We own an e-mac that's quite a few years old now. My daughter's friend slammed her hands down on the keyboard yesterday and now each time you press a key, it talks, repeating every letter after its pressed.

She has obviously hit a series of commands to make this happen... does anyone know how to shut it up :)

On your dock > click on system preferences > then find Speech and Universal Access. Make sure "Speakable Items" and "Voice Over" are turned off.

Thank you. I'll try that a little later today.

my daughter's friend slammed her hands down on the keyboard yesterday

If she really slammed it, the keyboard may actually be broken. Power down the system switch out the keyboard with a known good one and power backup. If the problem is resolved then you know the original keyboard is bad and needs to be replaced.

I should have got back here to let you know the problem was fixed. She had only keyed a command. I'm glad the keyboard isn't broken.