According to Google, because of this Singapore-born terms similar to “kopitiam”, Paya Lebar and MRT may be recognized by the Google Assistant and won’t be lost in translation.
This saves Singaporeans the effort of awkward rephrasing and faking accents, so the device may even remotely recognize what’s being said.
But wait a minute.
Before you begin chatting away in Singlish into Google Home, is the intelligence behind it really comprehensive enough to decipher Singapore’s famous vernacular? Or possibly he just recognizes English with a Singaporean accent?
Unlike English, Singlish – a combination of spoken English with dialects of Mandarin, Malay and Chinese – has a seemingly infinite treasure trove of colourful vocabulary.
Not convinced that Google Home could accomplish such a feat, regardless of how smart it may be, I put it to the test.
Here’s what happened.
Wanting to seek out out if Google Home understood detailed commands, I asked it to assist me seek for reporter jobs on LinkedIn.
First, in correct English.
Let’s just say the response was disappointing.
Perhaps my request was too specific or “LinkedIn” is not in Google’s dictionary yet? But how is that this possible?
Maybe he would understand if I spoke to him in Singlish? I replaced “job offers” with the Malay word “lobang” and rephrased my request.
Not surprisingly, Google Home was stunned and guaranteed me it was “attempting to learn.” Let’s hope so.
I then asked Google Home if it could make a reservation for me on the Taiwanese restaurant Din Tai Fung, curious if it recognized non-Western brands.
Instead of constructing a reservation, Google Home displayed an inventory of Din Tai Fung restaurants inside 15.9 km of my location and their addresses.
Not a very helpful answer, but it surely was still a step up from the previous one.
This time I replaced “make a reservation” with the Singlish term “chope table”.
Since Google Home had fewer syllables to know, my hopes of getting a table at Din Tai Fung increased so long as I understood what “chope” meant.
However, Google Home detailed the restaurant’s location at Jurong Point Shopping Center, without mentioning how one can make a reservation.
At least now I do know this place is “eight miles away and rated 3.9 stars.”
Using Google Home’s knowledge of Singapore locations, I then tried to ask for coffee spot in Toa Payoh for a fast caffeine fix, again in English.
For the third time, I managed to reply my query accurately by listing the three best coffee shops in Toa Payoh.
Unfortunately, my try and ask Google Home for a spot to “lim kopi” (drink coffee) was met with a relatively depressing response: “Sorry, I do not know how one can help with that yet.”
My conclusion: When Google advertised its Home and Home Mini devices as devices that understood Singaporean English, it was most definitely only referring to Singaporean-accented English.
So if Singaporeans get home devices, don’t expect your latest assistant to know you want your best friend would.
However, as Google Home is continually learning and updating its software, I still hold out hope that asking it for a spot to “lim copy” and receiving a satisfactory response could at some point grow to be a reality.
May I, hor?
