Playground

Dialects

The dialects the voice library carries, how the library groups voices by them, what a dialect changes in generated speech and in an agent, and how to pick one for a region.

A dialect is the accent a voice speaks in, and every voice in the library speaks exactly one. Read this page to decide which dialect to give a narration or an agent for the people who will hear it, and to know what that choice changes and what it leaves alone.

A voice speaks one dialect

You never choose a dialect on its own. You choose a voice, and its dialect comes with it. That is why the library shows the dialect on every row, and why an agent that must speak two dialects needs two voices.

The library can carry voices in these dialects:

Dialect What it is Language
Egyptian Egyptian Arabic Arabic
Emirati Emirati Arabic Arabic
Saudi Saudi Arabic Arabic
Kuwaiti Kuwaiti Arabic Arabic
Qatari Qatari Arabic Arabic
Omani Omani Arabic Arabic
Lebanese Lebanese Arabic Arabic
Syrian Syrian Arabic Arabic
Iraqi Iraqi Arabic Arabic
Fusha Modern Standard Arabic Arabic
American American English (AM) English
British British English (BR) English

Fusha is Modern Standard Arabic: the Arabic of news bulletins, formal announcements and written prose, understood across the region. Every other Arabic dialect is the speech of one country.

Older English voices may still show English as their dialect.

Which dialects have voices at a given time can change. The library is the source of truth: see the next section.

The library groups voices by dialect

The dialect is the main way into the library, so the same grouping appears in three places.

  • The chip row under the search box on Library. Each chip shows how many voices the dialect has. Dialects with no voices yet follow with the word soon and cannot be pressed. Press a chip to see only that dialect.
  • The voice rows, which are grouped by dialect. A dialect with no voices yet shows a line such as Egyptian · coming soon.
  • The dialect chips on Text to Speech and in the voice picker. Press a chip to see that dialect's voices.

The dialect a voice shows in the library is the dialect it speaks everywhere you use it: on Text to Speech, on an agent and through the Developer API.

What a dialect changes when you generate speech

The dialect fixes the accent of the audio, and nothing else about the request.

  • Picking a voice picks the dialect. When you arrive on Text to Speech through Use in Text to Speech, the page sets the dialect to match the voice you chose. Emirati is the dialect the page starts on.
  • The voice reads your text in its own accent whatever the text's language. Arabic text on an English voice comes out with English pronunciation. Pick the voice for the language the text is written in.
  • The Tashkeel switch appears under the writing area while an Arabic voice is selected, whatever its dialect. With an English voice it is not shown. See Add diacritics.
  • The options are the same for every dialect. Speed, Guidance and Quality have the same ranges and defaults whichever voice you pick.

What a dialect changes for an agent

An agent carries one or more voices, and each brings its dialect with it.

  • The default voice is the accent the agent opens with. Set it on the agent's Voice tab.
  • Dialect detection lets the agent recognise the caller's Arabic dialect and switch to the matching voice among the voices it carries. An agent with one voice keeps that accent for the whole conversation.
  • Tashkeel is offered in a voice's Voice Settings on every Arabic voice. It is off by default.
  • A text conversation is not spoken, so the dialect of the agent's voices has no effect on WhatsApp, Slack, a helpdesk or Genesys chat. The language the agent writes in comes from its persona, not from a voice.

Get it right

Match the dialect to the listener, not to the text you happen to have or to where your company is based. A caller hears the accent before the words, and an accent from the wrong place costs you the first seconds of every call.

Recommended

  • One region: give the agent a voice in that region's dialect and make it the default. Cairo callers get an Egyptian voice; Jeddah callers get a Saudi voice.
  • Several regions: add one voice per region to the agent and turn on dialect detection, so each caller is answered in their own accent.
  • A formal read for the whole region, such as an announcement, a product film or a news-style narration: a Fusha voice, with Tashkeel on the text.
  • English text: an English voice.

Less effective

  • One Fusha voice for a casual support line in Cairo. Callers understand it, and it sounds like a broadcast rather than a conversation.
  • One Gulf voice for callers across the whole region.
  • Arabic text read by an English voice, or English read by an Arabic voice, because that voice sounded best in the preview.
  • A line in the persona asking the agent to "sound Egyptian" on a Saudi voice. The words change; the accent does not.

Worked example

Acme sells in Cairo and Jeddah. Its support agent gets two voices from the library: an Egyptian voice made the default and a Saudi voice, with dialect detection on. A Cairo caller is answered in Egyptian from the first word; a Jeddah caller hears the Saudi voice from the turn the dialect is recognised.

For the product film that runs in every market, the same team opens Text to Speech, picks a Fusha voice, turns on Tashkeel for the script and generates one narration that works in Cairo and Jeddah alike.

FAQ

Is Fusha a dialect?

Fusha is Modern Standard Arabic rather than the speech of one country, but the library lists it beside the dialects because you choose it the same way: by picking a Fusha voice.

Can one voice speak two dialects?

No. A voice has one dialect. To cover two, add a voice for each.

Which dialects have voices right now?

Open Voices. The chips you can press are the dialects that have voices today, and each chip shows its count. The ones marked soon have none yet.

Do I choose a dialect or a voice on Text to Speech?

Choose the voice. Its dialect comes with it, and the page shows that dialect as the one in use.

Does Tashkeel work on an Egyptian voice?

Yes. It is offered on every Arabic voice, not only on Fusha.

Does the dialect change what the agent says?

No. The dialect sets the accent. What the agent says, and in which language, comes from its persona and prompt. See Voices and language for how to write the language rule.