You can use Google Translate for more than just translating text; it will also create MP3 Audio files of your translation for you to use in your courses!
I just created a Screenr tutorial for you to view the process.
I discovered it when creating a "Welcome" sound file to play in my Adobe Connect metting lobby.
The Slovak translations Google provided were by far the most inaccurate of the group. Fortunately, my colleague there provided the correct translation for me. All I had to do was paste the revised text into the window, hit the listen button, and I had a new MP3 that was forced to the words I chose instead of those Google provided.
Looks promising once they build out their supported languages. However, they still rely on some other method to perform the actual translation.
Unitl then, it seems just as easy for me to click "translate" in google and locate their mp3 file as it would be to copy and paste translations here to accomplish the same result.
Does anyone have information regarding the terms of service / copyright associated with these exported files, if any? I think the google TTS voices are some of the most natural sounding voices out there, but there isn't much information on the legal parameters around using the files in commercial products, which includes elearning courses.
Also, below you will find another method for saving these files to your computer:
Replace "en" with the voice you want to use (eg: "en" for English, "it" for Italian, "fr" for French, etc..)
Replace the text in quotes at the end of the URL with the text that you want spoken (this has to be pre-translated text if you are looking to create foreign language outputs).
Press enter and you are directed to a page that looks like the screenshot below. Right-click anywhere on the page and select "Save Page As". The resulting file is an mp3 of the text.
Thanks for these instructions. I tried them this morning for a simple Chinese translation from English. I substituted "zh" for "en" and put my Traditional characters in quotes at the end. I got an .mp3 file and saved it to my desktop. The sound is correct, but it plays as an endless loop when I select it from my desktop. What did I do wrong ? The original .mp3 was a single soundbite playing only once. It is only an endless loop on my desktop when I saved it. I saved it with a right click and chose the "save audio as..." option. I am using Firefox 36.0 and Windows 7. Any ideas ??? Thanks.
Issue has been resolved. I needed to change the settings in Windows Media Player to single play only. It was on continuous play, and since this was just a single MP3 sound, it was playing endlessly. It now only plays once. Thanks.
You can try this site: http://soundoftext.com/ Just copy and paste your translated text from google translate into the box. Specify the language and hit submit. Listen to the file to make sure you have the right pronunciation. Click the save button to save your file.
12 Replies
What a cool tip, Owen. That's one to bookmark in the 'ol Translation Options folder
Thanks for sharing!
That is why we are here, right?
That is awesome - thanks for sharing Owen
I discovered it when creating a "Welcome" sound file to play in my Adobe Connect metting lobby.
The Slovak translations Google provided were by far the most inaccurate of the group. Fortunately, my colleague there provided the correct translation for me. All I had to do was paste the revised text into the window, hit the listen button, and I had a new MP3 that was forced to the words I chose instead of those Google provided.
I should add that after creating the MP3 files, I also sent them to a native speaker for approval / validation.
Lingbit it's a simple web page where You can create two languages MP3 files from google translate.
Lingbit.com
Looks promising once they build out their supported languages. However, they still rely on some other method to perform the actual translation.
Unitl then, it seems just as easy for me to click "translate" in google and locate their mp3 file as it would be to copy and paste translations here to accomplish the same result.
Hey there,
Does anyone have information regarding the terms of service / copyright associated with these exported files, if any? I think the google TTS voices are some of the most natural sounding voices out there, but there isn't much information on the legal parameters around using the files in commercial products, which includes elearning courses.
Also, below you will find another method for saving these files to your computer:
Use the following URL:
http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?tl=en&q="Your text"
Replace "en" with the voice you want to use (eg: "en" for English, "it" for Italian, "fr" for French, etc..)
Replace the text in quotes at the end of the URL with the text that you want spoken (this has to be pre-translated text if you are looking to create foreign language outputs).
Press enter and you are directed to a page that looks like the screenshot below. Right-click anywhere on the page and select "Save Page As". The resulting file is an mp3 of the text.
Thanks for these instructions. I tried them this morning for a simple Chinese translation from English. I substituted "zh" for "en" and put my Traditional characters in quotes at the end. I got an .mp3 file and saved it to my desktop. The sound is correct, but it plays as an endless loop when I select it from my desktop. What did I do wrong ? The original .mp3 was a single soundbite playing only once. It is only an endless loop on my desktop when I saved it. I saved it with a right click and chose the "save audio as..." option. I am using Firefox 36.0 and Windows 7. Any ideas ??? Thanks.
Issue has been resolved. I needed to change the settings in Windows Media Player to single play only. It was on continuous play, and since this was just a single MP3 sound, it was playing endlessly. It now only plays once. Thanks.
This is a great idea!
but has anyone tried out lately? seems i cannot locate the files using either Edge or Chrome? Would be grateful if anyone could share some suggestion.
You can try this site: http://soundoftext.com/
Just copy and paste your translated text from google translate into the box.
Specify the language and hit submit.
Listen to the file to make sure you have the right pronunciation.
Click the save button to save your file.
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