Get Siri To Stop Butchering Those Difficult Names!

Tired of listening to Siri try to pronounce those difficult names, and failing miserably? While one may give her an “E” for “Effort”, it may quickly become annoying. Here’s a tip that some of you may not know.

For each entry in the Contacts app, iOS allows you to enter fields called “Phonetic First Name” and “Phonetic Last Name”. This will not only enable Siri to pronounce the name better, but also allow her to better understand who you are referring to when speaking to her.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the “Contacts” app and tap the name of the Contact you’d like to edit

2. Tap on the “Edit” button in the top right-hand corner of the contact. This will open the entry for editing:

Phonetic Spelling 3

3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap on “Add Field”.

4. In the list of available fields, tap on “Phonetic Last Name”:

Phonetic Spelling 2

5. This will add the field to the Contact, and allow you to edit it. Enter the name of the person as it sounds phonetically. (i.e. how you would explain it to someone, if you were explaining the pronunciation in person.)

Phonetic Spelling 4

6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for the “Phonetic First Name” field as well, if required.

7. Tap “Done” to save the changes. The phonetic names will now display on the Contact:

Phonetic Spelling 6

That’s it! Siri should now be able to hear and pronounce the name correctly. Remember, when entering the phonetic names, use the combination of letters that makes the most sense and is simplest to understand. You’ll get better results that way!

Hope this tip helps those romantic conversations with Siri go a little smoother. 🙂

[via OS X Daily]

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