American accents in English voiceovers
Does anybody else find it weird that whenever you have a voice over, be it satnav, Bluetooth speakers, promotional videos (of European companies!), etc. they almost always have American accents? Even before the whole buy European movement took off I found this weird, especially since British or Irish accents are way nicer to listen to in my opinion.
It annoys me most when it's something that doesn't need a voice in the first place.
A few beeps would have done the job perfectly, but no, my bluetooth headphones insist on using the most awful sounding loud, nasally whingeing American harpy voice to say:
"Heeadphoenes conneecteed"
"Heeadphoenes disconeeected"
"powerrrrrrrrrrr ahfff"
My favourite was an old Bluetooth speaker I had 10 years ago, where the voice started up saying "Bluetooth mode has been on". Like, what‽
My new ones just say “Bluetooth mode” when I turn them on 🥲
The previous generation had "Power on" and "Pairing"
And yes, the new ones directly go into pairing mode 🤦
Probably because it’s a Chinese company? What American company is making headphones and speakers?
Of course it was made in China. Still funny! I had a moped made in China with safety instructions, and one of them was "Don't drunk and drive". So I could be drunk, just not drink 😝
My friend has a Bluetooth connector for his car and it has a girl’s voice announce when Bluetooth is connected with an insanely strong Chinese accent and it’s completely adorable.
And then there is Moondrop Space Travel with an anime girl whispering to your ears.
Interesting, because as an American, I always switch my voice assistant to a British English opinion when possible because I find a lot of the American one to often have a Southern US dialect to them which I despise the sound of.
Aren't some Southern US accents similar to British? Honest question, not trolling. My english is not good enough to tell but I was pointed to Jerry Hall (who's from Texas) as an example
If you want to hear a good southern accent, listen to Walter Goggins. His accent is a really strong southern drawl from Alabama.
Not at all, for southern US think country music ala Garth Brooks, although most of the singers fake their accent. There are some New England dialects that have some similarities to UK English.
There is an accent from the American south that is quite often mistaken for British or Irish: The Ocracoke Hoi Toiders.
Ocracoke is a small island at the southern end of the Outer Banks or North Carolina, it was isolated so long that they maintain a pretty unique accent that outright doesn't sound North American.
Guess American voice as a service deals seem to be cheaper for those companies
Most of the stuff i interact with lets you choose between both.
Supply and demand i guess.
I've set my maps to German. It insists on speaking American English instead. You can no longer set Google apps to different languages.
I avoid Google products.
I mostly use OSM but the other day my wife had to find something and she only knows how to use Google Maps. She's a software developer, by the way 🙄
Annoying though that the Google Pixel is said to be one of the most privacy-friendly... i don't trust it, but why is that even said?
Because it's one of the most easily rootable phones and the only one supported by Graphene OS, which is an alternative android considered by most as the gold standard for privacy.
Hmm.. how about /e/OS?
Dunno, do your homework.
I'll inclined towards Lineage someday as that supports my phone.
One of the reasons I like my Sennheiser bluetooth headphones is the power on/off/recharge headset is a chirpy hampshire/oxofrdshire accent.
And the Sonys even more, as they just go "budoom" when you power them up.
Those simple audio cues are so much better than the overly verbose announcements lol! Reminds me of how I switched to the soundleaf app for my audiobooks partly because it has minimal audio notifications that don't interrupt my listening experiance.
Se Bluetoos device has been connected successfully
I have the opposite "problem" but I don't care. Ask yourself what this is rooted in that this bothers you. Are American voices impure or something?
I generally prefer American English, but for me British English is easier to understand. a) it’s the first English we learn due to being close by and a near holiday location b) BBC stuff sounds more standardized than what I see in American shows so far.