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Time is of the essence nowadays in this modern world where we are all either rushing to work or to our next appointment. Yet, we still have to manufacture somehow more time to keep up with friends, social media, and the news. Many are not aware, but Google gave us a very useful tool that allows us to multitask and read the web back to us in a surprisingly naturally sounding voice, while we are busy doing other things. It’s the ultimate multitasking hack.
The tool is called “Read it,” and it works within Chrome, the Google app, or the Google News app. If you have an Android phone and a web article is pulled up on your browser, you can say, “Hey Google, read it,” or “Hey Google, read this page,” and it will immediately read the content of the web page as if it was a podcast. Your browser will automatically scroll the page and highlight words as they are read out loud, so you can follow along. You can also change how fast it reads and pick from different voices. If the article isn’t in your native language, Google Assistant can tell your browser to read it out loud in 42 different languages. Using the translation menu, you can choose the language you want, and then all pages will be automatically translated and read in that language.
To translate an article with Google Assistant, simply say, “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page.” This will start a reading session that has its own media player for playing, pausing, or skipping the audio, as well as adjusting the playback speed. The player functions independently and in the background of anything else you decide to do with your phone as you listen to your article. This could potentially be used while driving or walking with literally no need to touch your phone physically, except maybe to queue up the article, which you can do before you begin your journey.
I just want the steps!
- Queue up the article you want read in Chrome, the Google app, or Google News app.
- Say “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page.”
- Once the reading session begins, adjust your playback speed in the media player.
