diff --git a/web/src/components/Editor/EditorCore.tsx b/web/src/components/Editor/EditorCore.tsx
index b596914..142103f 100644
--- a/web/src/components/Editor/EditorCore.tsx
+++ b/web/src/components/Editor/EditorCore.tsx
@@ -1582,6 +1582,7 @@ export function EditorCore({
             saved={wordInfo.saved}
             onToggleSave={toggleSaveWord}
             pinyin={wordInfo.pinyin}
+            lang={docLocale(wordInfo.word, docLang)}
             style={{ top: wordInfo.top, left: wordInfo.left }}
             onReplace={replaceWord}
           />
diff --git a/web/src/components/Editor/WordCard.tsx b/web/src/components/Editor/WordCard.tsx
index 4649839..a4c6473 100644
--- a/web/src/components/Editor/WordCard.tsx
+++ b/web/src/components/Editor/WordCard.tsx
@@ -22,11 +22,31 @@ interface Props {
   // is spelled in letters, and the slashes would say something untrue about it
   // in the one place a learner is looking for the truth about pronunciation.
   pinyin?: string
+  // The locale to pronounce the headword in — the document's language, decided
+  // by the caller (see docLang in audio/speech.ts).
+  //
+  // It has to be passed rather than guessed. `speak` falls back to detecting the
+  // script, and that test can only tell Han characters from letters: it reads
+  // "comum" and "casa" as English, so every read-aloud in a Portuguese document
+  // came out in the English voice. That is the same mistake the "also in" block
+  // below was built to avoid, arriving through the one button nobody had told
+  // about the document.
+  lang?: string
   style: React.CSSProperties
   onReplace: (synonym: string) => void
 }
 
-export function WordCard({ word, info, loading, saved, onToggleSave, pinyin, style, onReplace }: Props) {
+export function WordCard({
+  word,
+  info,
+  loading,
+  saved,
+  onToggleSave,
+  pinyin,
+  lang,
+  style,
+  onReplace,
+}: Props) {
   const t = usePack()
   const definitions = info?.definitions ?? []
   const synonyms = info?.synonyms ?? []
@@ -90,7 +110,7 @@ export function WordCard({ word, info, loading, saved, onToggleSave, pinyin, sty
             <>
               <button
                 type="button"
-                onClick={() => speak(word)}
+                onClick={() => speak(word, lang)}
                 aria-label={`Pronounce ${word}`}
                 title={t.editor.readAloud}
                 className="flex h-7 w-7 items-center justify-center rounded-full text-sm"
@@ -104,7 +124,7 @@ export function WordCard({ word, info, loading, saved, onToggleSave, pinyin, sty
                   slowing the tape, so it stays a voice rather than a groan. */}
               <button
                 type="button"
-                onClick={() => speak(word, undefined, true)}
+                onClick={() => speak(word, lang, true)}
                 aria-label={`Pronounce ${word} slowly`}
                 title={t.editor.readSlowly}
                 className="flex h-7 w-7 items-center justify-center rounded-full text-sm"