VO not pronouncing the new year properly?

By Jim D, 2 January, 2020

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

So, its a minor bug, and kind of amusing, but has anyone else noticed that ever since we've moved in to this new year, Samantha can't quite pronounce it? The year twenty twenty is pronounced as twentieth twenty. I've seen this on an iPhone 10S running iOS 13.3. If you haven't yet experienced this, open the calendar app and check the current month.
Minor bug, but one which will grab your attention.
Jim

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Comments

By Jimmy V on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

I havent experienced this on my i phone 8 running 13.3. I use Alex as my voice and he doesn't seam to have this problem
Maybe it's only a samantha bug?

By OldBear on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

I'm using an iPhone7 with the default Samantha. She says, January two-thousand-twenty.

By smhy on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

Yep, having the same issue as the author running 13.3 on an iPhone 7 using samantha

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

I haven't seen this, & I use Ava Enhanced as my voice of choice.

By Roberta on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

Samantha does this on my iPhone X as well.

By Eileen on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

The Kate voice is doing something similar on macOS.

By Khushi on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

yep, I'm also experiencing it with Siri female US voice! it says 20th 20 for I don't know what reason!
just checked it in my calendar app!

funny bug

By jigneshpadhiyar on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

I am using iPhone 8 Plus and it is running iOS 13.3. There is no issue. Siri clearly pronounces twenty-twenty. Using Indian English (female) voice. Probably, you can change the Accent and see if Siri pronounces correct.

By jigneshpadhiyar on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

I changed Siri accents to British (Female), and still, there is no incorrect pronunciation by Siri.

By Roxann Pollard on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

I use the iPhone XS, 13.3, with original Samantha. She pronounces the year the same as the original author indicated.

By Jim D on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

Thanks to all of you who have confirmed you are experiencing this as well. Sounds like it is only occurring with just a few voices. I'll send Apple Accessibility an email later today reporting this little bug.
Thanks and make it a great day!
Jim

By J.P. on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

Some of the American voices have major pronunciation issues with 13, Samantha being the worst. Been reported to Apple on multiple occasions.
How in capitals reading H O V. Gun spelling G U N. A rather large list.

By Geoff on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

Hi.

This is being caused by the speech synthesiser trying to be too clever. It is seeing the month name and then a number afterwards, and is assuming that the first part of the number is the date within that month.

Consider the following text:

January 2020

This is the word January, written out in full, followed by a space and then the digits 2 0 2 0. This also works if you just write Jan.

I have several English voices on my phone. The compact ones all say it correctly. The enhanced versions of the Lee and Karen voices both say "January twentieth twenty ".
The worst example I have found on my phone is the UK female Siri voice, which says "the twentieth of January twenty".

This kind of assumption has been around for years, even in eloquence, but this is the worst effect I have ever seen.

By KE7ZUM on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

The only issue is tom who says January as januar but everything is read correctly otherwise.

By Jeff on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

The incorrect pronunciation doesn't occur everywhere, so those reporting they aren't seeing the problem might not be encountering the situation where it does occur. As pointed out in comment 13 above, I think it's a matter of the synth attempting to be too smart. If it sees a month followed by a number, it's assuming the number is a day of the month and not the year. So, this happens in the calendar where the month is followed by the year without a day of the month. The year heading is pronounced correctly in the calendar because there's no preceding month in the heading.

Likewise, Siri pronounces the date correctly when asked for the date. Voiceover pronounces it correctly on the lock screen because it includes the day of the month along with the year.

I don't think it's strictly a particular voice, but rather, some of the voices (perhaps the enhanced voices) are trying to be too smart and making incorrect assumptions.

By OldBear on Sunday, January 26, 2020 - 09:32

My calander says January two-thousand-twenty, but I think I am using compact Samantha.
Fred says it correctly
Siri Female says twentieth twenty
Funny though, Samantha says milibars instead of MB
I wish screan readers didn't expand abbreviations and roman numerals.