Hear your translations out loud

How do I listen to a translation?

Select text on any page and press Ctrl + E. The quick popup shows both the original and its translation, and each block has its own speaker button: click the one next to the original to hear the source language, or the one next to the translation to hear the result. The same two buttons appear in the full panel that opens with Shift + E.

Because the popup keeps both texts visible — and bilingual display makes the pairing even clearer with labeled, equal-weight blocks — you can compare what you read with what you hear, in either direction. Started something long by accident? Press Esc and the audio stops immediately.

Can I choose the voice per language?

Yes. Open Options via the gear icon in the toolbar popup and go to Voice Settings. You get a picker for each language, listing the languages that actually have voices installed on your device — so you're never offered a voice that can't speak. Pick one, press the test button to hear a sample, and it becomes the voice for that language everywhere in the extension.

English gets one extra control: an accent preference. Leave it on Auto, or force US or UK pronunciation if you're used to one and want to hear it consistently.

How do browser voices work?

Sonic Translate uses the speech engine built into your browser and operating system — the extension itself never sends or fetches audio. Most voices run entirely on your device; some browsers also bundle cloud-backed voices operated by the browser vendor. The honest trade-off: voice coverage and quality depend on what your device ships with. They vary between Windows, macOS, and Linux, and not all 109 translation languages will have a voice on every machine. If a language has no installed voice, its speaker button simply can't speak it.

The fix is usually to install more voices at the system level:

• Windows: Settings > Time & Language > Speech > Manage voices, then add the languages you need.
• macOS: System Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content > System Voice > Manage Voices.
• Linux: install voices through your distribution's speech engine (speech-dispatcher and its backends on most distros).

New voices appear in the Voice Settings picker after a browser restart. There's a step-by-step walkthrough in our guide to adding text-to-speech voices.

Can it pronounce what I selected automatically?

Yes — turn on "Pronounce original text" in Options. With this toggle on, Sonic Translate speaks the original text aloud after each translation, without you clicking anything. It's off by default, so it only talks when you've asked it to.

This is built for pronunciation practice: select a word you can read but can't say, press Ctrl + E, and you get the meaning on screen and the pronunciation in your ears in one motion. Pair it with the dictionary's definitions and synonyms and a single selection teaches you what a word means and how it sounds.

Frequently asked questions