An AI receptionist that understands strong accents: Geordie, Scouse, Scottish, Yorkshire and more

Can an AI receptionist understand a Geordie, Scouse or Glaswegian accent?

Yes. SiVoice's AI receptionist understands strong regional accents as standard: Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Brummie, Glaswegian, Welsh, Northern Irish, Cockney and West Country on a British line. Its speech recognition is tuned to British English, so a strong accent is heard as words, not noise, from the first call on every plan.

There is nothing to set up and nothing to train. The same holds for Southern, Texan, New York and Boston callers on an American line, and for broad Australian and Kiwi callers on an Australian one. As of November 2026 this is included on the Solo, Team and Scale plans alike.

Does it understand local slang like owt, nowt and canny?

Yes. Every SiVoice receptionist is told how locals actually talk, so it understands what was meant, not just what was said. It knows that owt means anything, nowt means nothing, half ten means 10:30 and our Dave means a relative called Dave, and it uses the rest of the sentence to work out anything unusual.

What happens when a name, number or address isn't clear?

It reads back what it heard and asks the caller to confirm, rather than guessing. That covers names, phone numbers, addresses, postcodes and amounts. It never comments on how someone speaks, and it never pretends to have understood something it hasn't.

Words only your business uses, its name, a street, a surname, a product, can be added under Add pronunciations in the abilities list. Each one is then said the way you wrote it and listened for, so a strong accent saying it is still caught.

Which accents and voices can I choose for the receptionist?

Under Essentials, open the voice list and press play on any of them. There are British, American, Australian, Canadian and German voices, men and women, calm and lively. The voice you pick sets the language and accent of the whole call: the spelling, the way dates are said, how prices are read out, and the accent the receptionist listens for.

Can the AI receptionist speak German or another language?

Yes, German. Each receptionist speaks and hears one language, the one its voice is in. Pick a German voice and the whole call runs in German, dialects included, from Bavarian and Swabian to Swiss German and Austrian. If a caller clearly cannot follow, the receptionist slows down, uses simple words, and offers to take their name and number so someone who speaks their language can ring back.

Can one phone number handle two languages?

Not on one receptionist, but easily on two. On the Team plan, give each language its own receptionist and number, for example an English line and a German line, and put both numbers on your website. Each is built from the same website in a minute and knows the same business.

Pro voice or a local voice: what is the difference?

The Pro voices are the default for every receptionist and nothing replaces them. They are our studio voices: the fastest to answer, the best with complex questions and answers, with numbers, dates and prices read the way a person says them, and included in every plan. We highly recommend staying on a Pro voice unless a local accent matters to your callers.

A local voice, such as Geordie, Scouse, Scottish or Welsh, is an optional extra on the Team plan. On Solo you can still open the list; picking one offers the upgrade, and the voice is switched on for that receptionist the moment Team is active. Local voices come from a library of voices recorded by real people from that area and licensed for use, which means three honest differences: a local voice can take a fraction of a second longer to start speaking, it reads numbers and prices a little less predictably, and because each voice belongs to the person who recorded it, one can occasionally be withdrawn. If that happens, your receptionist switches back to the Pro voice for that accent on the next call. How well it hears the caller is exactly the same either way, and every call is covered by the same privacy policy.

Can I change how fast it speaks and its style?

Yes. Under Voice and technical you can make it speak a little faster or slower and choose a style: warm, calm, upbeat or neutral. Change one thing at a time and ring it to hear the difference. There is nothing to choose for hearing the caller: every receptionist listens with the same speech recognition, tuned to the accent of its voice.

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