Wrong System Voice Speak Text and Alerts - Catalina

[SaguaroSeven]

Apparently it's a lost cause huh?

Here’s an interesting data point from the OP. System voices are working correctly on my Mac mini after updating to Monterey, except for the right-click context menu Speech - Start Speaking. By which I mean that I can select and download any voice including Siri voices, and they work as system voice for announcements, time, etc and also for the keyboard shortcut for Accessibility’s Speak text.

Also odd, on an M1 MacBook Pro also upgraded to Monterey, voice selection works for the right-click Speech menu too.

 

[aviko]

I have an MBP M1 and it doesn't for work for me from the context menu, so...

 

[SaguaroSeven]

I have an MBP M1 and it doesn't for work for me from the context menu, so...

Ok, so I have UK Siri Voice 1 set as System Voice, and it works as expected... except context menu "Speak" uses UK Voice 2... Whaaat? So there you go.

 

[MacMan988]

I'm having the same problem for a very long time now.
Today I just wanted to try this again. It looks like there are a lot more variants of Siri voices available to select from the "System Voice" drop-down menu.

But as it has always been, none of them work though.

 

[Le0M]

I'm using macOS Ventura beta, and it finally DOES speak content with the desired voice!

 

[jamesmurdza]

I'm using macOS Ventura beta, and it finally DOES speak content with the desired voice!

@Le0M Thanks for reporting. I am wondering if it's fully integrated. Does it also work using the terminal command?

say "Which voice is this?"

There is also a command

say -v \?

to list the available voices.

Thanks.

 

[Le0M]

@Le0M Thanks for reporting. I am wondering if it's fully integrated. Does it also work using the terminal command?

say "Which voice is this?"

There is also a command

say -v \?

to list the available voices.

Thanks.

Just tried what you suggested, with different voices... and YES, it does change voice even when using terminal.
And by inserting "say -v \?" a huge list of like 100+ choices appears.

 

[Le0M]

@Le0M Thanks for reporting. I am wondering if it's fully integrated. Does it also work using the terminal command?

say "Which voice is this?"

There is also a command

say -v \?

to list the available voices.

Thanks.

Update: unless I'm having the mac speaking the system language's language, all other languages I downloaded a specific voice for, do not work. It keeps using the default language, which s*ck.
Running Ventura 13.1

 

[SaguaroSeven]

Update: unless I'm having the mac speaking the system language's language, all other languages I downloaded a specific voice for, do not work. It keeps using the default language, which s*ck.
Running Ventura 13.1

My sense is that for many problems in modern macOS, if the problem isn’t one many/most are experiencing (like earlier speaking problems), either system update (like 13.2) or reinstall of macOS is a potential fix. .X updates have introduced and resolved some problems for me.