Newsroom Update
Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, matching watch face, and dynamic iOS and iPadOS wallpapers as a way to champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more >
Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, matching watch face, and dynamic iOS and iPadOS wallpapers as a way to champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more >
Announcement
Introducing the iPad Pro with Apple M4 chip, the redesigned iPad Air in two sizes, and the all‑new Apple Pencil Pro. Watch the event >
Introducing the iPad Pro with Apple M4 chip, the redesigned iPad Air in two sizes, and the all‑new Apple Pencil Pro. Watch the event >
I use an app for learning Spanish verbs called Ella. When the app speaks, it speaks with a Castilian accent. I would like it to speak with a Latin American accent. How do I change it? I currently have no languages on my iPad other than English.
iPad Pro 11-inch Wi-Fi
See if there is a Latin American choice in the Voices options
Hear iPad speak the screen, selected text, and typing feedback - Apple Support
See if there is a Latin American choice in the Voices options
Hear iPad speak the screen, selected text, and typing feedback - Apple Support
There are many Latin American accents. Colombian, Chilean, Mexican, Uruguayan; they’re distinct. Grammar and slang vary, too.
For this case, the pronunciation is almost certainly provided from within the app itself, and not from Apple.
Here, the vendor providing Ella Verbs app are located in Spain and not Latin America, so Castilian and Vosotros is to be expected.
The vendor provides a website and feedback email address in the app store entry for the app. Start there.
MrHoffman, thank you for responding. There are indeed many Latin American accents. There are in fact a variety of Spanish accents within the Iberian Peninsula. But there is at least one aspect of pronunciation in which most Latin American accents differ from most (but not all) Iberian accents, and that is in the pronunciation of “c” and “z”. In Iberian Spanish these letters are sometimes pronounced with a “th” sound, which is sometimes (regrettably) referred to as the “Spanish Lisp”. Apple recognizes this distinction by offering two Spanish voices, one from “Spain”, with the “lisp”, and one from Mexico, without it. Mr. Gewecke’s response above put me on the right track. Cheers
Well aware. Listening to Aitana and Joy cantando en español, for instance; the former uses the th, while the latter does not.
Same thing happens with English speakers in the US, where I can’t understand some of the English accents and they can’t understand mine (though the unexpected dinner order was delicious), and I always sound “from away” to others. Was listening to what I thought was a singer from Boston a while back, and she was from northern England. Whoops.
I’ve come to accept that my own accent will always be atrocious.
Back to your concern… If the app is using the Apple voice synthesis pronunciations as it appears, well, go for it. I’d still expect issues absent time spent listening to and talking with some of the locals. The Apple voice synthesizer is quite good, but will definitely miss regional accents. Most of the apps I’ve worked with embed recordings of native speakers, which I prefer to the synthesizers.
Contact the app developer for questions about their app or suggestions for features. How to contact an app developer - Apple Support
That did it. Thank you!
How to change how an app pronounces a specific language. Latin American Spanish pronunciation.
