[Athen] Conversion of Chinese

Wink Harner foreigntype at gmail.com
Fri Aug 16 12:34:25 PDT 2019


Chinese alt text conversion

Hi Rachel,

I am a former foreign language instructor and before that, a multilingual
certified translator running a foreign language typesetting company.

My first question to you is which Chinese is being taught? Traditional?
Simplified? Cantonese? You could get this answer from the instructor I
should think.

Next question is what form of alt text does the student need? TTS, JAWS or
other screen reader accessible, Braille?

And then what type of computer (Apple or Windows) is the student using?

My answers below are aimed at a Windows OS:
For simple TTS, Balabolka (free) will read both Simplified and Traditional
Chinese. Document must be in MSW format and you must have appropriate SAPI
4 or 5 voices installed. Here's a link:
https://blog.ecu.edu/sites/whiteph15/2018/05/20/balabolks-free-pc-text-to-speech-application/

If the student is a screen reader user, NVDA has recorded bugs in switching
from Chinese to English & back. Open source software. They offer vocalizers
(speech engines) for both Taiwanese and Hong Kong Chinese (Simplified &
Traditional). You should check with NVDA to find out what bugs might have
been resolved: https://www.nvaccess.org/

There is a version of JAWS specifically for Chinese. I don't speak Chinese,
so I don't know how accurate or how easy it is to use. It will handle both
Chinese AND English with the proper HTML tags:
https://archive.kanhan.com/en/products-services/products/chinese-jaws-windows.html

This version might be too sophisticated for use by a first level language
learner, though. Freedom Scientific also offers some specialized voice
synthesizers for other languages. Check which version of JAWS you have and
pick an appropriate package from their drop down list. They offer
Cantonese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Here's a link:
https://support.freedomscientific.com/Downloads/Synthesizers

Hope this helps. If not or not enough, ask more questions!


Wink Harner
Accessibility Consultant/Alternative Text Production
The Foreign Type

Portland OR
foreigntype at gmail.com
480-984-0034

This email was dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Please forgive
quirks, misrecognitions, or errata .


On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 11:39 AM Heidi Scher <hascherdss at gmail.com> wrote:


> Posting for a colleague. Please respond to her directly (but I'm sure the

> list would appreciate being CCed on any responses. :-)

>

> Have you ever had to convert a Chinese book into an accessible format? It

> is an introduction book to the language, so I'm assuming there is both

> English and Chinese in the book. I just received a request for one and was

> curious if you've ever encountered that before.

>

>

>

> Thanks!

>

>

>

> Rachel E. Meredith

>

> Accommodations Coordinator - Disability Resource Center

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