How do I make text in multiple languages accessible?

Screen readers and text-to-speech software will read text in the language that is set for it. If you do not specify the language for a passage of text, the Canvas course's language will be used. The default language is English.

Setting the correct language for text is especially important for language courses, where students may not know the language well enough for the instructor to set the course's language in it, but most of the course content will be in a different language than the default of English.

If a screen reader or text-to-speech software tries to read some text in the incorrect language, it may sound like gibberish.

Tip: If you are teaching a language course where most of the course content will not be in English, it is recommended to change your Canvas course's language (opens new window).

Go to the page where you will include the text.

The Rich Content Editor is available on most pages in Canvas where text can be added. For example, you may use the editor to create a page in Modules, create or submit an assignment, or make a discussion post.

Pictured above is where an instructor can find the Add Assignment button to create an assignment.

Go to the Rich Content Editor.

Navigate to the editor where you will be adding the text.

Enter text in the editor.

Enter the text in different languages in the editor. Pictured above is an example with some text in English and some in French.

Select the HTML editor button.

Near the bottom right corner of the editor, select the HTML editor button. This button looks like the following characters: </>.

Find the text's <span> tag.

Screenshot example of HTML in the editor.

To the left of the text where you need to specify the language, find the <span> tag. This tag will display as follows:

  1. If the text has default formatting: <span>
  2. If the text has had some formatting applied, the <span> tag may also include a style attribute with the formatting. In the example pictured above, there is a <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"> to the left of the French text because it has a font of Times New Roman and font size of 12 pt.

Add the language attribute to the <span>.

Edit the <span> tag to add the language: lang="xx" where "xx" is replaced with the appropriate language attribute as described below. See the HTML Language Code Reference page (opens new window) for a list of language attributes.

  1. If the text has default formatting: <span lang="xx">. In the example pictured above, the English language is being specified: <span lang="en">
  2. If the text has had some formatting applied, include the language tag before the > that closes the <span> tag: <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" lang="xx">. In the example pictured above, the French language is being specified: <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;" lang="fr">

Note: Both languages are specified in the example above to show how each type of span would look. However, you only need to specify the language for text passages that differ from the Canvas course's language.

Go back to the rich text editor view.

You can continue working with your document in the standard editor view by selecting the Switch to the rich text editor button. This button looks like the following characters: </>.

Note: While you will not see the language attributes in the rich text editor, they will allow a screen reader or text-to-speech software to read the text in the correct language.