Chinese Speech Output with HanWJ Smart Editor

By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Schmidt

The author of this software has included a Chinese Speech Output feature in HanWJ Smart Editor from version 3.64 onwards and has named this version “HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition”. There is also another version of this software without these Speech Edition features.

Introduction: Advantages and Benefits

What do “Speech Edition” and “Chinese Speech Output feature” mean? The answer to this is at least twofold:

• There are additional software components in this software version enabling you to listen to Chinese language and the Chinese characters you have displayed on your screen when loading a Chinese text file.
• You also can save your entire written Chinese text or only portions/parts of it as a sound file in the *.wav file format. And you can play this file on any other computer being sound-output enabled by its hardware (loudspeaker, sound card) and software (Windows Media player or similar software) configuration without having HanWJ Smart Editor or similar installed.

These additional and most recent features added to this software are especially helpful (not only) for Western users of HanWJ Smart Editor and for any Western learners and users of Chinese – you will be able to produce sound files in addition to the written text, and by listening and reading simultaneously to the text contents, you have multimedia features added to your lesson or study that will greatly enhance your learning efforts and will make them worthwhile and rewarding.

And above all, teachers of Chinese to Western learners (students) of Chinese might love this software as it will enable them to prepare multimedia based lessons that will greatly enhance the learning efforts of their students.

And it is for this and similar other reasons why this Chinese Speech Output feature has been included in this software.

Minimum Requirements to run this Speech Output Feature on a Western Windows System

The minimum hardware configuration requirements are:

• Sound output enabled Windows PC (Windows ) with sound card
• At least 128 MB RAM
• Minimum of ca. 30 MB free hard disk space

The minimum software Requirements are:

• Windows 9x/ME/2000/XP
• HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition
• Windows Chinese Language support installed
• MS SAPI 5.1 speech output software components installed (included in the HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition distribution)

First Steps of Using HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition

After having completed the installation of HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition, go to the Control Panel and click the Speech Input/Output button there. You will find it normally to the left of the System button in the Control Panel Menu.

Fig.1: Control Panel screenshot in German Windows XP Home Edition version. The Speech Input/Output button is the one in the second line from below and the last before the SYSTEM button. The icon of this button looks always the same regardless of the specific Windows language version (German, English,…) you may own.

Then, in the next window popping up now, choose the “Microsoft Simplified Chinese” option in the field above.

Fig. 2: MS Simplified Voice Engine option selection

It is very important that you do these settings according to the instructions given here. Otherwise, you may not hear any Chinese sound output when running Han WJ Smart Editor Speech Edition. And this is especially true when running HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition on Western Windows systems.

Using Speech Edition Features in HanWJ Smart Editor

It is not complicated. All you need to do to activate this feature is clicking the sound button symbol in the menu bar on top of the HanWJ Smart Editor screen. Doing so will display another sound player bar at the button of the screen.

Fig.3: HanWJ Smart Editor main window screenshot. You will see the sound output button symbol displayed in the menu bar on the top of the screen to the left.

There are a number of Chinese Speech Output options in the following menu items which will be briefly explained here.

1. In the FILE menu, you will find three buttons relating to the speech output feature in this software:

• SAVE SPEECH FILE (WAV) – saves the written Chinese text displayed as a separate sound file in the *.wav file format. This function, in fact, is a software based conversion of the contents in the written Chinese text to a sound file in the *.wav file format. When clicking this option, you will be asked to enter a name of the *.wav file you wish to save.
• PLAY SOUND FILE (WAV) – plays the *.wav file just saved.
• STOP SOUND FILE PLAY – stops playing of sound file.

2. In the OPTION menu, you will also find three other buttons relating to the speech output feature in this software. They are:

• SPEECH SETTINGS – here, you can do the desired settings for speed and volume for the Chinese speech output in HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition software.

Fig. 4: Speech Settings Dialog screenshot. By moving with the mouse cursor to the right, you will increase the setting values, by moving it to the left, you will decrease these.

• SHOW SPEECH BAR – this will display the Speech Settings dialog as shown in Fig. 4 above.
• SPEAK WHEN INPUT – activating this option by clicking on it will enable you to listen to Chinese sound of a Chinese character at the same time when inputting it.

As you become more acquainted in using these functions in HanWJ Smart Editor Speech Edition, you will realize that it this Chinese Speech output feature in fact quite easy and pleasant to use.

The Chinese Speech output feature in HanWJ Smart Editor work with both Simplified Chinese characters and Traditional Chinese characters. It can work with Western languages too, as long as the Speech Engine MS SAPI 5.1 supports them.

We wish you success and joy in using this great feature added. And please feel free to contact us if you have any questions concerning this new feature or may have some suggestions for improvement. We are always here to serve you!