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Don’t bother trying the Google voice search application if you don’t have an American accent
by Nicholas Deleon on November 20, 2008

Google’s new voice recognition search application for the iPhone works great with the standard American accent. Try to search for things with a different accent—Scouse, Cockney, Geordie, etc.—and you’ll likely get nothing but nonsense.

For example, when someone tries to search for “iPhone” in the standard Scottish accent the application hears “sex.” Searching for “iPhone” in a Welsh accent turns up “gorillas.”

This video I’ve embedded here shows a guy demonstrating several British accents. A lot of Americans think there’s a “British accent,” which really isn’t the case. Since I listen to a lot of BBC football (soccer) podcast, I’ve been exposed to people in Birmingham freaking out over Villa’s win at the weekend, dudes from Liverpool hating on Robbie Keane and North Londoners calling for Arsene Wenger’s head.

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