the phone manufacturer or manufacturer provides a built-in Text-to-Speech engine, you may see more than one option. Touch the Text-to-Speech engine from Google or an engine provided by the device manufacturer.
Step 5. Touch
This gear icon is next to the selected TTS engine. The machine setup menu will be displayed afterwards.
Step 6. Touch Install voice data
This option is the last option in the TTS engine settings menu.
Step 7. Select the language
Voice data for the selected language will be installed to the device.
Step 8. Touch
next to the sound set.
This down arrow icon is next to each sound set you can download. The set will be downloaded to the device afterwards. Wait for a few minutes for the sound set to install.
- If you don't see the download icon, the sound set is already installed on your phone.
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If you want to delete a downloaded sound set, just touch the trash icon
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Step 9. Touch the downloaded sound set and select a sound
Once the set is downloaded to the device, touch the set again to select the available sound options. When you touch an option, you can hear a sample sound through the device's speaker. In most languages, there are usually several male and female voice options to choose from.
Step 10. Touch OK
It's in the lower-right corner of the pop-up window.
Method 2 of 4: Using TalkBack
Step 1. Open the device settings menu (“Settings”)
This menu is indicated by a gray gear icon which is usually displayed on the device's page/app drawer. This menu icon may look different if you apply a different theme.
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You can also swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the gear icon in the top right corner
Android7settings
Step 2. Swipe the screen and select “Accessibility”
It's at the bottom of the page, next to the stick figure icon.
Step 3. Touch TalkBack
This option is in the " Services " section.
Step 4. Enable TalkBack
Touch the switch next to the “TalkBack” option to the on position (“ON”) to enable TalkBack. Once TalkBack is on, your device can read aloud any text or options that are displayed on the screen.
When the switch is in the active or “ON” position, the knob will shift to the right
Step 5. Use TalkBack
To use TalkBack, just use your phone as usual, except for the following features:
- Touch or slide the screen with your finger so the device can read aloud the text or content on the screen.
- Double-tap the app icon to open it.
- Browse the panels on the home screen using two fingers.
Method 3 of 4: Using Google Play Books
Step 1. Open Google Play Books
The app is marked by a blue “play” triangle icon with a bookmark in it.
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If your device doesn't have the Google Play Books app, you can download it for free from the Google Play Store
Androidgoogleplay
Step 2. Touch the Library tab
This tab looks like a stack of paper at the bottom of the screen.
Step 3. Touch the book
After that, the book will be opened in the Books application.
If you haven't purchased any books yet, open the Google Play Store, and tap the “Books " tab at the top of the screen. Search for the book title or author name in the search bar at the top of the screen, or browse through the content available in the store. There are many books which you can get on the "Top Free" tab
Step 4. Touch the page
After that, the page navigation window will be displayed.
Step 5. Touch
It's in the upper-right corner of the navigation window. The options for the currently open book are displayed.
Step 6. Touch Read aloud
It's in the lower half of the Books app menu. The text in the book will be read aloud using the currently selected Text-to-Speech engine.
- Touch the page to stop reading, or swipe down from the top of the screen and press the pause button in the notification drawer.
- Touch " ⋮, then select " stop reading aloud ” to end the crossword reading.
Method 4 of 4: Using Google Translate
Step 1. Open Google Translate
These apps are indicated by the letter “G” icon next to the Chinese characters.
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If you don't have the Google Translate app on your phone, download it for free from the Google Play Store
Androidgoogleplay
Step 2. Touch
on the left side of the screen and select a language.
Select the small down arrow icon next to the first language on the left side of the screen to open the list of source languages.
By default, the selected language is the phone's primary language (eg English or Indonesian)
Step 3. Touch
on the right side and select the language you want to translate to.
By default, the selected destination language is the second most frequently spoken language in your country/city (eg English or Javanese)
Step 4. Type in the word or phrase you want to translate
Touch the field labeled " Tap to enter text " and enter the word or phrase in the source language that you want to translate to the destination language. The text will be translated to the selected destination language in the box below which is marked in blue.
Step 5. Touch
above the translated text.
In the second box with subtitles, touch the speaker icon. The mobile TTS engine will read out the translated text in the destination language.
