Speak () (block)

This article is about the Text to Speech block. For the looks block, see Say () (block).

Speak ()
speak ()
Category	Text to Speech
Type	Stack
Introduced in	3.0

The speak () block is a stack block and a Text to Speech block. The block uses the text to speech tool to speak the given text. It will speak the selected voice with the language selected in the Set Language to () block.

The block requires a connection to the internet in order to function unless the voice is set to "kitten", as the block uses the Amazon Polly API to speak.

Limitations

Usage of the block is limited to 128 characters. If a string longer than 128 characters is given, then only the first 128 characters will be spoken.

If you would like to speak text that is longer than 128 characters, you can use the following script: This script basically splits up the text that needs to be said into different shorter sections. Because one wouldn't want to split up two different speak blocks in the middle of a word, one has the option to give the length of the longest word that will be used. If left blank, it defaults to 0 (which means words will be split up).

define say [text] longest WORD possible [# of letters]::custom
set [rep at a time v] to ((127)-(# of letters))
if <(# of letters)=()> then
set [rep at a time v] to (128)
end
if <not<(# of letters)<(128)>> then
set [rep at a time v] to (128)
end
if <(# of letters)<(0)> then
set [rep at a time v] to (128)
end
if <((length of (text)) mod (rep at a time)) = (0)> then
set [total reps v] to ([floor v] of ((length of (text))/(rep at a time)))
else
set [total reps v] to ([floor v] of (((length of (text))/(rep at a time))+(1))
end
set [rep # v] to (0)
repeat (total reps)

set [i v] to ((0)+((rep #)*(rep at a time)))
set [speak text v] to ()
repeat (rep at a time)
change [i v] by (1)
set [speak text v] to (join(speak text)(letter(i)of(text)
end
speak (speak text)
change [rep # v] by (1)
end

Uses

In simple animations:

when green flag clicked
say [Hello]:: custom

define say (sentence)
say (sentence)
speak (sentence)

A non-player character in an RPG:

when Green Flag clicked
forever
    if <(distance to (player v)) < [50]> then
        speak [hello there]
        wait until <not<(distance to (player v)) < [50]>>
    end
end

Speaking text in a different language:

when green flag clicked
set language to (language::variables)
speak (translate [Hello] to (language::variables))

Speaking text with a different voice:

when green flag clicked
set voice to (giant v)
speak [Hello]

Bad Word Detection

Similar to the Translate () to () block, a bad word detector is present. When a user attempts to input a bad word and clicks the block, no words will be spoken unless the voice is set to "kitten". Additionally, all bad English words will not said regardless of language, although bad words in other languages will only not be said when that language is chosen.

See Also

• Say ()
• Scratch Extension
• Text to Speech Extension