Change language inside a sentence

Jun 16, 2021

You can now make better multi-lingual videos, by changing the narration language inside a sentence. This can come in very handy, for example, if you want to make a Chinese-language video that explains how to click on a button with an English label. It also helps to create consistent language lessons, where the narrator voice stays the same, but the narration language changes.

To temporarily change the language, enclose the word or phrase with square brackets, and set the ISO language code directly after in curly braces. For example, to keep the same narrator voice but read a word in German, use the de language code:

[Wort]{de}

Here is an example of an English voice temporarily switching to German:

(voice: charles)

German word *[See]{de}* and English word 
*See* have the same spelling: `see`

Here’s the same thing but from the opposite direction, a German text-to-speech voice temporarily switching to English:

(voice: helmut)

Das Deutsche Wort *See* und das Englische 
Wort *[see]{en}* schreibt man gleich: `see` 

Play the video below to hear this in action.

Note that the text-to-speech voices are trained for a single language. The pronunciation will be as if a foreign person speaks a few words in a different language, instead of sounding like a native speaker. It’s best to use this feature for short phrases or words that just need to be pronounced differently than in the primary language. To get the phrase sounding as if a native speaker would pronounce it, change the voice using the voice stage direction. For more information, check out the Change the voice-over language or voice lesson.