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In the UK, Siri's voice is male. Does anyone else dislike that? A male voice I mean.
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The French voice sounds the most fluid and lifelike to me...too bad I don't speak understand it
The French voice sounds the most fluid and lifelike to me...too bad I don't speak understand it
I thought I would prefer the female voice at first, and I wouldn't mind a feminine as my default assistant, but I'm not so sure I could accept a female bot giving me sass in reply to a simple request... I might get tempted to throw the phone across the street. i don't think I could digest an Aus Siri saying 'G'Day sport', and my wife would have a fit if she heard it call her a 'Sheila'. 
Stick with British Siri, train it well and the rewards will be great.
Stick with British Siri, train it well and the rewards will be great.
The fact you don't speak or understand it might have something to do with it sounding so fluid and lifelike
I would prefer a male voice.
Being female, I don't need another chick yammering at me haha!
If it was British or Aussie male... I would have that phone talk me to sleep haha!
WW
Being female, I don't need another chick yammering at me haha!
If it was British or Aussie male... I would have that phone talk me to sleep haha!
WW
I agree with Zcott, and I'm a yank. It is comments like the above that gives us Americans the perception of 'arrogance meets ignorance'.
I rather prefer the Australian voice myself. But then again, I'm an American Indian who lived in Australia for 2 years. There area LOT of things that US English has absolutely arse backwards; I won't get into them totally, but Norcal, Southern drawls, using the word 'like' for everything, etc...
don't get me started.
Anywho, there is something to be said about the Queen's English; for one, there wouldn't have been any US English if it hadn't been brought over off the boat. So recognize.
Besides.. you have it wrong.. 300 million people are about to get assimilated by Spanish.
BL.
The kind of arrogance that gives your country a bad name with the rest of the world.
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iFanboy
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One of the best ignorant responses I've seen!
Basically what you're saying is that British English originated from the UK, but because immigration has resulted in a bastardised version of it being used in the USA, now by up to 300 million people, it's time for the originating British English to be forgotten and the bastardised American version "assimilate" and by implication take over.
How about, the UK keeps British English, something we've used hundreds of years before anyone knew the continent now known as the America's even existed, and America keeps it's bastardised version, and everyone's happy?
One of the best ignorant responses I've seen!
Basically what you're saying is that British English originated from the UK, but because immigration has resulted in a bastardised version of it being used in the USA, now by up to 300 million people, it's time for the originating British English to be forgotten and the bastardised American version "assimilate" and by implication take over.
How about, the UK keeps British English, something we've used hundreds of years before anyone knew the continent now known as the America's even existed, and America keeps it's bastardised version, and everyone's happy?
Language is in constant change. The British English you speak is not the same British English that the British spoke 500 years ago. It may be very close, but it won't be 100% identical. So don't assume that you speak "proper" English. Remember, America is shaped by many different cultures (French, German, Spanish, etc).
Modern American English is as close to the English of 500 years ago as Modern British English is. In some respects, it's closer ("fall" for "autumn," for instance), in other respects, it's further apart.
Anyway, I am a bit surprised Apple didn't include a way to make the voice male or female independent of the dialect. Supposedly Americans culturally prefer machines to have female voices, and the British prefer male voices, but the train announcements in London have female voices and in NYC they have male voices so that might not be entirely true.
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But you are from Canada, right? Spoken Canadian English is closer to American English than British English, so much so that most British can't tell the difference. I can't tell you how many times I was asked "Are you from Canada?" when I lived in London (I have nothing like a Canadian accent).
I speak British English mostly ( except Ts as Ds of course ), including spelling - centre, armour, organization etc etc, and dates as dd/mm/yyyy. IMO, mm/dd/yyyy is just illogical.
EDIT: A lot of people I know also use the british spellings too. Canadian English is a mash of both american and british.
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iFanboy
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Are you joking? The words haven't changed, the phrasing has. Words haven't died out. They still exist.
I'm an English Lawyer btw, so you can safely assume I speak with a great deal of experience given that the date of legal memory in England and Wales is 1189. Reading the documentation spanning hundreds of years it's clear to see how phrases develop, but the words don't.
American English uses different words and often different spelling for the same thing. That's what differentiates it.
I've lived all over the world in my time and believe me, the UK (and particularly London) is the most culturally diverse in the world. Remember, we have a culture influenced by Empire and therefore have HUGE Indian, West Indian, African, Canadian & Australasian influences...not to mention the fact that a national of any EU Member State has the right to live & reside in the UK as though it were their own country (resulting in a large Eastern European contingent with healthy smatterings of French, German, Spanish, Italian etc.)
We are occasionally influenced by American pop culture in terms of how our language develops eg. Music & Film. And at the same time we have our own traditions & oddities that dictate how our language evolves. The sheer variety of English dialects and accents you find in as small a country as the UK as you travel through is astonishing and something I feel should be studied, appreciated & celebrated rather than insulted.
The same can be said for US English and personally, rather than insult people's traditions and cultures (which is always going to get people "pissed" (in the US sense)) we might do better to share & acknowledge that we occasionally have differing views. Heck, even Apple's motto rubs me (a lover of all things British) up the wrong way. "Think Different" is simply (and obviously) grammatically incorrect to any scholar of the English language! ;-)
Can you say "blind, uninformed, ethnocentricity" ?
Indeed. Would you like that in a male voice, or in a female voice?
A vast majority of spoken English is grammatically incorrect, including in Britain. Written English is a little more correct, although spelling is atrocious. The grammar and spelling rules will evolve to catch up eventually.
As for Apple, would it help you understand what they were trying to say if you put quote marks around "Different", as in Think "Different"? If you were discussing paint colors with your wife you might say: Think "blue", perhaps (before you consider how miserable your already bleak future will become if you don't go with the sage green that she likes).
I believe it's colloquial, but not necessarily incorrect.
you're American? so what the ho-didley do you know about grammatically [in]correct?
I never thought of it that way before either ..it makes more sense now.
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You didn't note the sarcasm that should have been made apparent by the obvious "winky face"?
So, you genuine(ly) believe that the English Language will evolve to drop the use of adverbs and that we will simply throw around random adjectives when describing verbs? This is fundamental linguistics and the presence of adverbs is paramount no matter which modern language you are speaking/writing in.
You might think it's okay to be so flippant about the use of language (providing the meaning is understood by the person you are communicating with). But the same semantics will also dictate that a large portion of English speakers (including myself) will look down on you as lazy, uneducated & ignorant for not bothering to speak proper(ly).
Note how stupid the use of the words that are followed by "ly" in parenthesis sound outside of their proper form. It would have sounded as though I'd suddenly undergone a transformation into a 19th Century Dickensian Chimney-Sweep Orphan!
If I went to France or Germany & started randomly dropping in adjectives in place of adverbs...they'd look at me like I'd swallowed some dodgy pills! Serious(ly)?!
I get your point about colloquial language. But as a proud speaker of my language and a soon to be Doctor of English, I'd wager I'm eminently more qualified to speak on the quirks of the evolution of language than most in this forum.
And now for something completely different: I like Siri's Male voice. It makes me feel like I have an occasionally disobedient butler.
You didn't note the sarcasm that should have been made apparent by the obvious "winky face"?
So, you genuine(ly) believe that the English Language will evolve to drop the use of adverbs and that we will simply throw around random adjectives when describing verbs? This is fundamental linguistics and the presence of adverbs is paramount no matter which modern language you are speaking/writing in.
You might think it's okay to be so flippant about the use of language (providing the meaning is understood by the person you are communicating with). But the same semantics will also dictate that a large portion of English speakers (including myself) will look down on you as lazy, uneducated & ignorant for not bothering to speak proper(ly).
Note how stupid the use of the words that are followed by "ly" in parenthesis sound outside of their proper form. It would have sounded as though I'd suddenly undergone a transformation into a 19th Century Dickensian Chimney-Sweep Orphan!
If I went to France or Germany & started randomly dropping in adjectives in place of adverbs...they'd look at me like I'd swallowed some dodgy pills! Serious(ly)?!
I get your point about colloquial language. But as a proud speaker of my language and a soon to be Doctor of English, I'd wager I'm eminently more qualified to speak on the quirks of the evolution of language than most in this forum.
And now for something completely different: I like Siri's Male voice. It makes me feel like I have an occasionally disobedient butler.
I have no idea why or how this turned into a d*** measuring contest between who is more qualified to talk about the history of the English language, but I would like to pose a question that is actually on track...
Why don't they just let you pick the voice? Maybe I want an UK English Male speaking to me while I speak American English to it. Just because the Siri voice has an accent doesn't mean the voice recognition software should have to be looking for the same accent. Perhaps this will change at some point, but who knows?
Why don't they just let you pick the voice? Maybe I want an UK English Male speaking to me while I speak American English to it. Just because the Siri voice has an accent doesn't mean the voice recognition software should have to be looking for the same accent. Perhaps this will change at some point, but who knows?
Can you say "blind, uninformed, ethnocentricity" ?
Troll, angry, insane?
I love how British people are jumping on my ass, still butt hurt over the American Revolution? I bet so!
Um...I'm not British. The ethnocentricity to which I referred was American ethnocentricity. Reading the Quote in my post might have revealed this. (Reading comprehension is essential)
The American Revolution is not really an important issue in my daily life. I have no idea if the Brits are still testy about it. I rather think not - a few other things on their mind.
Insane? Entirely possible.
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