http://tidbits.com/ Siri offers American, British, Australian, and Canadian English choices, and changes the output voice to match. But does that mean you can switch among them freely? With testing help from his American wife and daughter, Steve McCabe, a Brit living in New Zealand, puts Siri’s voices through their paces and comes up with some intriguing results. en-us Copyright 2013 TidBITS Publishing Inc. Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EDT Mon, 18 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EDT editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) http://tidbits.com/images/tb_logo_152x55.png http://tidbits.com/ 55 152 TidBITS badge http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17969 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:53:11 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17969 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17955 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 12:04:10 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17955 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17941 Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:47:35 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17941 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17641 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:50:01 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17641 When I visited the North-east some 10 years ago, I found the Geordies impossible to understand. Also, when I first saw "Brief Encounter", it took me 20 minutes to understand the Received Pronunciation ("Southern English"} of the actors.
Even if you had called it 'English English', there still are too many dialects within it.
On 'water' I have a vague recollection that Samuel Taylor Coleridge rhymed it with 'matter' -- which is how people who are native to north Lancashire and Cumbria pronounce it. Coleridge was laughed at for such a provincial pronunciation. Byron did the same -- and no one sneered at him.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17632 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:18:29 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17632 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17629 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:25:55 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17629
No real need for Apple to do NZ English as they are all over here learning Australian English.

I did like the test and its amusing results, and it did give a behind the scenes look as to how Siri might work.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17628 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:53:20 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17628 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17622 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:57:18 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17622 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17620 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:34:40 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17620 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17619 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:30:07 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17619
I was so hoping you'd be reading this one aloud, as well, with (perhaps) audio clips of confused Siri, in both the non-specific genders.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17615 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:15:37 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17615 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17613 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 11:50:55 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17613
I would very much like to be able to tell Siri to speak in another accent, but listen for AmE.

I was not able to get the iphone to understand me in Japanese and, not speaking Japanese, I did not understand Siri's complaint.

"Tsuma ni denwa shite kudasai" sounded like Japanese when I said it, but I expect the Ts sound was wrong.

I know that one problem with Siri and language is that it is pretty much impossible to, for example, tell Siri in Spanish to play "Come Together by the Beatles", or any song title, artist name, or band that is not in Spanish.
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I strongly suspect that people, when speaking to people with different dialects, modify their own speech to be better understood. If you switch Siri to American English, Siri knows to expect American English from you. But perhaps if Siri speaks to you with an American accent, you tend to use American phrasings and pronunciation. Most travelers who are familiar with multiple accents might do this unconsciously (you might be more conscious of it ;) ).

Aside from the vastly increased complexity of Siri supporting independent input and output, it would be even harder for Siri to correctly interpret your speech if you drifted to 'her' language & phrasing.

That said, it would be very cool if you could speak English to Siri and have her reply in Spanish. Language tutor! ;)]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17607 Sat, 09 Feb 2013 11:20:39 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17607
Try the solution used on me: when I moved from one region (and had its accent) to another region, I was beaten often and mocked always by the other children until I used the local regional accent. If your daughter is over 12, this probably won’t work.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17606 Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:16:51 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17606 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17604 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:18:57 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17604 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17603 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:22:10 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17603 http://db.tidbits.com/article/13544?rss#comments_17602 Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:14:28 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/13544#comments_17602 the tautological British English

Hah! The Welsh, Irish, and Scottish will be there in a moment to, ah, remonstrate with you.]]>