Find out how to make your Mac speak anything you want using the Terminal app that comes preinstalled on every macOS computer.
It’s possible to force your Mac to say anything you want with a simple command line from the Terminal app. Not only does this allow for some good old-fashioned fun, but it can even come in handy depending on the situation.
If you’re a DJ trying to entertain guests at a party, it could be a humorous way to start off the party or to make announcements during a song. Moreover, having your Mac say things might be a simple way for you to learn the pronunciation of something or to simply entertain yourself and your friends.
Whatever the reason, let’s show you how to make your Mac speak.
Command your Mac to say anything with Terminal
Launch the Terminal app on your Mac, type the following command and then press the enter/return key on your keyboard:
say "Anything in these quotation marks will be said by me, your Mac. Go ahead, try it."
The result should be your Mac saying: “Anything in these quotation marks will be said by me, your Mac. Go ahead, try it.” This is really just a novelty feature, but we still think it’s a fun one.
You can change the text in the quotation marks to anything you want, and your Mac will do its best to say everything correctly. For example, the following command will make your Mac say, “Hi iDownloadBlog!”
say "Hi iDownloadBlog!"
As you should expect, voice software is never perfect and will almost always have some kind of trouble pronouncing some things.
If you didn’t hear anything, ensure your volume is up, the command was entered correctly, and select the correct system voice (explained below).
Choose the voice you want
macOS comes with several voices preinstalled in the operating system. Follow these steps to choose the voice you want to use.
Open System Settings and go to Accessibility > Read & Speak or Spoken Content. Click the drop-down menu next to System voice and select a voice. You can also use the info icon ⓘ next to System Voice to adjust the rate, pitch, and speech volume accordingly.
If your Mac is running a very old version of macOS, head to System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech. Now, click the System Voice drop-down box to reveal all your voice options, and select a voice from the menu that appears.
Making your Mac say anything you want can be a humorous way to not only entertain yourself but also to entertain kids or an audience. No special software is required, and everything is done simply through an incredibly easy Terminal command. What kinds of funny things will you have your Mac say out loud?
For more, check out these 9 fun Mac Terminal commands to beat boredom.