> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kugelaudio.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Text Normalization

> Convert numbers, dates, and symbols to spoken words, with spell tags

Text normalization converts numbers, dates, times, and other non-verbal text into spoken words:

* "I have 3 apples" → "I have three apples"
* "The meeting is at 2:30 PM" → "The meeting is at two thirty PM"
* "€50.99" → "fifty euros and ninety-nine cents"

```python theme={null}
# With explicit language (recommended - fastest)
audio = client.tts.generate(
    text="I bought 3 items for €50.99 on 01/15/2024.",
    voice_id=1071,
    normalize=True,
    language="en",  # Specify language for best performance
)

# With auto-detection (may cause incorrect normalizations)
audio = client.tts.generate(
    text="Ich habe 3 Artikel für 50,99€ gekauft.",
    voice_id=1071,
    normalize=True,
    # language not specified - will auto-detect
)
```

## Supported Languages

| Code | Language   | Code  | Language   |
| ---- | ---------- | ----- | ---------- |
| `de` | German     | `nl`  | Dutch      |
| `en` | English    | `pl`  | Polish     |
| `fr` | French     | `sv`  | Swedish    |
| `es` | Spanish    | `da`  | Danish     |
| `it` | Italian    | `no`  | Norwegian  |
| `pt` | Portuguese | `fi`  | Finnish    |
| `cs` | Czech      | `hu`  | Hungarian  |
| `ro` | Romanian   | `el`  | Greek      |
| `uk` | Ukrainian  | `bg`  | Bulgarian  |
| `tr` | Turkish    | `vi`  | Vietnamese |
| `ar` | Arabic     | `hi`  | Hindi      |
| `zh` | Chinese    | `ja`  | Japanese   |
| `ko` | Korean     | `sk`  | Slovak     |
| `sl` | Slovenian  | `hr`  | Croatian   |
| `sr` | Serbian    | `ru`  | Russian    |
| `he` | Hebrew     | `fa`  | Persian    |
| `ur` | Urdu       | `bn`  | Bengali    |
| `ta` | Tamil      | `yue` | Cantonese  |
| `th` | Thai       | `id`  | Indonesian |
| `ms` | Malay      |       |            |

<Warning>
  Using `normalize=True` without specifying `language` may cause incorrect normalizations, especially for short texts or languages that share similar vocabulary. Always specify `language` when you know it.
</Warning>

## Spell Tags

Use `<spell>` tags to spell out text letter by letter. This is useful for email addresses, codes, acronyms, or any text that should be pronounced character by character:

```python theme={null}
# Spell out an email address
audio = client.tts.generate(
    text="Contact me at <spell>kajo@kugelaudio.com</spell>",
    voice_id=1071,
    normalize=True,
    language="en",
)
# Output: "Contact me at K, A, J, O, at, K, U, G, E, L, A, U, D, I, O, dot, C, O, M"

# Spell out an acronym
audio = client.tts.generate(
    text="The <spell>API</spell> is easy to use.",
    voice_id=1071,
    normalize=True,
    language="en",
)
# Output: "The A, P, I is easy to use."

# German example with language-specific translations
audio = client.tts.generate(
    text="Meine E-Mail ist <spell>test@beispiel.de</spell>",
    voice_id=1071,
    normalize=True,
    language="de",
)
# Output: "Meine E-Mail ist T, E, S, T, ät, B, E, I, S, P, I, E, L, Punkt, D, E"
```

Spell tags also work with streaming:

```python theme={null}
# Streaming with spell tags - tags spanning chunks are handled automatically
async with client.tts.streaming_session(
    voice_id=1071,
    normalize=True,
    language="en",
) as session:
    # Even if the tag is split across tokens, it works correctly
    async for chunk in session.send("My code is <spell>"):
        play_audio(chunk.audio)
    async for chunk in session.send("ABC123</spell>"):
        play_audio(chunk.audio)
    async for chunk in session.flush():
        play_audio(chunk.audio)
```

<Note>
  **Special Characters**: Characters like `@`, `.`, `-` are translated to language-specific words.
  For example, `@` becomes "at" in English, "ät" in German, and "arobase" in French.
</Note>

<Tip>
  **Model recommendation**: use `kugel-3` for the cleanest letter-by-letter pronunciation of spelled-out text.
</Tip>

## Next steps

* [Dictionaries](/sdks/python/dictionaries) — per-project pronunciation and replacement lists
* [Generate Speech](/sdks/python/generate) — generation parameters including `normalize` and `language`