9/9/09

Oh for Pete's sake!

The voice recognition system on my cellphone, does not understand what I'm saying most of the time! I'm serious, it's a joke how bad it does trying to recognise what I'm saying, thanks to my British accent.

I have gone through the training system to try and improve things to no avail, it is sooo frustrating! Here are some examples of how wrong it gets things:

Me: "Call Onesuite" = Calling Walgreens!

"Call Onesuite" = Calling Subway!

"Call Onesuite" = Calling Tommie Wieden!

"Call Bryan cell" = Calling Dr Males!

"Call DLO" = Calling Gary!

"Call Dr Radar" = Calling Belkin Pager!

"Call NWO" = Calling Kenna Young!

It seems to have alot to do with how I pronouce my 'o' and 'a' especially. Needless to say, I am none too impressed with voice recognition as a selling feature.

This is another issue that falls into the "who knew this would be a problem when I emigrated" category!

18 comments:

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Haahaa it only gets worse :)
I used to have a similar program on my computer Dragon Speak, it NEVER quite got the hang of it..
If it makes you feel any better, my husband who is a native Tennessean always has trouble at the fast food drive in window. He asks for French fries,and always gets a Sprite. It's the English twist he puts on the word fries.

Unknown said...

Jo, I have had similar problems at drive-thru's too!

Pam said...

It's because you are a south of England kind of gal in how you pronounce your vowels. The north-of-England people would probably sail right through! Long A's, short a's, etc. You probably have a southern American telephone ;)

Kay said...

Gee, I wonder how somebody on Hawaii would do with that system.

Anonymous said...

I hated those things in Canada. Cell phone company, Bank, Cable etc. One good thing about being back in Blighty, I guess.

Lynn said...

Voice recognition systems don't do any better with an American southern accent. My husband can't make his phone understand him either.

Daryl said...

What a pain in the royal tush!

Linda Jennings said...

Oh my! And, I thought I had a problem with my Kentucky twang!

Sherri said...

OMG Sarah, what a crazy voice recognition program! I never really thought an English accent would cause so much trouble with that program! You will just have to pick up a Southern accent and then it will place the calls you want to!! Good luck

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

SuperPizzaBoy and I changed the voice on our GPS from American male to British Female. We call her Sarah since you are the only Brit Woman that I know. It sends SPB into hysterics when I don't do a turn correctly and Sarah tells us "Turn Left, Turn Left" and then in an irritated voice "Recalculating!"

Misty said...

Yeah, I don't think it's a problem of any accent; voice commands just suck. When I try to call me friend Evie, it says "Call Jimmy?" I don't even know anyone named Jimmy. When I say her full name, it pronounces everything wrong, and makes her sound like she's Slavic (W = V, apparently). Sometimes, I think voice commands are a real person just sitting around screwing with people all day.

Expat mum said...

Yes, you definitely have to drop the posh "a" sound. My kids absolutely wet themselves watching me with these things - until I slam the phone down and chase them up the stairs that is!

Unknown said...

Yogi, thanks for the LOL today!!

Anonymous said...

I only experience the problem with the "I" that comes across as "A". But the rest works for me. Where in the UK are from, Sarah? Perhaps you need a common accent like mine!

Jill of All Trades said...

Oh my that is a problem.

Gaelyn said...

Maybe you need to buy a UK phone.

Sassy Britches said...

Wow, yet another thing I take for granted. You're a trooper!

Pat said...

I was also thinking along the lines of Gaelyn--is there such a thing as a UK cellphone that works here?

Echoing Yogi- We have a Garmin GPS and we have it set with a British female accent. Her name is Emily. We refer to the GPS as Emily and she and her. She's always very pleasant and easy to understand.