HomePod Now Supports French, German, and Canadian English, While Canadian French Coming Later This Year

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced that the HomePod will be available in Canada, France, and Germany beginning June 18, but ahead of then, the speaker has gained support for languages and dialects spoken in each country.

Today's new 11.4 software update for HomePod enables Siri to speak in French, German, and Canadian English in any region, including the United States. Apple says Canadian French will be added in a subsequent software update coming later this year, but it has not provided a specific timeframe as of yet.

The new software update should be pushed to the HomePod automatically after updating to iOS 11.4 on a paired iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, but it can also be installed manually through the speaker's settings in the Home app.

To change a HomePod's default language, open the Home app on a paired iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 11.4, 3D Touch or long press on the HomePod's icon, tap on Details, and tap on Languages. There are now six languages, including the previous options of U.S. English, U.K. English, and Australian English.

Canadian residents who purchased a HomePod in the United States, for example, can now switch from American English to Canadian English.

While the switch from American English to Canadian English doesn't yield any significant differences, it does allow the language of a paired iOS device to be set back to Canadian English as well, as in Canada, a HomePod and paired iOS device must be set to the same language for Siri to deliver Personal Requests.

Despite support for Canadian English, the HomePod still isn't completely localized for Canada, as Siri still doesn't work with music charts, for example, as demonstrated by MacRumors reader Pedro Marques in the video below.

Of course, the HomePod should gain support for additional languages as it launches in more countries in the future.

Article Link: HomePod Now Supports French, German, and Canadian English, While Canadian French Coming Later This Year

 

[joeblow7777]

What exactly is the difference between English and Canadian English? I mean, other than spelling some words with a “u” (the actual English way)?

 

[ipedro]

Music Charts were initially available in Canada when Apple Music launched. Strange that they were removed when HomePod was introduced.

 

[gwaizai]

Canadian English, eh?
It's a boat time.
Take off, hoser!

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

LOL. HomePod doesn't even understand English.

 

[Hastings101]

Canadian English lol

Très cool oui oui amalgame

 

[BSben]

Historic Charts are also not available in the UK

 

[Macaholic868]

LOL. HomePod doesn't even understand English.

So true...

 

[Smoak5]

oh this is intere.... no never mind its not.

I think the home pod will look nice on my shelf next to my Apple newton.

Sorry Apple. You are too late to this party. Sonos all the way in my house and not making any changes since I am so vested in sonos.

 

[Ja Di ksw]

Would this allow for multiple languages at once? I speak English and my wife speaks German, could we both just talk in our native languages to it, or does it require a switch each time?

 

[BSben]

Would this allow for multiple languages at once? I speak English and my wife speaks German, could we both just talk in our native languages to it, or does it require a switch each time?

No, unfortunately not. You have to select the language from the app each time if you want to swap, I hope that in a future update you can select more than one language, I would settle for a three language limit to begin with....

 

[Baymowe335]

LOL. HomePod doesn't even understand English.

Works fine for me. Maybe try speaking more clearly?

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Spanish? Portuguese? Italian?

 

[jasonefmonk]

I found that after they introduced Canadian English to Siri years ago, my success rate with the service went way up. I appreciate that they take the time to distinguish different dialects. Hopefully they don’t dawdle on the Canadian French implementation.

I am interested in the HomePod but it’s definitely not a need. For myself it would make early morning music/podcast playback smoother. Instead of having to power on my UE Megaboom (via button or app) I could just AirPlay directly, and get improved sound too. The Megaboom could find use elsewhere.

I’m not yet able to justify $450CAD for those upgrades and convenience.

 

[Dentifrice]

AHHH Are you kidding me ? So much for the hype...

Any French Canadian here with an homepod can tell if you can use French (France) when your iphone is French (Canada) ?

I suppose not...

 

[Pakaku]

Speaking as a canadian... what exactly is so different about canadian english that it took a whole post-release update to support?

 

[ColdShadow]

Please enable Bluetooth instead of all this nonsense.
howcome AirPods support Bluetooth and can pair with any device,but not HomePod?
Makes zero sence,no wonder these bombed.

 

[yeahtyeaht]

Thank you Apple but we want Apple Pay and Apple News in germany!

 

[Junior117]

What exactly is the difference between English and Canadian English?

Canadian English is basically a mixture of British and American English. But I'm not an English major, so I'm not going to pretend to know everything about the subject. Someone over at the English Language & Usage Stack Exchange has a pretty good explanation of the major differences:

https://english.stackexchange.com/q...ces-between-canadian-and-american-usa-english

Hope that helps.

 

[martyjmclean]

What exactly is the difference between English and Canadian English? I mean, other than spelling some words with a “u” (the actual English way)?

Speaking as a canadian... what exactly is so different about canadian english that it took a whole post-release update to support?

Canadian English is like Australian English. Not an official language; but it’s a mix of mostly proper British English, bits of Americanised English and country specific terminology/slang.

 

[shigzeo]

Canadian English- the one English without a large slang base, with much coast to coast inflection change, with nary a large change from North Dakota style American. If Siri can’t understand it (the simplest of the English’s) it is hopeless.
[doublepost=1527635552][/doublepost]

Canadian English is like Australian English. Not an official language; but it’s a mix of mostly proper British English, bits of Americanised English and country specific terminology/slang.

Canadian is American with a few spelling changes. No tyre, no memorise, just a u added here and there. It’s American.

 

[lunarworks]

Speaking as a canadian... what exactly is so different about canadian english that it took a whole post-release update to support?

We have slightly and occasionally greatly different ways of saying and pronouncing things. The first time I went to LA people picked me out as a Canadian pretty quickly. The other way round is a bit different, since we're so used to American dialects. One of the most obvious is saying about as a-boat (NOT a-boot), one of the less obvious is saying Toronto as Turonno. Fine-tuning Siri to recognise it helps with accuracy.

As for post-release? Simple. It wasn't available in Canada at release.

 

[Brandhouse]

UK, Canadian and Australian English are the one and the same, it's only the U.S that don't get this and invent their own lazy version. When I read the English languages supported I had a laugh.

 

[shigzeo]

UK, Canadian and Australian English are the one and the same, it's only the U.S that don't get this and invent their own lazy version. When I read the English languages supported I had a laugh.

Canadian English is nothing like Australian which is a lot closer to English. Canadian English is American with a few spelling deviations, which, considering English roots, make no sense.

American English spelling- at a minimum was standardised around real-world pronunciation for the American continent.

 

[sirozha]

Canadian English is so different from American English that Siri can tell the difference, eh?