Google's voice recognition not being kind to Brits, Kiwis, Aussies other Commonwealthers

Cleve Nettles
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November 19, 2008
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If you live in the US or Canada, like it or not, your English pretty much sounds the same to the outside world...and the Google iPhone application.   Those outside this area have been having less success with the Google iPhone voice recognition application it seems ... at least that's what some of our commenters have said. 

Is this your experience out there?  What could Google do to fix this?  Perhaps they could use the location information in the app to determine what accent to use? 

The downside of that is that you'll have Americans doing their best Monty Python accents when using iPhones in London and you'll have Brits sounding like surfers in New York...not that we aren't anyway.

We were actually looking for the clip where Clark was trying to use his pocket translator to decipher what the British hotelier was saying.  If anyone can find this, leave it in the comments and we'll update :D

Comments (8)

John Innes (not verified) | November 19, 2008 - 6:38am

I tried the voice app last night in the UK and it failed "hear" and of my searches correctly. I even tried a few easy ones, but no luck.

Toodle pip!

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | November 19, 2008 - 6:47am

No luck with my Arnold Schwarzenegger accent (almost the same birthplace), they should create a Governator-version for the Austrian people ;-)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | November 19, 2008 - 6:49am

I suspect Paula Dean, that Gomer Pile of the cooking world, and other "Southerners" would have severe problems as well!

Beneditor (not verified) | November 19, 2008 - 7:37am

I live near London and have a fairly standard South of England accent (but I'm not a Chav) and I had no trouble getting the app to understand me.

Then again, I was speaking slowly and clearly - something most Brits are not capable of - innit?

Benjamin Dobson | November 19, 2008 - 8:06am

We are perfectly capable of speaking slowly and clearly, but only when talking to foreigners who don't understand a word of English.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | November 19, 2008 - 8:13am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ve37gVwxw

California Dude (not verified) | November 19, 2008 - 9:14am

I grew up on the coast in OC and the Google Voice app, like, blows. I talk like any normal dude from Cali and I can't get it to work for shit. Totally sucks. Those dudes up in NoCal are lame.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | November 19, 2008 - 11:03am

I'm in New Zealand and some words it picks up easily but other common words it fails to pick up unless I put on a twangy mock American accent and then it (sometimes) gets them.

Pretty disappointed in the results, especially when it fails to get it right the words it comes up with aren't even remotely similar to what I said. It seems to be working on some kind of "nearest match" for common searches, so you get something that it thinks is closer to a common search rather than closer to what it thinks you said.