Say-as
Last updated
Last updated
The <say-as> tag enables you to control the pronunciation of text, ensuring accurate and natural-sounding responses. This tag is particularly useful when you want to correctly pronounce dates or other specialized text formats.
Interpret-as – Specifies how the text should be interpreted:
characters: Pronounces each character individually (for example, "N-A-S-A").
cardinal: Pronounces text as a cardinal number, for example, "101" as "one hundred and one".
date: Pronounces text as a date, for example, "2023-10-18" as "October eighteenth, twenty twenty-three".
digits: Pronounces each digit individually, for example, "101" as "one zero one".
expletive: Indicates text contains profanity or offensive language.
fraction: Pronounces text as a fraction, for example, "3/4" as "three fourths".
letter: Pronounces text as a letter, for example, "a" as "ay".
ordinal: Pronounces text as an ordinal number, for example, "1st" as "first."
spell-out: Spells out the text, for example, "hello" as "h-e-l-l-o".
telephone: Indicates text is a telephone number, for example, "800-555-1234" as "eight hundred, five five five, one two three four".
time: Pronounces text as a time, for example, "10:00" as "ten o'clock".
unit: Pronounces text as a unit of measurement, for example, "10km" as "ten kilometers".
Format (optinal): Specifies the text format, such as "mdy" for month-day-year, to aid in correct pronunciation. It is optional for some interpretations like digits but highly recommended for date.
It's essential to use the <say-as> tag for dates. For example, to pronounce "July 4th, 2024" in a natural-sounding American English accent, your SSML code should look like this:
When dealing with languages that have different grammatical structures, such as German, it's critical to include prepositions within the <say-as> tag for proper pronunciation. Here's how you can do it:
Incorrect: The bot will mispronounce the date because the preposition "am" is outside the <say-as> tag.
Correct: By including "am" inside the tag, the bot will correctly pronounce the date within the sentence.
This correct structure ensures that the synthesized speech flows naturally and is grammatically accurate in German.
