Text to Speech in German

To get selected text to an audio file, you create an Automator Service that uses the following Automator Library actions in the following sequence:

1. Text (10.11.6) or TextEdit (10.12.3) Library

   Text to Audio File

2. Music (10.11.6), or QuickTime Player (10.12.3) Library

   Encode to MPEG Audio

1. From the Dock, Launchpad: Other : Automator
2. New Document : Service : Choose
3. In the left panel, locate the appropriate library from above, and the Text to Audio File action. Click, and drag/drop that action into the larger, right-hand workflow window.
   1. Configure to Petra's voice
   2. Pick a standard name for your output audio file
   3. I would suggest Desktop for the location.
   4. Only file format for this action is .aiff.
4. Locate the Encode to MPEG Audio action, and drag/drop it below the Text to Audio File action.
   1. Configure as shown below.
   2. Will convert the .aiff audio format to .m4a.
5. Removes .aiff file after conversion.
6. Save your Automator Service as the name Text to Audio. This name will appear on the application Services menu when text is selected.
7. Quit Automator.
8. Test your action on some German text.