Correcting Siri's Pronunciation of Names

Siri is AWESOME! I use it at home, at the office, on the road, at play… it’s safe to say that I use it all the time for lots of different reasons. One of my favorite ways to use Siri is to place phone calls and send messages hands-free (speaking of hands-free, you should also read this tip!). Sometimes, Siri makes me chuckle with the way she pronounces names. Usually, she’s pretty close, but sometimes, she is way off!

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to train Siri how to pronounce names the right way. How? By just talking to her, of course!

First, we need to tell Siri that we want her to change the way she say’s a specific name. To do this, press and hold the Home button for about a second (until you hear the Siri tones). Now that Siri is listening, say “That’s not how you say [name]”. Siri responds with “Ok, how do you pronounce the name [name]?

 

As the dialog progresses, Siri will ask you to repeat the name, then prompt you with several pronunciation options to choose from. Listen to each pronunciation, then choose which one sounds closest to the actual pronunciation. You will do this for the person’s first name, then the last name.

 

This process takes about 15-30 seconds to go through, but you only have to do it once. Once you teach Siri a new trick, she remembers it!

Posted on March 25, 2016 and filed under How To, iPad, iPhone.