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Re: Language Switching with Screen Readers

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From: Joe Humbert (A11y)
Date: Mar 29, 2021 9:29AM

Hi Leslie,

I have not intentionally downloaded and voices or languages on my Macbook pro.

I also reset all of my VoiceOver settings to factory default and tested my test page again. Here are my results

Navigating the page one element at a time using Ctrl + Option + right arrow (standard forward navigation), VoiceOver reads the English heading and text in English then automatically (with no extra keystrokes) reads the French heading and text passage in French.

I added a section as you described. One group of words in English then One in Spanish (in the same paragraph) and when I navigate to that paragraph, VoiceOver reads the English text in English and the Spanish text in Spanish automatically switching between the languages

It automatically switches for the two list items as well with the mixed languages.

I have coded the page with a default language of English and the sections with different languages with the appropriate language attributes of each language (lang="fr" for French and lang="es" for Spanish).

I created my test page to see if VoiceOver would automatically switch languages because Glen said he didn't have a Mac to test on. This page was not meant to solve your specific issue.

Thankx,
Joe Humbert, CPWA
Accessibility Champion
Android & iOS Accessibility Novice
Twitter: @joehumbert

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Schulz, Leslie
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2021 9:43 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Language Switching with Screen Readers

To Glen Walker,
Yes, I would like the screen reader to change voices while teaching a language, so one word in English and its definition in Spanish or similar situations.

I will look into using the Rotor.
I can manually switch from one language to another in Mac Voiceover, but it is an all of nothing for me.

For NVDA, you must change the Synthesizer to eSpeak NG.
http://espeak.sourceforge.net/
You may also have to download some voices/languages.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Leslie

To Joe Humbert:
Voiceover on MacOs v10.15.7 switches for you automatically.
It does NOT switch for me.
I have downloaded languages.
I have downloaded voices.
I have tried to find a toggle to turn on language switching.
In another group, I was sent a screen shot that showed a toggle, but it was for the iPad.
I believe the iPad and the iPhone easily support language switching.

If you are using a MacBook Pro laptop, then I still wish for insight as to where the settings are that I am missing.

The page you sent shows English all in one paragraph and Francais all in one paragraph.
I know there is a keyboard shortcut to first read all English and then use the keyboard shortcut to switch to the other language. I don't know if that is how you are reading those 2 paragraphs. But that is not what I need. I need the language switching to take place from 1 word or phrase to the next, back and forth. I can get this to work in both JAWS and NVDA, but not VoiceOver.

The tall boys-los muchachos altos

The tall girls-las muchachas altas

Thank you, Joe,
Leslie

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Friday, March 26, 2021 1:00 PM
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Subject: [EXTERNAL] WebAIM-Forum Digest, Vol 192, Issue 19

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