What is the best free TTS for downloading mp3 foreign language (German)?
May 1, 2020 12:32 PM   Subscribe

What is the best free TTS to mp3 downloads for foreign languages, specifically for learning German?

I'm working on flash cards to help me learn German, using Paul Noble's audible books and reference lists (which I love!). The flash cards allow me to attach mp3 files of spoken foreign words, but getting them is the problem.

The best solution I knew about is now gone and was SpokenText.net. There you could even upload an Excel file of words and it would create mp3 files. I don't know what happened to the site, but it's g-o-n-e; GONE!

I'm now overwhelmed by things such as eSpeak that involves command lines and such, which I better not EVER mess with. lol!

Any suggestions? There just has to be some simple thing out there. I just can't find it.

100 point to your house if you can suggest something that will allow me to upload all words at once and generate separate mp3 files. Yeah, I know. "Dream on!" right? ;)
posted by magnoliasouth to Computers & Internet (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Any chance you have a Mac nearby? With a bit of programming, it could do this for you...
posted by Wild_Eep at 12:56 PM on May 1, 2020


Response by poster: @Wild_Eep. Sorry, no. That's too bad then, isn't it? I wonder if Windows 10 is capable of something? I have no idea how to even look to see.
posted by magnoliasouth at 1:00 PM on May 1, 2020


Maybe a German speaker may know if it's any better in German, but in my experience using TTS in English, the pronunciation is terrible most of the time. The accent is odd and many words are mangled. You really need the words already recorded by a native speaker.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 2:37 PM on May 1, 2020


How many words are we talking about? Perhaps you could hire someone on Fiverr?
posted by Wild_Eep at 5:57 PM on May 1, 2020


Balbolka is free and can make mp3s in German.
posted by metasunday at 9:38 PM on May 2, 2020


This should do it (I just wrote it):
Words to MP3
Saves the words to your desktop as MP3 files.

REMEMBER TO UNZIP THE ZIP FILE BEFORE TRYING TO RUN THE PROGRAM! THEN RUN THE PROGRAM FROM THE UNZIPPED FOLDER!

You'll need to install the TTS voice for German onto your machine in Settings.
posted by alasdair at 1:12 AM on May 3, 2020


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