Problem with starting speakup with espeakup

[Anne Günther]

Hi
Since I went back to Ubuntu 9.04, I had to set up speakup again. When I 
start a console I think it starts, but it doesn't say anything.
After typing: sudo espeakup --default-voice de
I get the following message: E: Core-utils-.c: home directory 
/home/guenni not ours.
It talks afterwards. But I guess it's not supposed to give that message.
I also put:
espeakup --default-voice de
In: /etc/init.d/rc.local, in hopes speakup would speak immediately after 
starting a console. What is the problem?
Guenni