It is nearly two years since I first wrote here about WordTalk. Since then, I have worked hard to promote this powerful free text-to-speech plugin for Microsoft Word. WordTalk turns the Windows version of Microsoft Word into a talking word processor that highlights text as it is read. It includes a wonderful talking spell checker, and it can be accessed either with a mouse via icons on a toolbar, or with keyboard shortcuts.
I believe the learning supports provided by WordTalk ought to be available to ALL learners. So, I was delighted to learn yesterday from Karen Janowski that a new more feature rich version of WordTalk has been released recently by CALL Scotland. (Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning).
[Sadly, WordTalk works only in Windows versions of MS Word, and I have been unable to find a Mac alternative for WordTalk. If you are aware of anything that conveniently provides text-to-speech in any Mac word processor, please leave a comment here.]
WordTalk 4.2 is a free add-on for Microsoft Word that povides convenient text-to-speech. This offers powerful editing support for writers who can listen to what they have written. The talking spell checker is extremely helpful for writers who have difficulty identifying the correct spelling of a word from those listed in a typical spell checker.
WordTalk reads aloud any file open in Word, and it works in all versions of the program from Word 97 through Word 2007. I have successfully used free OCR software to scan text into Word in order to have it read aloud with WordTalk. With one of the new features in version 4.2, WordTalk will also convert text to either .wav or mp3 audio files, for use on audio players away from the computer.
WordTalk’s features can be accessed via buttons on a toolbar or with keyboard shortcuts.
Toolbar in MS Word 97, 2000, and 2003
Toolbar buttons, or associated keyboard shortcuts, allow text to be read continuously, by paragraph, by sentence or by individual word. Any selected text can also be read. The user can choose from a range of preferred settings–colour of highlighting as text is read, reading rate and volume, and whether or not WordTalk will echo letters/words/sentences as they are typed. Now there is also the option of having words spoken when double-clicked and of spell-checking a word with a right-click.
Some of the options mentioned above are new in Version 4.2. Also new is the ability for a user to save his or her settings. It is noteworthy that the new version is a little easier to install than the original. WordTalk offers extensive and very helpful documentation and online support.
So far, I have been unable to load version 4.2 of WordTalk into MS Word 2007 running on XP. I believe that the issue is that I am not running 2007 in Vista; and I am hoping that this glitch will be resolved soon. The screenshot below shows the WordTalk toolbar in Word 2007, where it opens from the ‘Add-Ins’ tab.
February 22, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I really like Tex-Edit for Mac OSX. It is only $15.00 for a single user, but I bought the site license for $150.00, and can give it to all of our 300+ special ed classrooms. It is a very good word processor, and has lots of text-to-speech options, including the ability to add sound clips into your document, so teachers can add voice notes, or students can give oral responses. Not free, but almost!
February 22, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Thanks very much, Marilou, for this helpful information for all the Mac users out there. It’s much appreciated, and I want to check it out for myself. –Paul
February 22, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I love WordTalk, and the new version is even better! For Mac, you can use the built-in text-to-speech functionality in Mac OSX 10.5. From the Systems Preferences, pick Speech (in the System section, has an old-fashioned microphone icon.) Pick the Text-to-Speech tab and check the box labeled “Speak selected text when key pressed” Click the Set Key button to set the key combination to use to trigger the functionality. I use Option-S With this set, I can click and drag to select as much text as I want to in any application, press Option-S, and it is read aloud. Words are NOT highlighted as read, and the user has to have the motor skills required to click and drag, then type the trigger key combination. You also can’t have words or letters typed aloud as you type (which the new WordTalk DOES now, yeah!) So not an equivalent, but it is free. I know it works in 10.5, and it may work in earlier OSX versions as well.
Another good tool is GhostReader from ConvenienceWare. (www.convenienceware.com) $39, will read with highlighting. A demo version is available. Don’t know much more about it, for example, whether it performs the highlighting in the original application or works by copying selected text into its own window.
February 23, 2009 at 1:52 am
Jennifer, this is helpful information indeed. For too long, I’ve been avoiding the Mac world because I know so little about it. I’m grateful that you have posted these helpful suggestions here for readers of my blog. –Paul
February 23, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Paul,
I totally missed the new options that are part of WordTalk 4.2! They make this program all the more useful. I love the ability to right click within the misspelled word to access the Talking SpellChecker and Talking Thesaurus. I may need to redo the WordTalk video on my blog.
Thank you so much for adding to our knowledge base. This tool should be on EVERY Windows computer in EVERY school (especially since they all seem to have Word).
February 24, 2009 at 10:56 am
Paul, I’m really excited to learn about and explore tools that make text accessible to all readers. Thank you, Gail Desler
February 24, 2009 at 11:06 am
(This very helpful note came via email, so I’ve copied it here for the benefit of blog readers.)
Hi Paul,
I understand that Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 (or perhaps any version of ‘Office) does not work with Apple’s built-in AT VoiceOver – however the widely freely available OpenOffice.org 3.0 does! I have just installed it on the Department’s MacBook used to introduce alternative technologies to Visually Impaired Students.
(I am hoping at some stage to persuade my manager to look at UltimateEdition 2.0 or 1.9 based on Ubuntu – it is one of the few Linux distros that successfully runs AT at point of boot when running live.)
http://ultimateedition.info/ultimate-edition-20/
Or, /ultimate-edition-19/
Regards,
jblake