Read Aloud (Text-to-Speech)
Listen to any line of your transcript or translation read aloud.
Read Aloud speaks any line of your transcript out loud, so you can review a recording by ear, hear how a translation sounds, or proofread without staring at the screen. It works straight from the transcript in the Studio, no setup required.
What Read Aloud does
When you choose to read a line aloud, Kalima speaks it back to you using a natural-sounding voice that matches the line's language. It reads the original transcript text by default, and can read the translation instead when one is available. You can speed it up or slow it down, and stop playback whenever you like.
How to use it
Only one segment plays at a time. Starting Read Aloud on a new line automatically stops the line that was playing, so you can move down the transcript line by line.
Reading speed
You can set the reading pace anywhere from 0.5x (slower, easier to follow word for word) up to 2x (faster, for skimming by ear). Slower speeds are handy when you are proofreading a tricky name or term; faster speeds help you breeze through a line you mostly remember.
Original text vs. translation
If a line has a translation, Read Aloud can speak either version:
- Original. Hear the line in the language it was spoken.
- Translation. Hear how the translated line sounds in its target language, voiced naturally for that language.
This makes it easy to check a translation by ear or to listen to content in your preferred language.
Languages and voices
Read Aloud supports dozens of languages with natural-sounding voices, covering widely spoken languages such as English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Russian, and Turkish, among many others. Kalima picks a voice that matches the language of the line you are reading, so the pronunciation fits the content.
Read Aloud is great for accessibility and hands-free review. Listen back to a meeting while you work, or have a translated line spoken to you instead of reading it.
Good to know
- Signed-in feature. Read Aloud is available to any signed-in user.
- One line at a time. Playback is per segment, so you control exactly what gets spoken.
- Shared rate limit. Read Aloud shares the same short-term limit as Kalima's other AI tools. If you trigger many requests in quick succession, you may be asked to wait a moment before trying again.
- Language coverage. Most common languages are covered. If a particular language can't be voiced for a line, Read Aloud simply won't be available for it. Try the original instead of the translation (or vice versa).
Frequently asked questions
Read Aloud covers dozens of languages with natural voices, including most widely spoken ones. Kalima matches the voice to the language of the line. If a specific language can't be voiced, Read Aloud won't be available for that line.
Yes. You can set the speed anywhere from 0.5x (slower) to 2x (faster) using the read-aloud controls in the transcript.
Yes. When a line has a translation, you can choose to read either the original text or the translation. The translation is spoken naturally in its target language.
Only one segment plays at a time. Starting Read Aloud on a new line automatically stops the previous one. This is intended so you can step through the transcript line by line.
The line's language may not be available for speech. Try reading the original instead of the translation (or vice versa). If neither can be voiced, Read Aloud isn't available for that line.
Read Aloud shares a short-term limit with Kalima's other AI features. If you fire many requests in a short window, you'll be asked to wait a few seconds before trying again.