I'm trying to get Siri to understand the simple exclamation "Ah hah!"

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Level 1

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I'm trying to get Siri to understand the simple exclamation "Ah hah!"

But Siri insists on turning this into "ha ha". Even the word/sound "aaahhh" alone turns into "ha" or "hah".

Trying to vocally spell what I mean is an even worse disaster, especially since Siri doesn't seem to understand, in the context of spelling, that "space" means a blank space, and not outer space.

When I search for help on this topic I only find things related to correcting Siri's pronunciation, not its understanding of what you're saying, or articles going back to 2013 which have nothing to do with how Siri works in 2021.

Is there any way to teach Siri this simple phrase?

Posted on Sep 8, 2021 10:00 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Katana-San

Level 9

69,643 points

Sep 8, 2021 10:13 AM in response to skyviewcafe

Hello ~ I just went through the pronunciation of “aha” with Siri on my iPad. Siri pronounced it correctly for me. Then went through again pronouncing it differently and got “ha ha” and “ haaaaa”

So perhaps it is in the way we pronounce it. I myself will choose a different phrase it Siri has a problem with the one I used to begin with. Take a look here for other ways to teach Siri:

Tell Siri about yourself on iPhone - Apple Support

~Katana-San~

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Answer 2

skyviewcafe Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 8, 2021 2:28 PM in response to Katana-San

I don't have a problem with Siri pronouncing things correctly here. If I type "ah hah!", and have Siri read that back, there's no problem. But Siri simply cannot parse that I'm saying "ah hah!", and consistently interprets that as "ha ha", no matter how I try to shift my pronunciation, speed, stress, etc.

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Answer 3

skyviewcafe Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 8, 2021 2:33 PM in response to cicada555

cicada555 wrote:

You cannot teach Siri new words or expressions.

"Ah hah", however, isn't new to Siri. I'm pretty sure Siri understands that such a phrase exists. It just doesn't recognized my voice saying those words no matter what I do. I'm a native speaker of English, with an accent that's pretty neutral by American media standards, so this shouldn't be such a tough challenge for Siri as it appears to be.

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Answer 4

Katana-San

Level 9

69,643 points

Sep 8, 2021 3:55 PM in response to skyviewcafe

Hello again~ Siri is smart but has limitations at the present time but who knows…. I also have an accent and Siri misunderstands me quite a bit but that is entirely on me though :) Good luck.

~Katana-San~

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