English Text-To-Voice MT

English Text-To-Voice MT is a lightweight text-to-speech application that promises to deliver clear and accurate text reading technology. Using a powerful text-to-speech engine, it can easily read out loud whole texts in English.

The application only works in the command console, but even beginner users should have no difficulty getting accustomed with it. Despite this, you can still copy and paste a text from another location by clicking on the icon in the main window and selecting the designated option. Not having to type it all manually is a real advantage. The same menu enables you to mark parts of the text, select it all or perform keyword searches within it.

What this program actually does is use the capabilities of Windows Media Player in order to read the text you typed. All that you have to do is write the text to be spoken and press the ‘Enter’ key to have it read out loud.

The technology it relies on is powerful enough to speak phrases as a unit, but its accuracy depends on the phrase structure, since most words, such as prepositions, articles, names and pronouns can only be pronounced individually. On the other hand, you might hear the meaning of some words you type or paste and not the word itself.

The practical usage of English Text-To-Voice MT is related to education, as the application can be of great assistance to those who are planning on learning English and want to hear the correct pronunciation of words, with accurate stressing and accent preserving. Along with from written tests, exercises, CDs and other similar tools, it can give you a helping hand when it comes to English pronunciation practice.

On the downside, the application only runs in the command line and its accuracy is not quite impressive, since it often fails to read some words in the text you input. There are text-to-speech applications out there that feature an actual intuitive GUI to enhance the user experience.