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Latin and speech

Apple has never shipped a Latin voice. Instead of leaving Latin silent, LinguaMorpha reads it aloud with an Italian voice installed on your device. Italian spelling rules are closer to Latin than any other voice you are likely to have.

How Latin speech works

  • The app chooses the voice. Spanish and French each have a Voice row in their Settings tab where you pick the voice. The Latin tab has no such row. The app picks one of the Italian voices installed on your device, and you can't change which one.
  • Latin is read slowly. Latin always plays at about half the normal speed, and the Speed setting has no effect on it. The slower pace makes each syllable easier to follow.
  • No Italian voice, no sound. If no Italian voice is installed, the speaker button does nothing; the app never falls back to an English voice. The Listen option in the flashcard decks is then not offered for Latin either.
  • Include pronoun. In Settings → Latin → Conjugation, Include pronoun adds the pronoun (ego, tū, is…) to each conjugated form. It also applies when a conjugation table is read aloud.

It is an approximation, not a Latin pronunciation

An Italian voice reading Latin is a rough guide, not the correct pronunciation. The app teaches Classical Latin, and Italian reading rules differ from it in ways you will hear:

  • c before e and i is read as ch, so Cicerō sounds like "CHEE-che-ro" instead of the classical "KIH-ke-roh". In Classical Latin, c is always hard.
  • v is read as English v, where Classical Latin has w: vīnum is "VEE-noom", not "WEE-noom".
  • Vowel length is not heard. Macrons don't change what the voice does, so ā and a sound alike. The slower speed helps you hear the syllables, but it can't add a distinction the voice doesn't make.

Use speech to get a feel for the shape and rhythm of a word, and to check that you're reading the right syllables. Don't use it as a model for pronouncing Latin: the macrons in the written form are the authority, and they are what the app checks you on (see Macron-accurate checking).

Where the speaker appears

Latin speech is available on the screens Latin shares with the other languages: the meaning flashcards, the conjugation drills, and the conjugation tables of a verb.

There is no speaker on the declension tables or on the example sentences in a verb's Usage tab.

Getting the best out of it

If Latin stays silent, install an Italian voice. On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices → Italian. On the Mac, go to System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System Voice → Manage Voices. Enhanced and Premium voices sound noticeably better than the standard ones.