Siri integrates with iOS phonetic name records to speak contacts correctly

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
If the new Siri voice assistant feature in iOS 5 isn't recognizing or pronouncing the names of contacts correctly, entering a phonetic name field in the contact may solve the problem.



Previous versions of iOS have supported entering optional Phonetic First and Last Name fields, but for the iPhone 4S user, phonetic names are also a useful feature to optimize Siri's accuracy in name recognition and pronunciation.



For example, Siri initially failed to recognize a contact named Elias, instead recognizing the name as "Alliance." After entering "Eli Us" as a Phonetic First Name field however, Siri was able to recognize commands referencing the contact.



To set a phonetic name, simply edit the contact, select "add field," and then pick either a "Phonetic First Name" or "Phonetic Last Name." It makes sense to use voice dictation when entering in this field to let the iPhone invent the phonetic transcription.







After entering a phonetic version of the contact name, Siri correctly recognized the name when referenced in a voice request.







Siri voice assistant is one of the primary distinguishing features of the new iPhone 4S released last week, and its development team is reportedly one of the largest groups at Apple.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    It still pronounces my wife's name wrong.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member
    SIRI I am your friend. No you are not. You are my lover. Siri I am not your lover I am your master. No your not. you are my daddy boy. Siri I am not your daddy boy I am your God. I can't argue with that Steve.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cronked View Post


    It still pronounces my wife's name wrong.



    You just need to come up with a better phonetic approximation. Try different spellings and hyphenated syllable breaks to see what works.



    For instance, I have a (female) friend named "Joell", but Siri pronounced it like "Joel." After setting the phonetic pronunciation as "Joe-el" Siri says it just like that, which is correct.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Also, it's pretty gratifying to use the nickname feature to give someone you're not getting along with an insulting tag-- like "that stupid dickweed." Then you can just say to Siri "Send that stupid dickweed a message and tell him to stop being such a dickweed" and Siri gets right on it.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    jonrojonro Posts: 66member
    Just can't get this to work. I've tried using nicknames and phonetic names. It's very frustrating.
  • Reply 6 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cronked View Post


    It still pronounces my wife's name wrong.



    mine too.

    It doesn't change the pronunciation of her name, no matter what I put in the first name phonetic field.



    It does work for recognition. The voice recognition changed "Mariuccia" to "Muddy wood chuck", which then works when I say "Tell Mariuccia Hello". (I've since changed it to Muddy Ood Cha")



    But when it reads back it pronounces "mary-ucksa".



    Anyone know how to get it pronouncing right?



    ps. Set to Australian English. I wonder if there's a bug there...
  • Reply 7 of 20
    eh270eh270 Posts: 60member
    Can you write something like "My Wife" in the phonetic field? Or "My mom", etc.
  • Reply 8 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by eh270 View Post


    Can you write something like "My Wife" in the phonetic field? Or "My mom", etc.



    Just say to siri "Mariuccia is my wife" and it'll note the relationship. Same with mum.



    Then say "tell my mother I'm running late" and it sends the sms to her.



    But for me, "tell my mum I'm running late" finds 4 different entries in the address book - "Jason's Mum" etc.
  • Reply 9 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GregAlexander View Post


    Just say to siri "Mariuccia is my wife" and it'll note the relationship. Same with mum.




    if Siri hears the name correctly.



    Otherwise make a call for yourself and use 'add field' to put in relationship tags to the appropriate cards and then tell Siri who you are.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    Siri now refers to me as "Lord Vader".
  • Reply 11 of 20
    Also you can go to your address card and it has some extra fields further down that you can specify various relationships with other people, like mother, father, sister, spouse, friend, manager, etc. You can even do custom ones. I made one customized 'baby' for my boyfriend, and now I tell Siri to "tell my baby i'm on my way" and it sets up a text message to him.
  • Reply 12 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    if Siri hears the name correctly.



    Otherwise make a call for yourself and use 'add field' to put in relationship tags to the appropriate cards and then tell Siri who you are.



    I thought it should automatically have a card for you. Mine asked me to specify one when I first got it.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    I have a close friend named Ann. Siri keeps asking 'and'. It's maddening!!!
  • Reply 14 of 20
    Does anyone know how to get it to not sort your contacts phonetically?



    For example, my mom's name is Chonita. When I type it in phonetically as Shoneeta., Siri recognizes it, but it's sorted under S instead of C.
  • Reply 15 of 20
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member
    Yes. The sorting issues has to be a bug. Dictionaries aren't sorted phonetically. What a mess that would be. Submit feedback to Apple at www.apple.com/feedback
  • Reply 16 of 20
    My wife is convinced that the world will begin to pronounce our name wrong if we can't get this to work. Last name is Radin pronounced Ray-din. Siri keeps calling it Ra den.



    Hope we get this figured out.
  • Reply 17 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jrad View Post


    My wife is convinced that the world will begin to pronounce our name wrong if we can't get this to work. Last name is Radin pronounced Ray-din. Siri keeps calling it Ra den.



    Hope we get this figured out.



    Are you posting because assigning a phonetic pronunciation didn't work?
  • Reply 18 of 20
    Yes, if you add the "phonetic spelling" field for either first or last name and populate it, Address Book sorts by that spelling rather than the correct first or last name spelling! This is nuts. It could leave a card a long way from where you would expect to find it. I could see having an alias so it shows up in BOTH places - that would actually be a benefit.



    You could have hundreds of contacts, and for each one you would need to remember if you had changed it to a phonetic spelling so you'd know where to look? Does that make ANY sense? I know Apple doesn't do focus groups, but every once in a while you have to wonder if they don't miss out on some valuable input from the real world.
  • Reply 19 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Weisswriter View Post


    Yes, if you add the "phonetic spelling" field for either first or last name and populate it, Address Book sorts by that spelling rather than the correct first or last name spelling! This is nuts. It could leave a card a long way from where you would expect to find it. I could see having an alias so it shows up in BOTH places - that would actually be a benefit.



    You could have hundreds of contacts, and for each one you would need to remember if you had changed it to a phonetic spelling so you'd know where to look? Does that make ANY sense? I know Apple doesn't do focus groups, but every once in a while you have to wonder if they don't miss out on some valuable input from the real world.



    My isn't sorting by phonetic first name ("Ky" phonetic for "Cai"). But I have it set to show first, last, but to sort by last name, so maybe that's the difference.



    Regardless, it's dumb for the phonetic spelling to appear on the contact summary (as opposed to the edit window, I mean). Look at all these examples above - why should any of these haphazard quasi-phonetic spellings be visible - let alone on the 2nd line of the contact entry?!
  • Reply 20 of 20
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member
    I wouldn't mind if it sorted on the phonetic field as long as it said it was sorting on the phonetic field. What bothers me is that it's telling me it's sorting on the first or last name field, but it's really sorting on something else!



    If you haven't already, submit feedback to Apple: www.apple.com/feedback
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