Apple Job Listing Suggests Siri Coming in 9 More Languages

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by ps45

I'm afraid you're jumping to conclusions if you think that's ignorance. I've been there (interning) and done that. I have also been in situations since where I have 'hired' interns, and it prays on my conscience. So I know as well as most what the deal is in the use of interns, and how the balance of benefits is skewed way towards the employer.

Well, where I work, interns are actually getting real experience, are paid real money, and a good percentage of them has a job lined up when they leave university.

[cudo]

Originally Posted by xjosh

Poland is poor so nobody can afford iPhones.

You seem to be a nice person so I will not offend you in public. I am an average Pole, living in a rural region of Lover Silesia and I can afford iPhone, to be specific I also have iPad 3 (not planning to upgrade to 4 anytime soon, not really worth it), MBP and some Android Gear. Not showing off, just trying to make a point that not everyone is poor in Poland and percentage wise there must be more iOS devices then in Denmark so get your facts right first.

Ps. I am not stealing cars.

Peace

[SgtPepper12]

Originally Posted by temppa

I don't know the motivation behind the language decision, but I do know, that all Scandinavian languages are members of the Germanic languages, just like German (you figured it out too?) and English. The order of the words (verb, noun, adjective, etc.) is, if I'm not mistaken, the same. (I speak English and some Swedish as second languages.)

You are mistaken.
The sentence "I like to drink black coffee on sunday afternoons" can be translated into German in various ways:

"An Sonntag Nachmittagen trinke ich gerne schwarzen Kaffee"
"An Sonntag Nachmittagen trinke ich schwarzen Kaffee gerne"
"Ich trinke gerne schwarzen Kaffee an Sonntag Nachmittagen"
"Ich trinke schwarzen Kaffee gerne an Sonntag Nachmittagen"
"Ich trinke gerne an Sonntag Nachmittagen schwarzen Kaffee"
"Schwarzen Kaffee trinke ich gerne an Sonntag Nachmittagen"
"Schwarzen Kaffee trinke ich an Sonntag Nachmittagen gerne"
"Gerne trinke ich schwarzen Kaffee an Sonntag Nachmittagen"
"Gerne trinke ich an Sonntag Nachmittagen schwarzen Kaffee"
"Schwarzen Kaffee an Sonntag Nachmittagen trinke ich gerne"

All these (german) sentences vaguely say the same but have different word orders (I think these are all possibilities that exist). The slight difference in meaning is a mystery even to native speakers. It's probably impossible to explain in detail.

[edvj]

Originally Posted by Ballis

Well danish sounds like a joke. U can hardly teach the natives the language, much less a computer.

The Danish Language

Well norwegian sounds like scratching finger nails on a chalkboard...

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=-ECdh...%3D-ECdhIvkT9o

[Ballis]

Okay

[copykris]

Originally Posted by cudo

You seem to be a nice person so I will not offend you in public. I am an average Pole, living in a rural region of Lover Silesia and I can afford iPhone, to be specific I also have iPad 3 (not planning to upgrade to 4 anytime soon, not really worth it), MBP and some Android Gear. Not showing off, just trying to make a point that not everyone is poor in Poland and percentage wise there must be more iOS devices then in Denmark so get your facts right first.

Ps. I am not stealing cars.

Peace

come back when you can afford an ipad 4

*in english

[mjtomlin]

Originally Posted by ps45

I'm afraid you're jumping to conclusions if you think that's ignorance. I've been there (interning) and done that. I have also been in situations since where I have 'hired' interns, and it prays on my conscience. So I know as well as most what the deal is in the use of interns, and how the balance of benefits is skewed way towards the employer.

Interning only occurs in industries that are oversubscribed, and it represents an abuse of that demand. Apple are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, and there is no reason why large employers can't hire people rather than roadtesting them for free (or cheaply). People may work harder when the possibility of a real job is dangled in front of them, but that doesn't make it right to extract this extra labor in this way.

Sorry if your life experiences have left you jaded and even "forced" you to perform an immoral act against your fellow human beings, but you're making an assumption based on your experience alone and projecting this bias against Apple. I seriously doubt you actually know why Apple provides internships.

Do you REALLY think Apple is hiring interns to save money? A company with over 100 billion in cash? This is where your logic sinks and your bias surfaces. Please explain what a company the size of Apple has to gain in hiring a handful of interns versus just out right hiring someone? We're not talking about buildings and buildings of free labor here - it's a handful of people.

I'm guessing what Apple is really interested in, is discovering talent before they enter the "real world" (as they say) and are snatched up by some other company.

And of course the benefit to the company is much higher, but there is a benefit to the interns as well ... if there wasn't, who in their right mind would sign up for such a thing? You know it's not a permanent position, hell it may not even be a paid position, but if want and need the experience, there it is. If there was a field I was interested in, but had no formal training, and someone came along and said, "You can come work for me and learn on the job, but I'm not going to be able to pay much or anything at all." I would take it just for the experience and knowledge.

Furthermore, internships for students can even sometimes be counted as credit towards their degrees and in fact, some fields make interning mandatory.

[iGrip]

Maybe Apple should spend a little more time trying to get SIRI to work in at least ONE language, and should spend a little less time fooling around with all of these foreign languages...

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Originally Posted by skellener

Good luck Apple.

Your hardware is amazing.

Your OSes are solid.

Your services suck beyond belief.

I wish you well.

Don't let the screen door hitcha where the Good Lord splitcha!

[Menneisyys2]

Finnish at last! Now, I'll be able to use it too! (Didn't really want to use the English / German one.)

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Originally Posted by MultiMediaWill

Simple. Learn english and move to america or EU.

Show me a non-native English speaker that never had any problems with Siri...

[mjtomlin]

Originally Posted by ps45

Oh and did I say that "all that is involved with the technology" is no better than a college project? No, I didn't. I said it works no better than a college project. It is unsatisfactory for a prime time product from a company of this stature, it's more akin to a spun-off college project. And it could be based on alien artifacts for all I care; the product that Apple has constructed from those prior arts is unimpressive.

Please read... DARPA CALO Project

The technology involved requires a period of learning and being that Siri is a mass consumer technology, it probably will need a massive amount of usage and incoming data to perfect and enhance the service, hence the beta status it is still in.

"Ignorance" may have been a strong word, sorry.

Naive is probably more appropriate for someone to believe that a technology such as this can be released "out of the gate" and work flawlessly. That's akin to a baby being born and expecting it to speak the Mother's native language.

True, the voice recognition and network connection can use some work, I agree with that and Apple is working to build more data centers and hopefully working with Nuance to enhance their engine. But again, this is beta and Apple has made it clear from day 1.

As far as you being "unimpressed," that's your opinion and experience using it - well, I assume you've used it? However, I've seen the opposite reaction many, many times.

[applegigs]

Here we go again bragging how rich we are in Danmark.. don't forget that 1/2 of our workforce is Polish.. 1/3 is Indian, Arabic, Pakistani and so on.. the rest is either hard working or lazy Danes relying on SU. As much as I would love to see it in Danish, other countries deserve it too!

Originally Posted by carlemil

Because the nordic countries are much richer, and the apple adoption rate is insane compared to the rest of europe.

Really looking forward to a danish siri! :-)

[fliponline]

Speak all these languages flued and has thouse skills????? Are there any authistic people with an IQ of above 160 around?

[MH01]

Originally Posted by jctevere

ORLLY?

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

Siri offered more information and had more features on nearly every question. About the only thing Google Now had over Siri was that it answered some questions a split second earlier.

I doubt you were watching the same video as you linked then, if you were you had better ask Siri what the definition of spit second is.

Ummmm did you even bother to realise some of the answers were different and so were the addresses, why don't you check which was more accurate. More crap is not always better.

[windywalks]

Originally Posted by copykris

come back when you can afford an ipad 4

*in english

Dude, do you even have any Apple product? I live in Poland too and both iPad minis and iPhone 5's have been flying off shelves like in any given region of the world. Just as in the States people who can't afford them (credit cards, duh!) buy them. So please go forth and multiply. Or, for the sake of future generations, don't. BTW Troll much?

[applegigs]

Don't mind ***** like this.. somebody has to bring them down to earth..

Originally Posted by windywalks

Dude, do you even have any Apple product? I live in Poland too and both iPad minis and iPhone 5's have been flying off shelves like in any given region of the world. Just as in the States people who can't afford them (credit cards, duh!) buy them. So please go forth and multiply. Or, for the sake of future generations, don't. BTW Troll much?

[ps45]

Originally Posted by mjtomlin

...Do you REALLY think Apple is hiring interns to save money? A company with over 100 billion in cash? This is where your logic sinks and your bias surfaces. Please explain what a company the size of Apple has to gain in hiring a handful of interns versus just out right hiring someone? We're not talking about buildings and buildings of free labor here - it's a handful of people...

Yes, I absolutely do. Make no mistake, my experiences are from very large companies (obviously not as large, but multi-national) in the entertainment industry, and interns are used because they are cheap labor, and they can be easily hired and then dropped, as and when capacity dictates.

If you think that because Apple is flush with cash that they are happy to splash it around, they you're being silly. Just as they don't manufacture products in Shenzhen out of some benevolence to the Chinese people. They did not get to where they are today by being any more generous than they absolutely must be.

They do not hire a handful of interns, they hire a LOT of interns, in many divisions - even in things like iTunes admin roles that provide very little experience of value.

My point is that this company should be a role model in creating American jobs. Internships do not do this; the only value they create is a questionable, incalculable deferred value.

If you buy into internships, then you've fallen for yet another trick in skewing the social contract - companies who say they won't hire you without the specific experience that only they can give you, and now they're only prepared to give you that experience in return for your labor for free and/or your waiving rights and benefits that you could otherwise expect.

[carlemil]

Originally Posted by applegigs

Here we go again bragging how rich we are in Danmark.. don't forget that 1/2 of our workforce is Polish.. 1/3 is Indian, Arabic, Pakistani and so on.. the rest is either hard working or lazy Danes relying on SU. As much as I would love to see it in Danish, other countries deserve it too!

I don't get your point. I just pointed out out that the adoption ratio of Apple products in the Nordic countries are insane.
The reason a huge part of our workforce are of polish (not close to 50%) is because they can afford a salary no Danish would be able to life for, especially when they 'need' both MBPs and iPads.

[ps45]

Originally Posted by mjtomlin

Please read... DARPA CALO Project

The technology involved requires a period of learning and being that Siri is a mass consumer technology, it probably will need a massive amount of usage and incoming data to perfect and enhance the service, hence the beta status it is still in.

"Ignorance" may have been a strong word, sorry.

Naive is probably more appropriate for someone to believe that a technology such as this can be released "out of the gate" and work flawlessly. That's akin to a baby being born and expecting it to speak the Mother's native language.

True, the voice recognition and network connection can use some work, I agree with that and Apple is working to build more data centers and hopefully working with Nuance to enhance their engine. But again, this is beta and Apple has made it clear from day 1.

As far as you being "unimpressed," that's your opinion and experience using it - well, I assume you've used it? However, I've seen the opposite reaction many, many times.

Wow that DARPA stuff sure sounds like some complicated project. One which, I don't know, might justify using professional employees instead of undergrads?

I'll leave it there, as you're twisting my point into something else, and you've changed tack entirely (as a reminder you were suggesting my views on internships were ignorant, not any non-existent claims that Siri should work flawlessly).

As an aside, I believe Apple dropped the right to call Siri a beta product when it became the centerpiece of their promotional campaigns for the iPhone.

[studio¹³¹]

Originally Posted by studio¹³¹
make it work in English.

Originally Posted by AppleScruff1

Siri's reply, " Did you say make a pork dish?"

lulzr - this is so accurate its not even funny...

[iDemiurge]

*******, no Klingon? I'm going Android.

[apolloa]

haha, maybe they should get it working properly in it's 'current' languages before they start to support others?

[AppleScruff1]

Originally Posted by studio¹³¹

lulzr - this is so accurate its not even funny...

Sad but true.

[Mr. Gates]

Originally Posted by iDemiurge

*******, no Klingon? I'm going Android.

If Android supported Klingon, every geek on earth would rally behind that

[Tovenaar]

How about Apple start by working with Microsoft to get MS Office to support Arabic rather than Siri, a feature that I used for 5 days when I first got my phone.

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by MacFather

Google Now works better than Siri

What surprised me is that Google Now actually allows code-mixing i.e. speaking in two or more languages in the same sentence. This is very common in Hong Kong where people are often bilingual speakers of Cantonese and English. Siri returns crap when you try to speak a Cantonese word to English Siri or an English term in Cantonese Siri.

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Originally Posted by NoIdeasOriginal

Siri is the first assistant that can actually understand my Irish accent. I give them kudos for that.

It's Nuance. Siri's voice recognition is not done by Apple.

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Originally Posted by copykris

hahahaha

thanks for the laugh!

It took Apple more than a decade to recognise there are some people who live in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (1.4 billion+ people)