Siri on HomePod can now speak to you in French, German, Canadian English

With HomePod primed for launch in Canada, France and Germany, Apple on Tuesday expanded Siri's capabilities to provide compatibility with languages — and dialects like Canadian English — spoken in those countries, and announced future support for French Canadian.

After updating to its latest firmware version, HomePod users will have access to the three additional language options regardless of the region. That means someone in France who picked up a HomePod in the U.S. can switch to French by navigating to HomePod settings.

To enable one of the new languages, simply go into the Home app, select a HomePod, tap Details, then Language. There are now six language options for HomePod users. Apple on its regional webpage serving Canada says support for French Canadian will be included in a software update by year's end.

HomePod will be made available in Canada, France, and Germany on June 18. Rolling out support for the languages ahead of time should make the launch process smoother, as well as appease existing owners who were able to get their hands on one outside their home country.

New Siri languages weren't the only thing that was new in version 11.4 for HomePod. The latest firmware delivered AirPlay 2, stereo pairing, and calendar support as well, making it the biggest HomePod software update to date.

13 Comments

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anantksundaram 18 Years · 20391 comments

About 6 years ago

What’s Canadian English, eh?

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ihatescreennames 19 Years · 1977 comments

AppleInsider said:

To enable one of the new languages, simply go into the Home app, select a HomePod, tap Details, then Language. There are now six language options for HomePod users. Apple on its regional webpage serving Canada says support for French Canadian will be included in a software update by year's end.

Unfortunately for me, it’s not so simple. “Why?”, you may ask. I’ll tell you why. Because my Home app doesn’t work. I’ve been dealing with AppleCare literally for months now and continually being told my issue will be resolved with “an update”. So far I’ve gone through 3 (at least) updates with not changes for the better and today it actually got worse. I can’t use HomeKit, I can’t add accessories to Home or do anything with it. It’s literally a useless app for me right now. But the only way to access settings for the HomePod is via the Home app, where my HomePod isn’t listed.

So, great new HomePod features that I can’t take advantage of because of the stupid, mostly unrelated Home app.

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DAalseth 6 Years · 3071 comments

anantksundaram said:

What’s Canadian English, eh?

Was wondering the same thing. Does it call you a Hoser? Start using Red Green's voice? Maybe calling the last letter Zed. Uses Metric? Is more polite?

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bobolicious 10 Years · 1178 comments

...the article suggests wireless connection issues - oye...

I've ever had a wireless speaker that has been 100% reliable, and updates seem a dependency... No minijack in. Is Apple serving Apple vs the customer? My vintage 1970's copper wire and non-ic based audio gear never needs updates, can be repaired relatively easily, and connectivity has been 100% reliable. Is such efficacy also more sustainable, given Apple's brandishing of such...?

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franklinjackcon 10 Years · 612 comments

DAalseth said:

anantksundaram said:

What’s Canadian English, eh?

Was wondering the same thing. Does it call you a Hoser? Start using Red Green's voice? Maybe calling the last letter Zed. Uses Metric? Is more polite?

They spell words slightly differently, some would say, more correctly, e.g. colour, honour, centre, but they Americanize analyze so perhaps if HomePod sends a text message it'll use Canadian English. Or there could be some words that are Canadian-specific that Siri would use.