The language of the page or sections are identified through markup
Many screen reader applications support multiple languages, and can switch on-the-fly between supported languages, using the appropriate voice and rule set for the current language. However, currently screen readers are unable to determine what language a document is written in, or if the language changes within that document. Therefore it is important for authors to define the language of the document or web page, and to identify the language of any blocks of text that deviate from that default language.
Identifying the language of the entire web page or document, as well as its individual parts, helps to ensure that screen readers will correctly pronounce the content.
best practice
Defining Language in HTML
The language of a page can be declared using a HTML attribute for the entire page - this sits in the header usually and can be checked by viewing the source code of any page. You can also section parts of your pages to be alternative languages, we find this useful when modules or study materials have multiple languages that need defining.
