How to: teach Siri to correctly pronounce names on your iPhone

AppleInsider · October 23, 2017 12:01AM

Asking Siri to text or call contacts is one of the virtual assistant's basic functions, but some names can be hard for the system to understand and pronounce. AppleInsider shows you how to ensure correct pronunciation, and contact retrieval, in this video.

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kruegdude · October 23, 2017 1:13AM

I wish there were a way to correct pronunciation in other areas where Siri is used, for instance in Maps. Not really a big deal but if I could I’d let Siri know that Houston is prounced H-yous-ton instead of House-ton :-)

athempel · October 23, 2017 2:22AM

Now we just need to teach the presenter of the video how to pronounce "pronunciation".

LukeCage · October 23, 2017 2:37AM

Wow, I had a vague idea that Siri could do this but after watching the video I came away very impressed. Now where are the Alexa and Google Assistant people who always dog Siri.

larrya · October 23, 2017 3:09AM

I set the pronunciation of my name to, "Sexy". Stole the idea from Big Bang Theory, but makes me giggle every time since I always forget I did it.

larrya · October 23, 2017 3:14AM

athempel said:

Now we just need to teach the presenter of the video how to pronounce "pronunciation".

Lol - It's right there in the spelling!

redhotfuzz · October 23, 2017 3:34AM

It’s so annoying that Siri will provide multiple pronunciation choices that sound exactly the same! Also, after I teach Siri to say my last name correctly, why does she still not pronounce my wife’s or brother’s last name correctly? Also, she’ll pronounce my last name correctly in some circumstances but not others. These are deficiencies that should not exist after this many years of development.

fotoformat · October 23, 2017 5:33AM

Thanks, I needed this explanation... having asked Siri recently for the best restaurant in Chinon, France, on my iPhone I was repetedly pointed to Sheen in London, 640 kms away in the UK. My lady friend got the correct directions immediately on her 'droid phone!

vadimyuryev · October 23, 2017 7:18AM

athempel said:

Now we just need to teach the presenter of the video how to pronounce "pronunciation".

oops lol sometimes i read so fast that i don't notice the little details like a missing o

avon b7 · October 23, 2017 9:17AM

vadimyuryev said:

athempel said:

Now we just need to teach the presenter of the video how to pronounce "pronunciation".

oops lol sometimes i read so fast that i don't notice the little details like a missing o

Don't worry. You are not alone. English, like all languages, is evolving. This is an example of one word which will eventually change its pronunciation. I use both and am fully aware of the differences as I work with English professionally with people who have it as a second language. In theory it means I should be more aware of this particular word than most but I still say 'pronounciation' on occasion.

'advertisement' is another candidate for a pronunciation change and if I had my way, 'Yosemite' would also get changed. LOL.

Btw, I wasn't aware of this possibility with Siri. Thanks, I will give it a try. It could be handy with an address book full of foreign names.

ibeginner6 · October 23, 2017 9:35AM

Наши в городе!

sidrictheviking · October 23, 2017 9:56AM

Fantastic. I had tried a different way to get Siri to pronounce my name correctly (like Saoirse Sinead, it’s Irish). Now I’ve edited my contact details (and my wife’s) and now Siri says it correctly. Many thanks. So simple. Another hidden gem.

Go raibh míle maith agat (‘thank you’ in Irish)

Sidric The Viking...🧔🏽🇮🇪☘️

talexy · October 23, 2017 12:42PM

Here in Germany we have a problem with Siri and music.
If i want to play music from an english band, siri doesn't understand me until i say the name as if it would be a german word. Which is – awkward.

Would it be a solution to create a contact with the bands name and teach siri how to pronounce it correctly? Or does siri differentiate between contacts and music?

avon b7 · October 23, 2017 1:11PM

talexy said:

Here in Germany we have a problem with Siri and music.
If i want to play music from an english band, siri doesn't understand me until i say the name as if it would be a german word. Which is – awkward.

Would it be a solution to create a contact with the bands name and teach siri how to pronounce it correctly? Or does siri differentiate between contacts and music?

This area is a world of pain with voice assistants. I'm hoping that NPUs will help out a lot here as, with the right software they can learn how you pronounce words from another language and interpret them much faster and offline.

For example:

U2 is 'you two' for English speakers but often 'oo doss' in Spanish

Back Street Boys would be 'Backestreet Boys' in Spanish.

Not that we don't have our own issues in English: David Bowie!

stephanjobs · October 23, 2017 2:22PM

vadimyuryev said:

athempel said:

Now we just need to teach the presenter of the video how to pronounce "pronunciation".

oops lol sometimes i read so fast that i don't notice the little details like a missing o

Poor guy or girl who’s phone number is clearly displayed on the demo.

Thats the real “oops”.

You shoud edit that and block it out. Weirdos will call and that person will have to change their number.

Thatd why movies always use (555)***_**** as a number.

creek0512 · October 23, 2017 2:30PM

avon b7 said:

vadimyuryev said:

athempel said:

Now we just need to teach the presenter of the video how to pronounce "pronunciation".

oops lol sometimes i read so fast that i don't notice the little details like a missing o

Don't worry. You are not alone. English, like all languages, is evolving. This is an example of one word which will eventually change its pronunciation. I use both and am fully aware of the differences as I work with English professionally with people who have it as a second language. In theory it means I should be more aware of this particular word than most but I still say 'pronounciation' on occasion.

'advertisement' is another candidate for a pronunciation change and if I had my way, 'Yosemite' would also get changed. LOL.

Btw, I wasn't aware of this possibility with Siri. Thanks, I will give it a try. It could be handy with an address book full of foreign names.

Like most words, "advertisement" already has multiple pronunciations in English depending on you accent. Even the core North American and British pronunciations are widely different.

vadimyuryev · October 23, 2017 2:55PM

stephanjobs said:

vadimyuryev said:

athempel said:

Now we just need to teach the presenter of the video how to pronounce "pronunciation".

oops lol sometimes i read so fast that i don't notice the little details like a missing o

Poor guy or girl who’s phone number is clearly displayed on the demo.

Thats the real “oops”.

You shoud edit that and block it out. Weirdos will call and that person will have to change their number.

Thatd why movies always use (555)***_**** as a number.

The name and number are completely made up. Saoirse Sinead was the weirdest name I could find in a short period of time. (or weirdest pronunciation)

exsangus · October 23, 2017 7:14PM

talexy said:

Here in Germany we have a problem with Siri and music.
If i want to play music from an english band, siri doesn't understand me until i say the name as if it would be a german word. Which is – awkward.

Would it be a solution to create a contact with the bands name and teach siri how to pronounce it correctly? Or does siri differentiate between contacts and music?

This is one of my biggest frustrations as well. One of my favorite artists, for example, is Nils Frahm. If Siri is set to English, she can’t understand at all, And starts playing something totally different. If I set My language to German, it works fine, but then my German isn’t quite good enough to do everything in German, and I have issues with English band names.

Being able to train her on other things in music and maps etc would be great. I hope they figure out the music part of things by the time the new Apple speaker is released.

dps098 · October 23, 2017 10:07PM

Is there a way to teach Siri to understand/speak business names correctly in the Address Book? This method doesn't work as there is no "first and last name". What about songs, albums and playlists in iTunes that it always gets wrong and are hard to ask Siri to play?

How to: teach Siri to correctly pronounce names on your iPhone

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