Fix a mispronounced word

You add a pronunciation guide to a question, then check it in the spoken script and the status bar. At the end, you can fix a word that a voice says wrong with any of the three kinds of guide. This tutorial takes about 15 minutes and needs Cloudy Reader open with a voice installed.

Before you start

A pronunciation guide is text in square brackets right after a word. The app takes each guide out of the text and uses it. The voice never says the brackets.

You check every guide in two places: the Spoken script view and the status bar. If the view is closed, click Spoken script to open it.

Add a phonetic respelling

A phonetic respelling writes the sounds of a word in plain English letters. Join the syllables with hyphens, and write the stressed syllable in capitals. Copy this line:

In eukaryotic cells, the reactions of the Krebs cycle [KREBZ SY-kul] take place in which part of the mitochondrion?

1. Select the line above and press Command-C.

2. Click Paste.

3. Press Command-Return.

   The status bar shows “Playing n s.” with no warning.

4. Read the Spoken script.

   It shows “In eukaryotic cells, the reactions of the Krebs cycle take place in which part of the mitochondrion?” The brackets are gone, and the printed words stay.

The script keeps the printed words because the voice receives the sounds from the guide separately. A phonetic respelling covers its word in the same part of the question: the stem, one choice, or the answer line. Write the guide again where the word appears in another part, or in another question of a paste.

See a guide warning

The app refuses a respelling in which every syllable is in capitals, because it shows no stress. Copy this line:

The mineral olivine [OL-UH-VEEN] is common in the upper mantle.

1. Select the line above and press Command-C.

2. Click Paste.

3. Press Command-Return.

   The status bar shows a warning in place of “Playing”: “Warning: No pronunciation for respelling [OL-UH-VEEN]: ‘olivine’ is spoken plain.” The warning stays after the sound ends.

The warning names the guide that the app could not use and the word it spoke plain.

The reading still plays, and the voice says “olivine” without your guide. The app never guesses: it uses a respelling or it speaks the word plain.

Fix the guide by capitalizing only the stressed syllable. Copy this line:

The mineral olivine [OL-uh-veen] is common in the upper mantle.

1. Select the line above and press Command-C.

2. Click Paste.

3. Press Command-Return.

   The status bar shows “Playing n s.” and the warning is gone.

Replace an expression with say-as words

A say-as guide gives the words to say in place of the printed expression. Copy this line:

x2 [x squared] plus 4 2/7 [4 and two-sevenths]

1. Select the line above and press Command-C.

2. Click Paste.

3. Press Command-Return.

   The status bar shows “Playing n s.” with no warning.

4. Read the Spoken script.

   It shows “x squared plus 4 and two-sevenths”. The words from the brackets take the place of x2 and 4 2/7.

Without the two guides, the script reads “x squared plus four and two sevenths”. A say-as guide replaces one occurrence of its expression in the same part: the first one. Put the guide after the first occurrence.

Spell an abbreviation

A spell guide makes the app say each letter. Without a guide, a Kokoro voice says the abbreviation SEM as the word “sem”, and a Piper voice spells it. Copy this line:

What kind of beam does the SEM [S.E.M.] scan across a sample?

1. Select the line above and press Command-C.

2. Click Paste.

3. Press Command-Return.

   The status bar shows “Playing n s.” with no warning.

4. Read the Spoken script.

   It shows “What kind of beam does the S E M scan across a sample?” With the guide, a Kokoro voice and a Piper voice both spell the letters.

The Piper voices say the abbreviation ETC as “et cetera” until you add [E.T.C.], and a Kokoro voice already spells it. In a spell guide, digits become number words: [H-2-S] gives “H two S”.

What you learned

• A guide is text in square brackets right after the word or expression it describes.
• A phonetic respelling sets the sounds: hyphens between syllables, and the stressed syllable in capitals.
• A say-as guide replaces the printed expression with the words in brackets. A spell guide says each letter.
• Say-as and spell guides change the Spoken script. A phonetic respelling leaves the printed word there.
• A guide the app cannot use raises a warning in the status bar, and the word is spoken plain.

Next steps

• Pronunciation guides lists the exact syntax and every warning.
• Pronunciation examples shows what the app says for formulas, units, and fractions.
• Status messages explains every message in the status bar.