Read Chinese text from clipboard using the Shortcuts app

speak-chinese-siri-shortcut.md

Read Chinese text from clipboard using the Shortcuts app

Apple's Siri voices sound very natural and are great for learning.

demo.mov

Steps to set up:

1. Download a Siri voice

macOS 15:

1. Go to Accessibility > Spoken Content
2. Click the ℹ️ to the right of System voice.
3. Go to Chinese > Mandarin > Voice
4. Search for "Siri" and preview the voices. Download at least one.

iOS and iPadOS 18:

1. Go to Accessibility > Spoken Content > Voices > Chinese > Mandarin > Voice
2. Preview the Siri voices. Note that there are two sections named "Siri". The first has voices 1-4 with mainland China pronunciation. The second section has voices 1-2 with Taiwan pronunciation.

2. Create the shortcut

macOS 15:

1. Go to Shortcuts and click "+" to create a new shortcut.
2. Search for the "Speak Text" action and double click to add it.
3. Click on "Text" and type "clipboard". Click on the "Clipboard" variable that appears.
4. Click "Show more".
5. For Language, choose one of the Chinese options.
6. For Voice, choose a Siri voice that was previously downloaded.

iOS and iPadOS 18:

1. Go to Shortcuts and tap "+" to create a new shortcut.
2. Search for the "Speak Text" action and tap to add it.
3. Tap on "Text" and tap the "Clipboard" variable in the list above the keyboard. You may have to scroll to the right to see it.
4. Tap ">" to show more options on the action.
5. For Language, choose one of the Chinese options.
6. For Voice, choose a Siri voice that was previously downloaded.

3. Set up a shortcut trigger

There are many ways to do this, and you can get creative. I've listed a few options below.

Mac: Use Spotlight search (CMD+space) to search for the shortcut by name and Enter to run. You can rename the shortcut from the app so it's easier to find. If it's not showing up in Spotlight search, make sure the "Other" category is checked in settings for Spotlight search results.

iPhone:

• You can add a shortcut widget in the notification center or Today View (left swipe from notification center) to run the shortcut when tapped.
• If you have an iPhone 15 or newer, you can customize the Action button to run the shortcut.
• You can use Back Tap to run the shortcut upon double or triple tap of the back of your iPhone.
• You can add an automation in the Shortcuts app to run the shortcut when tapping an NFC tag to the back of your phone. NFC tags are commonly found in transit cards or credit cards.
• You can tell Siri to run the shortcut by its name (you can rename in the Shortcuts app).

iPad: if you have a keyboard, use the Mac approach. Otherwise, use an iPhone approach.