G'day Google: Tech giant adds ‘Strayan to take strain out of voice recognition

It’s time to crack open a tinny for Aussie phone users, it seems. 'Strayan has been added to Google applications, as the company responds to claims that its voice recognition software failed to pick up Australian accents and complex place names. Long accustomed to having their distinctive slang misunderstood, Australians can now substitute “footy” for football, “arvo” for afternoon and find directions to Mullumbimby or Goondiwindi. The extended vocabulary, which also includes “drop bear”, an Australian slang term used to describe a fictional animal that falls from trees, is available after Google added an Australian-accented voice to its Google Maps and search applications.

We wanted to make sure that Aussies were hearing an Australian voice speak back to them when they were asking questions during pub trivia or simply setting an alarm for tomorrow morning.

Google Australia spokesman

The move brings Google in step with rival personal mobile assistants which have already been catering to Australian customers for months. Apple was ahead in the game taking up the Australian twang in its voice-recognition assistant Siri in 2014, with Microsoft’s Cortana software following late last year. Google said it came up with the slang additions after months of consultations with linguists. "People are starting to talk to their phones much more regularly now. Mobile voice searchers have doubled in the last year,“ Google Australia spokesman Shane Treeves said. "Particularly all those tricky Aussie place names, they just sound much better in an Aussie voice that can get them right.”

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