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User profile for user: anv77
anv77 Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Spoken Content does not work properly in Russian

Since I recently updated my iMac 18,3 to Big Sur 11.1, I've been experiencing a glitchy behavior with Spoken content > Speak selection. I the past, this feature was called Speech. I've also noticed the whole section has been seriously revamped.


I use it in Russian by selecting the whole text field in a browser or in Memsource translation application with Cmd+A, and then launch the voice engine with a custom shortcut Cmd+F1.


In some fields (they are always quite short, like 1 to 3 words) an English voice is activated instead of Russian, and I can hear something like: Cyrillic letter P, Cyrillic letter E, etc. I happens despite I've deleted all the English voices.


Anyone experiencing the same thing? Would there be any way to fix it?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Dec 18, 2020 7:06 AM

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User profile for user: rozhasi
rozhasi
User level: Level 1
43 points

Posted on Dec 25, 2020 12:27 PM

So, on this Christmas Day of 2020, I was able to find a workaround! Enjoy this Christmas present from me to you.


In most native maOS applications in macOS Big Sur, there are two menu items:

Edit > Speech > Start Speaking

Edit > Speech > Stop Speaking


We can leverage these menu items to get macOS Big Sur to pronounce the words we select in that application with the System Voice that we select in System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options.


Therefore:

  • If you use the keyboard shortcut that assigned in System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options (default is Option + Esc), the behavior or the System Voice that you invoke to read the selected text is inconsistent and often the wrong language/system voice is used in Big Sur.
  • If you use the menu item located in your application > Edit > Speech > Start Speaking, then the System Voice that you invoke to read the selected text is always consistent and the correct language/system voice is used in Big Sur. The System Voice invoke in this way is the System Voice that you have selected in System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options.


It's possible to assign a custom shortcut to the menu Start Speaking located in your application Edit > Speech > Start Speaking.


This is how it's done:


  1. Navigate to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts (last on the list of types of shortcuts)
  2. Click on the "+" sign at the bottom of the right-hand pane of the window
  3. In the new dialog window that opens:
  • under Application: select All Applications
  • under Menu Title: type in Start Speaking
  • place the mouse pointer in the field next to Keyboard Shortcut: and enter the shortcut you want to use to properly invoke the System Voice to read a selected text in every application that has this menu item.


Note: The default shortcut assigned in Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options (Option + Esc) cannot be used here. So, leave that shortcut alone and come up with a new shortcut that is convenient for you to use. Personally, I chose Cmd Option Spacebar, and this shortcut works perfectly.


  • (Optional Step) If you want to create another shortcut for Stop Speaking, repeat the procedure described above but create a new entry under All Applications and name it Stop Speaking. Then assign another shortcut to it.

Note: Personally, I chose (Command Option Control Spacebar).


I hope this procedure will give you something to enjoy at the end of this awful 2020.

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User profile for user: rozhasi
rozhasi
User level: Level 1
43 points

Dec 25, 2020 12:27 PM in response to anv77

So, on this Christmas Day of 2020, I was able to find a workaround! Enjoy this Christmas present from me to you.


In most native maOS applications in macOS Big Sur, there are two menu items:

Edit > Speech > Start Speaking

Edit > Speech > Stop Speaking


We can leverage these menu items to get macOS Big Sur to pronounce the words we select in that application with the System Voice that we select in System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options.


Therefore:

  • If you use the keyboard shortcut that assigned in System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options (default is Option + Esc), the behavior or the System Voice that you invoke to read the selected text is inconsistent and often the wrong language/system voice is used in Big Sur.
  • If you use the menu item located in your application > Edit > Speech > Start Speaking, then the System Voice that you invoke to read the selected text is always consistent and the correct language/system voice is used in Big Sur. The System Voice invoke in this way is the System Voice that you have selected in System Preferences > Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options.


It's possible to assign a custom shortcut to the menu Start Speaking located in your application Edit > Speech > Start Speaking.


This is how it's done:


  1. Navigate to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts (last on the list of types of shortcuts)
  2. Click on the "+" sign at the bottom of the right-hand pane of the window
  3. In the new dialog window that opens:
  • under Application: select All Applications
  • under Menu Title: type in Start Speaking
  • place the mouse pointer in the field next to Keyboard Shortcut: and enter the shortcut you want to use to properly invoke the System Voice to read a selected text in every application that has this menu item.


Note: The default shortcut assigned in Accessibility > Spoken Content: Speak Selection > Options (Option + Esc) cannot be used here. So, leave that shortcut alone and come up with a new shortcut that is convenient for you to use. Personally, I chose Cmd Option Spacebar, and this shortcut works perfectly.


  • (Optional Step) If you want to create another shortcut for Stop Speaking, repeat the procedure described above but create a new entry under All Applications and name it Stop Speaking. Then assign another shortcut to it.

Note: Personally, I chose (Command Option Control Spacebar).


I hope this procedure will give you something to enjoy at the end of this awful 2020.

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User profile for user: anv77
anv77 Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Dec 20, 2020 7:27 AM in response to anv77

I'd like to point out there is another long-standing bug.


The structures like <color=#efe275>слово</color> (Cyrillic words surrounded by code) were always spelled in an incomprehensible way, like a mix of English and Russian letters, in any position and in every program.


Now I can see this has changed: in some cases, they are spelled incorrectly; in some other ones, an English voice spells the English part, and the Russian voice — the Russian part.


This might be the new behavior in macOS, but it does not yet work consistently and has also resulted in the above bug.

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User profile for user: anv77
anv77 Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Dec 21, 2020 1:43 PM in response to anv77

Further testing has shown that this only happens if macOS interface is set to English. But I'm almost certain it's a recent development, as I use the English interface most of the time. If I switch to the Russian or Ukrainian interface, the text is read correctly (at least, that's how it was during my short testing).


The second issue, with Cyrillic text surrounded by code, remains the same, i.e. the text is read incorrectly. No changes from previous macOS versions.


Thus, I'll keep in mind that if I want to use TTS in macOS, I have to switch from the English interface. It's clearly a bug.


I'd like to add that I do not use Mac TTS too often and find Windows TTS in Parallels far superior. No bugs, but I need to copy the text into an MS Office application, like Excel or Word.

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User profile for user: anv77
anv77 Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Dec 30, 2020 1:49 PM in response to rozhasi

Thank you for finding and writing down this workaround in such detail! I finally got to my computer to try this solution, and it works great.


It looks like Apple have (unintentionally) split one text to speech feature into two: Speech and Spoken Content. I've seen other untested and buggy features in recent macOS updates, especially related to languages and accessibility, so I'm not surprised.


I won't probably be able to use Mac TTS a lot, since 99% of the time I'm not in native apps, and not many applications I use have this Speech menu item. For example, it is not available in Parallels or even in MS Word for Mac.


Let's hope Apple fixes it one day. Till then, I'll have to fully switch to Windows TTS.


Thanks again for your help!

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Spoken Content does not work properly in Russian

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