Problem

You wish to use JAWS with Microsoft Word to read documents in another language besides English. This guide assumes you are using either Microsoft Word or an Internet browser to read the document. In either of the two situations JAWS is set by default to automatically switch and speak another language where a compatible speech engine is available.

Resolution

JAWS can be made to speak using different language voices. It may depend upon what the language requirement is and whether it is currently installed. Please see the pre-requisites section below for further details about the conditions under which this works.

JAWS Language switching Pre-Requisites:

• JAWS must have “Detect Language” enabled in the “Settings Centre” this is set by default already. You can search in “Settings Centre” for the word “Detect” and use down arrow to alight on the setting to find out how it is set in case this may have been changed.
• You must have a speech synthesizer installed that supports the language being used eg. Eloquence. The list of languages supported by Eloquence are: English (UK and US), French (Canadian), French (European), Finnish, German, Castilian Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese. Other languages support using alternative speech engines available here:
  https://support.freedomscientific.com/Downloads/Synthesizers
• You must be using Microsoft Word or a web page document that has the relevant language codes embedded.
  Microsoft Word can work with multiple languages in a document. The whole or only part of a document can be marked for a specific language. When JAWS comes across the embedded codes it can switch to a compatible speech engine where available.

Method 1 - using task search search

1. Open a Word document that has more two or more languages in it.
2. Find the text that needs to sspoken in a speciric language and highlight the portion of text to se the proofing language using SHIFT+ARROW keys.
3. Press ALT+Q to open the task search feature.
4. Then search "Proofing language" but without the quotes.
5. Press down arrow to Proofing language and press ENTER.
6. Selectg the desired language and press ENTER to dismiss it.

Method 2 - using the ribbon menus

1. In Microsoft Word open the document you wish to work with.
2. If the entire document needs to be in a specific language press CONTROL+A to highlight all text and skip to step 4 below.
3. If only some text is required in a different language highlight the text passage to be changed.
4. Press ALT to open the ribbon and press right arrow to move to Review ribbon tab and press ENTER.
5. Press CONTROL+RIGHT arrow to move to the Language group in the ribbon bar.
6. Press right arrow to get to Language button and press spacebar on it.
7. Then press down arrow to Translate then preess right for Language and presss ENTER.
8. Then press ENTER on Proofing language option.
9. In the language dialogue press arrow keys to select the desired language.
10. Then press TAB key until you get to the “OK” button and press spacebar
11. If the document has multiple sections in a different language repeat steps 2 through 8 as required.
12. Then save the document with your changes.
13. Review the document with the cursor keys to check JAWS switches language correctly.