JAWS Pronunciation Masterclass
Tired of JAWS mispronouncing words? Let Wayne Senior guide you through fixing this issue! Discover how the Dictionary Manager can fine-tune JAWS to your needs. Read on for a smoother, more enjoyable experience!
Making JAWS Speak Correctly
By Wayne Senior
The inspiration for this blog post is Sam Heaton. Sam blogged about her journey with JAWS. Before I clicked on the post, one thing immediately grabbed my attention – the way JAWS mis-pronounced Sam’s surname.
I use the Vocaliser voices. The voices are very clear, but there are hundreds of words they do not pronounce correctly. They mis-pronounce the name of the area served by Outlookers. The incorrect pronunciations can become annoying and distracting, particularly if reading something where the same word is mis-pronounced over and over again.
Thankfully, there is a way to change how JAWS pronounces words. Load the Dictionary Manager by pressing insert+d. If you tab, you should hear JAWS say “Add…” When you press enter, you will be in the “Actual Word” box. Type the word you would like JAWS to say properly, then tab to the “Replacement Word” box. Type an alternative spelling of the word, then use the up and down arrows to see if JAWS pronounces it correctly. If it is still being mis-pronounced, delete the word and try a different alternative spelling. When JAWS says the word as it should, press enter. When you close the Dictionary Manager by pressing alt+f4, you will be prompted to save the changes you made.
JAWS allows you to have different dictionaries for different applications. In my experience, that is unnecessary. How I want JAWS to say “Sam Heaton’s Blog about Kirklees” does not change depending on which app I am using to read the text. The only dictionary you need to use is the file named “DEFAULT.JDF”. If when you press insert+t JAWS says the name of a different dictionary, press control+shift+d. If when you open the Dictionary Manager, JAWS prompts you to create a new dictionary, press escape to load the correct dictionary.
When trying to correct the pronunciation of “Heaton’s”, I appeared to have fixed it, but the change I made wasn’t implemented. This is caused by the apostrophe I pressed being different to the apostrophe that was in “Heaton’s”. JAWS allows you to select the word before loading the Dictionary Manager. Doing this means that when you add a new entry, the word you want to change is already in the “Actual Word” box.
One final thing to be aware of, is that JAWS does not allow you to make changes that only apply to the Vocaliser voices. Any changes you make to how Vocaliser voices say words, could also affect Eloquence. That isn’t a problem if you stick to the Vocaliser synthesiser, but you may use different synthesisers in different situations. I find Eloquence better, when using websites or apps where people have usernames.
I hope you find using the Vocaliser voices more pleasant, with them speaking more words as they should be spoken.