How to Change the Language Used by Acrobat Read Aloud
Question details
The user wants to know how to change the voice and language settings for the Read Aloud feature in Adobe Acrobat, and understand why the reading fluency might be poor.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Attempting to have a PDF document read aloud in a specific language or trying to improve the text-to-speech pronunciation quality.
- Observed behavior
- Acrobat Read Aloud uses the default system voice, does not automatically translate text to another language, and may read words individually or ignore punctuation depending on the installed voice.
Confirm that the text in your PDF document is actually written in the language you want to hear, as Read Aloud is solely a text-to-speech engine and will not translate documents from one language to another.
Install and Configure a New OS Language Voice
Adobe Acrobat relies on the text-to-speech engine built into your operating system. You must install the desired language pack on your computer before selecting it in Acrobat.
Acrobat does not have its own independent language voices. The fluency, accent, and punctuation handling completely depend on the quality of the voice package installed on your Windows or Mac system.
Navigate to your computer's system settings (e.g., Windows Control Panel or Windows Settings) and go to the 'Time & Language' menu.
Select 'Language & Region', click on 'Add a language', and choose the specific language you want Acrobat to read in (such as Spanish or French).
Ensure that the 'Text-to-speech' option is checked and fully downloaded for the newly added language.
Open Adobe Acrobat, click 'Edit' in the top menu, and select 'Preferences'. Navigate to the 'Reading' category on the left sidebar.
Uncheck the 'Use default voice' option. Click the dropdown menu, select the newly installed language voice, and click 'OK' to apply the changes.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can Acrobat Read Aloud automatically translate my English PDF into Spanish?
No, Acrobat Read Aloud is strictly an accessibility feature designed for text-to-speech playback. It reads the text exactly as written and does not have translation capabilities.
Why does Read Aloud mispronounce words and ignore punctuation?
This usually happens because the operating system's text-to-speech voice being used is of lower quality or outdated. Acrobat relies entirely on the OS voice engine, so upgrading or changing the voice package in your system settings can improve fluency.
Why isn't my newly installed language voice appearing in Adobe Acrobat?
You may need to fully restart Adobe Acrobat after installing a new voice on your computer. Additionally, make sure you uncheck the 'Use default voice' setting under Edit > Preferences > Reading to reveal the complete list of installed voices.
