What makes a voice sound natural?🤔| Intonation Analysis of Google Assistant | American Accent

Hey, guys, it's Hadar. And this is the accents way. A few days ago, Google CEO Sundar Pichai presented an extraordinary demo showing the new capabilities of the Google Assistant.

What's happening, Alfier? Hi, I'm calling to book a women's haircut for a client. I'm looking for something. On May 3rd.

In the demo, he played a real conversation between the Google Assistant, which is a robot AI technology, and a real human being. The stunning thing was that in the conversation, the person could not detect that she was not speaking to a real person, but to a machine. And the reason for that is, of course, the algorithm and the ability to use the right sentences according to the nuances in the conversation, but also the way it was executed. The sound of the voice, the intonation, what makes a voice sound natural? What did they do over there at Google that made the voice sound so natural that the person could not imagine they were speaking to a robot? So what we're going to do is we're going to analyze the conversation together and I'm going to pinpoint the places where the Google voice sounds so natural and explain why it makes it sound like a real human being.

Hi, I'm calling to book a woman's haircut for a client.

Okay, so she starts with, that's Google Assistant, right? It's a machine, it's not a real person. I know, it's crazy. Hi. Hi. Right. The way of saying hi, this way is a very welcoming, nice, warm, friendly way of saying it. There's always a glide from high to low. Hi. And listen to the ending. Hi, I'm going down. It's not, hi, I'm going up high. And then there is a little tail going up at the end. Hi. That means that something else is coming up. I'm not done. And then she says something like this. Hi, I'm calling to book a woman's haircut for a client. Now, in English, when you start a new idea, when you start a conversation, when you have a question, you kind of start high in pitch. I'm calling. It's not. I'm calling to book a woman's haircut for a client. I'm calling to book a hair. It's kind of like asking for permission or telling you something new.

Hi.

And notice it now. Like start listening to how people start asking questions or starting sentences or new ideas. There's always this wavy thing at the beginning, like a really high pitched tone that they begin with regardless to what words they're choosing to stress. Now, in this sentence, hi, I'm calling to book a woman's haircut for a client. I'm calling to book a woman's haircut for a client. So there is this rise in pitch at the beginning. I'm calling. And calling is a stress word to book. That's a little less stress. So it goes down a woman's haircut. Right? That's the subject. That's what I'm calling to book. That goes higher in pitch for a client. And then there is this rising, rising intonation. The up speak where I go up. That means that there is something else coming up. And then she continues, I'm looking for.

Something on May 3rd.

I'm looking for something on May 3rd. So she stresses the word looking. She starts again high in pitch at the beginning of the sentence. I'm looking for something on May 3rd. And then she goes up in pitch at the end. Now, look, it's totally okay. And sometimes even better to end it like a statement. I'm looking for something on May 3rd. Right? And then it's a rising intonation, and then you drop it down. However, this rising, rising intonation at the end of a sentence, even if it's not a question, is a very common speech pattern in America nowadays, which made it sound even more natural than just a regular ending statement. Looking for something on May 3rd. And that open ending leaves more room for an answer. It means that I'm waiting for an answer from you. That it's sort of like a question. And then there is this part.

Sure, give me one second. Mm. Mm.

Which is fantastic. What sounds more natural than mm? That's what we say. Notice even here, there is this glide in intonation, again, going up in pitch, making it sound more natural, like someone would actually say it like that.

What time are you looking for?

Around at 12pm at 12pm now, we can learn a lot just from this one statement. Notice that every syllable hits a different note. It's not all on the same note at 12:00pm at 12:00pm at 12pm, right. And even the M is kind of like gliding down. Okay? So it goes up in pitch, and then it goes down.

At 12pm we do not have a 12pm available. The closest we have to that is a 1:15. Do you have anything between 10am and 12pm?

Do you have anything between? Do you have anything between a question? Do you have reduction at the beginning? Do you have anything between? Again, starting with a higher pitch. Do you have anything between 10am pause? Because people pause. They want to think about what they want to say. And 12pm okay, so it's not between 10am and 12pm the system knows what hours it's going to suggest, but it takes that little pause to make it sound more natural. So phrasing is crucial when we speak English. Phrasing, filler words, intonation patterns, stressed words. So the rising, rising intonation, but then also the falling intonation at the end to indicate that I'm done, depending on.

What service she would like. What service is she looking for? Just a woman's haircut for now.

Just a woman's haircut for now. So again, this glide at the beginning, this high pitch at the beginning, just a woman's. And then she goes down. Haircut for now. The assistant could have answered a woman's haircut, but they added the just and for now. So just a woman's haircut. The just is not an essential word here, but it's a filler word that a lot of people use, which made it sound more natural. Just a woman's haircut for now. And for now is just another filler word that says, well, let's begin with that and see where we go. It's a polite way of saying, that's it, I don't need anything else. Just a woman's haircut for now. So those extra words, extra phrases, extra sounds make it sound more natural and not like a robot. And the thing is that these extra sounds and extra words are not usually used by non native speakers because we use efficient English. The way English is being taught is by very concise sentences. This is how you say it. And then you learn that people use all these extra phrases and sounds. Well, for now, just okay. All these extra phrases that make it sound more conversational. And that's a way to communicate and make it sound more friendly and polite.

Okay, we have a 10 o'. Clock. 10am is fine.

Okay, 10am is fine. Again, that rising, rising intonation. She could have said 10:00am is fine. 10:00am is fine. But 10:00am Is fine. Makes it sound a little more friendly, a little less aggressive, a little less determined. 10am is fine. I'm still waiting for an answer. I need you to approve it. Still, 10am is fine. And again, notice that high pitch at the beginning. 10:00am is fine.

Okay, what's her first name? The first name is Lisa.

Again, upspeak at the end. The first name is Lisa. It's not a question. So why does she go up in pitch? Because that's a common speech pattern which makes it sound so natural. You as a non native speaker, don't have to use it. You can definitely go high in pitch and drop down at the end. The first name is Lisa. Fond of this kind of conversation where you go up and close it at the end, but notice that these are the patterns that they choose to use, knowing that it would make it sound more natural.

Okay, perfect. So I will see Lisa at 10:00 clock on May 3rd. Okay, great. Thanks. Great. Have a great day. Bye.

Okay, great. Okay, great. She could have said just thank you. Okay, great. That's how people comment on something that they're happy about. Okay, great. Thanks. And there is a build up here in terms of the intonation that shows that one thing is a little more important than the other. Okay, great, thanks. Rising, falling, and then rising intonation at the end. So to conclude, in order to answer our question, what makes a voice sound more natural? We'll look at what the people at Google did to make their Google Assistant sound like a real human being. So when it comes to intonation, it wasn't monotonous. Hi, I'd like to book a woman's haircut. But it had that nice glide. Hi, I'd like to book a woman's haircut. So every syllable had a different note. Also, at the beginning of an idea or a sentence, it started high in pitch. Every important word stuck out, so it was a little higher in pitch and longer. And at the end, every sentence ending ended up with rising, rising intonation. Almost like a question, even though it wasn't always a question. Why? Because upspeak is a common speech pattern in us today, whether you like it or not. Another thing they added is those extra words, just for now, extra sounds that made it sound more natural. And even here, intonation played a major role because it wasn't flat. Mm. Right. It was really like music. Um, and the last thing was phrasing, Taking small pauses to indicate that the person is thinking. I mean, the machine is thinking. I mean, the assistant is thinking. I don't even know how to call it anymore. This is how actually people speak. They take small pauses between chunks, parts of the sentence, not between words, and not only at the end of the sentence. As I said, we want to recognize these patterns, as we just did today, and recognize what makes it sound more natural, more conversational, and then take these elements and add them to our speech in English. And it's also great for you as a speaker, because sometimes you need to come up with the right words so it doesn't have to be 100% concise, because it's not concise. For American speakers as well. And it can give you time. Those extra filler words like and, well, and the phrases and the pauses and the extra words like just and okay, that can give you some. That can buy you some time to come up with the right word in order to convey what you want to say. And as a side note to all you non native speakers out there, when we look at the presentation, we see that Sundar Google's CEO is not a native English speaker and he is a phenomenal presenter. This is to say that you don't have to lose your accent to be a great speaker in English. In fact, the accent is an advantage. It reveals some layers that you have as a speaker. It shows that you carry your history behind you, that you have an interesting story. You don't want to lose your accent. You don't want to hide your accent. You do want to use the elements of speech to sound great, to convey your message, to be a strong speaker, to speak slowly, to be clear, to be understood. But it doesn't mean that you need to lose your accent. So when you work on your accent and intonation and rhythm and stress, your goal should not necessarily be lose your accent, speak like a native speaker, but be the best speaker that you can with or without a foreign accent. Because that doesn't really matter. What matters is how you feel about yourself and how you convey your message and if you're clear and communicative. Now I have a question for you. What other elements of speech, whether it's specific words or phrases or intonation patterns, do people use that make them sound more natural? What have you noticed? What are you using? So let me know in the comments below. So is one of them I use so all the time you've probably noticed that's it. Thank you so much for watching. Please share this video with your friends if you liked it. And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click on the bell to get notifications. There are a lot more videos coming up about American intonation, so you don't want to miss it out. Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.