Read This!

You might not have the time to actually sit and read text strings of interest, case in which having it read to you is a suitable solution. On the bright side of things, there are an abundance of applications out there which offer text-to-speech capabilities, and Read This! one of them, while also offering translation and save options.

Setup is first required to make the application work. Note, however, that your computer needs to be fitted with .NET Framework. It can be launched right afterwards, and it’s a good idea to make sure you’re connected to the Internet, because the program needs to log in to its servers for language detection, and even translation.

As far as the visual design is concerned, the set of features is stored in a custom-made interface, which make it easy for individuals of all levels of experience to quickly get the hang of things. A sample text string is there to help you get familiar with the text-to-speech function, as well as with translation capabilities.

A drop-down menu help you select the speech language, and there’s a decent variety of items to choose from. Note, however, that the text also needs to be in that particular language, because translation is not performed here. You can adjust the volume of speech, and even to save the recording as a WAV file.

Choosing to add part brings up a new window. Here, you get the chance to write the text string you want to be spoken, and it’s even possible to perform translation. The application can detect the input language, but you don’t necessarily have to translate it. Sadly, the list of voice languages is smaller than items in the dictionary.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that Read This! is a reliable text-to-speech program. It can read nearly anything you provide in an impressive variety of languages, and also offers to translate custom strings to a language of interest.