For voice response services in languages other than those described in this information, you may need to modify the system prompts to use the correct syntax and conventions. The information in the following sections should help you determine whether you need to change the prompts.
The English language constructs numbers by concatenating words for smaller numbers and units of measure, as appropriate. All of the number prompts (Small_number, Whole_number, Real_number, Ordinal, and Phone) create the number to be spoken by analyzing the input for the components and then concatenating the voice segments that play each component.
For example, the number 81 is determined to be “eighty” and “one” and spoken by playing “eighty” followed by the voice segment that says “one.” The number 1204 is spoken by playing “one” followed by “thousand” followed by “two” followed by “hundred” followed by “four.”
If the language spoken in your location does not construct numbers by following a concatenation pattern similar to the pattern in U.S. English, you may need to modify the number prompts to account for the differences.
The System voice directory includes only the unique numbers and the “building block” components needed by U.S. English. These are the numbers 0 (as both “zero” and “oh”) through 31, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100. The System voice directory also includes the word “point” for use in decimal numbers, and the units of measure “hundred,” “thousand,” “million,” and “billion.”
Besides recording the voice segments that play these numbers in a different language, you may need to record some additional voice segments.
All of the number prompts use Small_number to play numbers from -999 through 999.
Date plays the month first. However, the convention in many other languages is to play the day first.
Date also plays the day of the month as an ordinal number (for example, “first,” “sixteenth,” “twenty-second”) using the Ordinal system prompt. If the convention in your location is to play the day of the month as a cardinal number (for example, “one,” “sixteen,” “twenty-two”), consider using Small_number to play the day.
Date uses Small_number to express the year as the number of the decade, followed by the number of the year within the decade. If the convention in your location is to express the year in a different format, consider using a system prompt such as Whole_number to play the year. You will also need to change the logic in Date that parses and plays the input.
Time accepts input in 24-hour clock time but plays the time according to a 12-hour clock. In addition, the logic in Time divides the day into two parts: morning (AM) and afternoon-evening (PM). The convention at your location may be to divide the day into more than two parts.
If expressions of time in your location are in 24-hour clock time, you will need to modify Time. You will also need to modify the prompt if your day has more (or less) than two parts. And since the System voice directory only includes four voice segments for expressing the time of day (“AM”, “PM”, “hours”, and “o'clock”), you may need to record some additional voice segments. Note that Time does not play seconds, although they are required as input.
Time uses the following 24-hour clock conventions:
Currency plays currency as a number of dollars followed by a number of cents. In addition to rerecording the units of currency, you may need to modify the prompt to play smaller units first.