[Athen] Need Tips: Preparing JAWS-ready beginning Spanish textbook (Accessible PDF)

[Joseph Polizzotto]

Joseph-


1.    "Matching" mini-exercises that ask the reader to match items in the first column to a list of choices in the second.

How about adding a heading style to the title before the set of questions and to the title before the answers? In that way, a student could quickly navigate to the question set, find the number question they want (an ordered list), and then navigate out to the beginning of the answers.

Additionally, I'm concerned about the book's use of mixed Spanish and English within the same sentence. I know that JAWS (at least v12 and up) has a Spanish voice (Paulina) and is capable of reading Spanish comprehensibly. However, I'm concerned about the Spanish voice's pronunciation of English words. (I've heard the English voice butcher Spanish words).

I also recommend creating a DAISY or EPUB book, where all of the Spanish language parts (and the rest of the book too) have been voiced by high quality synthesized voices. I recommend the SAPI 5 voices by Ivona<http://harposoftware.com/en/>. For creating an EPUB book with a lot of language switching, I recommend Voice Recorder Studio by Linguatec<http://www.linguatec.net/products/tts/voice_reader/vrs15>. This product makes adding all of the language switching tags very easy. Among other features, you can create speaker profiles (with varying voice speed, pitch, volume, and pausing), customize the pronunciation dictionary, add pauses to the ends of sentences, and export to EPUB. It integrates into  MS Word too! Alas the program is expensive ($500), and any additional voices you purchase to use with the program must be bought at the same price as the program itself. (Any voices you have purchased that are not packaged with Voice Recorder Studio will not be available in the program.)  The command line utility tool for batch processing is also $500.

Alternatively, you could try using Balabolka to create the MP3s for your EPUB, as that program has some handy Direct Speech and Foreign Words features under the text menu. You can do a quick find and replace search to add the English SAPI  5 voice instead. The language tag syntax in Balabolka is: <voice required="Name=IVONA 2 name_of_voice">.

For playback of your EPUB book, I recommend Readium<https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readium/fepbnnnkkadjhjahcafoaglimekefifl?hl=en-US>.

Have fun!

Joseph Polizzotto
Associate Professor, Learning Skills
High Tech Center Access Specialist
Taft College
29 Cougar Court
Taft CA 93268
661-763-7977 (work)
408-504-7404 (cell)
661-763-7758 (fax)
jpolizzotto at taftcollege.edu<mailto:jpolizzotto at taftcollege.edu>




From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Nast, Joseph M
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 3:55 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Need Tips: Preparing JAWS-ready beginning Spanish textbook (Accessible PDF)

Title: Puntos de partida: An Invitation to Spanish
Author: Dorwick, Thalia; Pérez-Gironés, Ana María; Becher, Anne
ISBN13: 9780073385419
Beyond simply using my OmniPage Pro to save\convert the publisher's non-accessible PDF to the tagged, searchable flavor, I was wondering if those wiser than me (meaning everyone) have any tips\best practices to offer regarding possibly problematic visual elements of the textbook, such as:


1.    "Matching" mini-exercises that ask the reader to match items in the first column to a list of choices in the second.

2.    Textbook's use of text color to tag important elements (quote: "Note the use of red to highlight aspects of Spanish that you should pay special attention to").

Additionally, I'm concerned about the book's use of mixed Spanish and English within the same sentence. I know that JAWS (at least v12 and up) has a Spanish voice (Paulina) and is capable of reading Spanish comprehensibly. However, I'm concerned about the Spanish voice's pronunciation of English words. (I've heard the English voice butcher Spanish words).

Any pointers are much appreciated. Thanks!



Joseph M. Nast<mailto:joseph.m.nast at lonestar.edu>
Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator
office phone: 281.290.3207
office room number: CASA 109j
Lone Star College Cy Fair<http://cyfair.lonestar.edu/>
Counseling, Career, and Disability Services<http://www.lonestar.edu/counseling-services.htm>

The information in this e-mail is legally privileged and confidential information intended to be reviewed by only the individual or organization named above.

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