Google to get Indian accent

New Delhi: Driven by increasing penetration of affordable smartphones and cheaper data plans, Google is planning to make voice-based search more easier by making its software understand Indian accent.

“There are three things that we worked on: accents, understanding conversations and voice actions. It is all about giving users a smooth experience so that they get what they are searching for with a simple command,” Google India marketing head Sandeep Menon said on Tuesday, after hosting a ‘Google Cafe’ to showcase the search experience for Indian users.

As part of the same strategy, Google, which offers voice-based search in 47 languages globally, is also toying with the idea of roll out services in Indian regional languages in the future, though no specific timelines have been set for the same.

“Right now, the number of voice searches are low for India but given the increasing penetration of smartphones, there would be a manifold increase in volume in the next few years,” he said.
Citing the example, he said a big proportion of searches from Japan are voice-based.

“Google has search options in nine languages in India (for PCs). We are committed to India. Though there is no timeline but I see no reason why other (Indian) languages will not be added to voice search,” he said.

Mr Menon was also of the view that more regional content needs to be created to enrich the ecosystem.

“While we are working on enabling better search experience, there is also a strong need for more regional content. That will lead to better search results and richer ecosystem for all,” he said.

“From asking where you can watch the latest movie to cricket scores to currency conversions to comparing health benefits of olive oil, Google’s voice search can help users get the answers they need,” Mr Menon said.

He said the company has worked with over 700 volunteers in India to collect spoken utterances to create specific language models to power English voice search in Indian accent.