Monday, December 5, 2011

Voice Search arrives in the Middle East

Today, we are very pleased to announce the launch of Voice Search in Arabic and Hebrew for Android and iPhone users.

Users in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, UAE, and Israel can now speak Arabic and Hebrew into their phones to get search results quickly and easily. With this launch, Voice Search is now supported in 29 languages and accents in 37 countries.


When building support for Arabic and Hebrew into our language model we faced some unique challenges, including how to understand words with diacritics (accents that indicate a difference in pronunciation, a linguistic phenomenon called “Nikud” in Hebrew, and “Tashkil” in Arabic) and words appended with other words (“and” for example) that can have many different nuanced meanings.

To train our system we collected over one million utterances in Arabic and Hebrew, using the languages as they are spoken in the more populated parts of each country. For Arabic, we trained the system to recognize Gulf, Levant and Egyptian dialects. While initially we may not accurately recognize words spoken in every regional accent and dialect, one of the major benefits to Google’s cloud-based model is that the more people use Voice Search, the more accurate it becomes.

Availability
How you get started with Google Voice Search depends on what kind of phone you have. If your phone runs Android 2.2 or later, and you see the microphone icon on the Google Search widget on your homescreen, all you have to do is tap the icon to start a voice-powered search. Otherwise, you can install the Voice Search app from Android Market. Note that you can only speak one language into the app at any time and that you may need to change your language setting first.

To get Google Search App for iPhone, search for ‘Google Search App’ in the App Store or follow this link. If you already have Google Search App installed, you can enable voice search by selecting the new languages from the settings panel within the app.

Posted by Bertrand Damiba, Product Manager
at

37 comments:

  1. AmirDecember 5, 2011 at 11:01 PM

    very good news :)

    but...
    1. I can't find where and how to select a language for the search (Android 2.3.5).
    2. On the Android market, I was told that the software is incompatible with my country, since only English is being supported.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmirDecember 5, 2011 at 11:02 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BannaDecember 6, 2011 at 12:02 AM

    Thank you google, that's an excellent step.

    Dear Amir, just click on the voice search button, when the "say something" screen appears press on the "Settings" hard button on your phone and change the language from there.

    I still have issues regarding the commands, where do I find the commands list?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownDecember 6, 2011 at 12:12 AM

    what are the keywords in hebrew for Dialing/Texting/Navigating ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. AmirDecember 6, 2011 at 12:17 AM

    Thanks for the advise, but neither Hebrew nor Arabic, are available on the languages list.

    ReplyDelete
  6. BannaDecember 6, 2011 at 12:23 AM

    Strange,
    I am using my HTC Desire with Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) and it is working fine here.

    * By fine I mean:
    - Arabic for several countries was available in the language list.
    - I selected "Arabic - Jordan".
    - When activating the voice search, the notification shows in Arabic.
    - I tried different 'search for' commands and it did understand me (almost) when I used the official Arabic or my Jordanian accent.
    - Didn't know how to play music or find a place or other than search the web commands :S.

    Good luck :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. ליאורDecember 6, 2011 at 1:15 AM

    The Android Voice Search application is still not available for download for Israel. Please fix that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ktopazDecember 6, 2011 at 1:49 AM

    I just installed voice search,
    (Ironically I had to use "market enabler" in order to do that...)
    - but the new languages are not available in the voice input/output settings

    ReplyDelete
  9. חן אידןDecember 6, 2011 at 2:13 AM

    HI, I have 2 devices - Android with 2.3 version and iPhone with iOS 5. I couldn't find the Hebrew settings on either of them, what am I doing wrong and how do I fix it? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. JoshDecember 6, 2011 at 2:45 AM

    Hi, I succeeded in downloading the search (needed market enabler :-() I have N1 with Android 2.3.7. - The Hebrew search seems to work really fine, but how can I make it call or text a contact person?

    ReplyDelete
  11. roietripDecember 6, 2011 at 3:34 AM

    @Amir, restart your phone and after it loads, long press the search key and you will be notified that Hebrew is available in your location and then select Hebrew from languages.

    this is what I did on my 2.2.1 android.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Rotem AkermanDecember 6, 2011 at 3:36 AM

    Managed to update the voice search app using market enabler but still no hebrew

    suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  13. roietripDecember 6, 2011 at 3:42 AM

    by the way I've managed to search in Hebrew but not to make voice commands like "call". I think for now only search in Hebrew in available.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rotem AkermanDecember 6, 2011 at 3:54 AM

    reboot my android seems to fix it
    works great!

    ReplyDelete
  15. ابو البراءDecember 6, 2011 at 3:59 AM

    what about saudi

    or he dont speek

    ReplyDelete
  16. MarcosDecember 6, 2011 at 4:39 AM

    How do i get it to work on my galaxy s 1...i updated the app on the market and i still dont see the option...

    ReplyDelete
  17. idoDecember 6, 2011 at 4:42 AM

    i dont have hebrew in the list
    iphone 4

    ReplyDelete
  18. QRRBDecember 6, 2011 at 5:38 AM

    *Nice, Thank you Google, we wants to be able to switch between speaking languages so easily. For instance, once the voice search box appear we can swipe right or left to choose the language.*
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  19. angga_rastafara.blogspot.comDecember 6, 2011 at 5:45 AM

    good job

    ReplyDelete
  20. Roee BarDecember 6, 2011 at 6:29 AM

    I also don't see Hebrew on the language list (iPhone 4)

    ReplyDelete
  21. AzDecember 6, 2011 at 7:32 AM

    Thanks a lot Google. You are now supporting my tongue language, Arabic. Yet the application is not available in my country, Kuwait.

    Way to go guys, couldn't think of a better way to piss off an Android user.

    ReplyDelete
  22. RobiDecember 6, 2011 at 8:28 AM

    The market version is : June 21, 2011
    CURRENT VERSION:2.1.4
    and when downloading it Hebrew doesn't existץ
    Any idea ?

    ReplyDelete
  23. raibblDecember 6, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    Not working on my device in Saudi Arabia after update I restarted. Device yet nothing !! I PUT language as local Arabic yet it doesn't show in Google search

    ReplyDelete
  24. שיDecember 6, 2011 at 12:04 PM

    Hello,
    I was wondering how to change the English language was Hebrew language?
    I'd like an answer quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  25. יובל קורןDecember 6, 2011 at 1:50 PM

    Thank you google for enabling Hebrew voice recognition. I tried it on the ipad and it works really great. Wow!

    ReplyDelete
  26. SaadDecember 6, 2011 at 9:19 PM

    Thanks Google for the Arabic support! I do have some questions though; why isn't Standard Arabic supported? will we be able to use this feature on Google search from a computer browser? And lastly, for Arabic speakers with a Saudi accent, which accent yields the best results?

    ReplyDelete
  27. AnonymousDecember 7, 2011 at 2:04 AM

    Hi Dear
    Really a nice post about this blog...........................
    iPad Parts

    ReplyDelete
  28. חופש החיפושDecember 7, 2011 at 7:01 AM

    I have "Galaxy Mini" (Android 2.2) - Hebrew and Arabic both don't show up in the language list, even after uninstalling, reinstalling, updating and re-booting the device.

    Help!

    ReplyDelete
  29. UnitedWeStandDecember 7, 2011 at 9:16 AM

    Not working on Galaxy SII in Israel... Tried to reboot and still no Hebrew available in the voice search settings..

    ReplyDelete
  30. Gili NachumDecember 7, 2011 at 3:23 PM

    Works nicely.
    +1 for calling a contact using voice.

    ReplyDelete
  31. HazanDecember 7, 2011 at 6:22 PM

    The app wasn't available on the market..
    I had to download it from external link..
    And after installing the apk I didn't find hebrew or arabic..

    I'm using SGS2 MIUI 1.12.2 in israel.

    Any idea??

    ReplyDelete
  32. מכון CBTDecember 8, 2011 at 7:56 AM

    haha, works great on my iphone 4! love it!

    about time, thank goodness siri came along to put some pressure on you guys, but you came through :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. MarikDecember 8, 2011 at 10:48 PM

    works very nice on the sumsung I-9000
    also serch for address in hebraw in wase and google earth is great.
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  34. חופש החיפושDecember 8, 2011 at 10:49 PM

    Great! the language list has updated itself silently. Hebrew & Arabic are both on the menu now, and it works like a charm.

    Thanks for a killer app!
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  35. GandelsmanLDecember 10, 2011 at 7:37 PM

    Would be great to be able to speak in Hebrew in the US.

    ReplyDelete
  36. שחר עזרDecember 12, 2011 at 1:14 AM

    it works great in hebrew, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  37. richardberryDecember 14, 2011 at 1:40 PM

    Oh wow this is really a great news that now we can use siri app in middle east.
    Mobile Phone Prices in Pakistan

    ReplyDelete

You are welcome to contribute comments, but they should be relevant to the conversation. We reserve the right to remove off-topic remarks in the interest of keeping the conversation focused and engaging. Shameless self-promotion is well, shameless, and will get canned.