Report on Training on the Use of eSpeak Hindi on Windows and Android Platforms
Indian Association for the Blind conducted a one day workshop on the use of eSpeak for Windows and Android platforms on May 28, 2015. Twenty-seven delegates attended the training programme held at Indian Association for the Blind, Delhi. Kaifee Asami was the trainer. The programme introduced eSpeak for reading and writing in Hindi on both computers and mobiles.
The session started with introduction to NVDA and its advantages as a screen reader. This was followed by demonstration of reading Hindi text using eSpeak. Different variants of eSpeak were also demonstrated.
A hands on session was conducted following the comprehension, where in the participants were made to type the Hindi characters and a few simple words. This was followed by demonstration of the Android platform and its versatility. The participants were shown how to download eSpeak from the Google Play store and how to configure eSpeak in the keyboard and language settings.
A few of the participants who had internet connectivity on their android devices were then able to read Hindi newspapers on the internet. The overall satisfaction of the students was appreciable. Most of them expressed deep satisfaction on the day's event.
