Any way to use Cortana in Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 10 with English in an unsupported region?

[Aeyoun]

I do not want to set my PC's location to the United States or the United Kingdom. Too many things change and some other services become unavailable. As I'm from Norway and prefer the Norwegian app store (some local apps are only available there) I set my region to Norway. However, the only way I've found to enable the service is by lying about my region. Come to think of it, the exact same question applies to Kinect on Xbox One.

A friend of mine wrote a blog post on this. He has the same frustration: why can't I be allowed to speak English to Cortana (or to Kinect on the Xbox One for that matter) in a non-English country? Its my second language and I use it more than my native Norwegian.

 

[Harrie-S]

I understand your frustration but you have to ask Microsoft. We are just a fan based side.
I however think it's more than just let you speak English. Question like "what time is it" will not be a problem but a problem will be names (how to pronounce them) of towns etc and also a kind of local information. So to let Cortana work proper a lot of info is needed.

 

[Kayrune]

I understand your frustration but you have to ask Microsoft. We are just a fan based side.
I however think it's more than just let you speak English. Question like "what time is it" will not be a problem but a problem will be names (how to pronounce them) of towns etc and also a kind of local information. So to let Cortana work proper a lot of info is needed.

I understand Cortana in English may not work great in the "wrong" region, especially for location based features, but then they shouldn't link features like quiet hours to Cortana. At least give us the features that works anywhere. It's especially bad because MS is listing the Cortana features on theirs regional websites and then they put in a small disclaimer * not available in all regions.

 

[Harrie-S]

I understand Cortana in English may not work great in the "wrong" region, especially for location based features, but then they shouldn't link features like quiet hours to Cortana. At least give us the features that works anywhere. It's especially bad because MS is listing the Cortana features on theirs regional websites and then they put in a small disclaimer * not available in all regions.

I agree but below is an answer we got ones from a ms employee.

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Ok, I have it confirmed, you WILL NEED Cortana to be able to use the Quiet Hours feature. It's a Client Side feature that relies on parts of Cortana to be able to function. Inner Circle is a core part of Cortana, so she will be needed for that.

Cortana is the one that keeps track of your Inner Circle, Quiet Hours uses your Inner Circle for some of it's feature sets and without Cortana, the application itself will not run.

Sorry man, wish I had a better answer for you.
---------------

Anyhow there is a uservoice about this issue and i just voted for it.

Decouple features like Quiet Hours from Cortana ? Cortana Feedback

 

[Warren Poultney]

I live and work in China, however I do not speak or read Chinese. I have Lumia 1520, 8.1 with Developers Preview, Denim.

I would like Cortana to take note of my chosen user language region, Keyboard, (US English).

Before the official China rollout of Cortana, no issues. But since and especially with the Denim update. Nothing absolutely no English responses and mostly no responses at all. Even to simple time or weather enquiries

 

[jontyfernz]

I do not want to set my PC's location to the United States or the United Kingdom. Too many things change and some other services become unavailable. As I'm from Norway and prefer the Norwegian app store (some local apps are only available there) I set my region to Norway. However, the only way I've found to enable the service is by lying about my region. Come to think of it, the exact same question applies to Kinect on Xbox One.

A friend of mine wrote a blog post on this. He has the same frustration: why can't I be allowed to speak English to Cortana (or to Kinect on the Xbox One for that matter) in a non-English country? Its my second language and I use it more than my native Norwegian.

The best option download UK speech region INDIA

 

[Albion Blighty]

I feel your pain. When I got my phone lived in NZ (note no Speech support Eng NZ) and my app store is still associated with NZ account. However, I've moved to Switzerland (4 official languages) and I still need my phone to work in English.
I've reset everything to work in English UK - I guess this means that I will not be buying any more apps

So I need my phone to be in; English NZ for the app store, Switzerland for the region (where I live) and speech to be English UK (I am British).

Still aty least when I use Cortana it can recognise my Yorkshire accent - more than Siri could...

 

[a5cent]

^ I can name two dozen people off the top of my head with exactly this problem, myself included. Also living in Switzerland. It's a common problem companies in the U.S. can't seem to wrap their heads around, although MS has the most difficulties by far.

The whole notion that Cortana should be activated/deactivated by region is flawed. Language, yes, if Cortana is not familiar with the language, but not region.

For example, all major European cities have English names and pronunciations. Cortana has no problem recognizing them for navigational purposes. My contacts with German or French names? ... No problem, if I just pronounce them in U.S. English. Cortana also isn't deactivated for U.S. citizens when they travel to Europe, so why does it make sense to deactivate it for people who have their phone setup in the exact same way, and who speak English with the exact same accent, with the only difference being the region setting? It doesn't. Obviously not every Cortana feature is supported in every country, but that is a separate issue from turning Cortana on/off completely.
The region setting is about time and number formats, measuring units, and the store your device connects to. These are trivial things Cortana should have no issues dealing with, independent of language and geographical location.
For dealing with country specific information, Cortana should have its own setting, that is independent of everything else. IMHO after selecting the country, the Cortana settings page should also provide some information mentioning which features are supported (package tracking, flight tracking, recognizing local store names etc).

Misusing the region setting to control Cortana is just mixing two things together that should be completely unrelated.

 

[Warren Poultney]

^ I can name two dozen people off the top of my head with exactly this problem, myself included. Also living in Switzerland. It's a common problem companies in the U.S. can't seem to wrap their heads around, although MS has the most difficulties by far.

The whole notion that Cortana should be activated/deactivated by region is flawed. Language, yes, if Cortana is not familiar with the language, but not region.

For example, all major European cities have English names and pronunciations. Cortana has no problem recognizing them for navigational purposes. My contacts with German or French names? ... No problem, if I just pronounce them in U.S. English. Cortana also isn't deactivated for U.S. citizens when they travel to Europe, so why does it make sense to deactivate it for people who have their phone setup in the exact same way, and who speak English with the exact same accent, with the only difference being the region setting? It doesn't. Obviously not every Cortana feature is supported in every country, but that is a separate issue from turning Cortana on/off completely.
The region setting is about time and number formats, measuring units, and the store your device connects to. These are trivial things Cortana should have no issues dealing with, independent of language and geographical location.
For dealing with country specific information, Cortana should have its own setting, that is independent of everything else. IMHO after selecting the country, the Cortana settings page should also provide some information mentioning which features are supported (package tracking, flight tracking, recognizing local store names etc).

Misusing the region setting to control Cortana is just mixing two things together that should be completely unrelated.

Completely agree with you. The only thing that should matter to cortana as far as region goes, is the store, weather and time.
It should ignore region for responses in the chosen UI Language.

News updates, weather updates completely useless to me. I don't mind censored news. However when there are English online sources within China, why can't Cortana note my chosen user language and source appropriately. Or at least, give me choices of source to select from.

As for weather. I count the characters to ensure I'm looking at the right day when it shows me forecasts for the week.

Oddly though. Having all my settings set to US English. I have access to the US App store *shrug*

 

[RumoredNow]

Cortana does use location...

If you set everything to, say, the UK; based on location Cortana would still know you are in Beijing and not London.

When I was using Cortana with all US settings and I was in Italy for 32 days I had no issues. I was never presented with material in Italian. Cortana understood exactly where I was.

 

[Warren Poultney]

This is fine, but the obvious ignoring of the UI Language is really bugging me. It wasn't an issue till the official roll out of Cortana in China. Even then, there were work arounds. Like selecting "results in English" when Cortana gave a web result on search. After slecting she would respond to any following commands or inquiries in English.

As of late. The "results in English" is completely disappeared

 

[RumoredNow]

All I can say is that as amazing as Cortana is in many regards...

It is admittedly an unfinished product bearing Alpha and Beta labels quite clearly.

 

[Warren Poultney]

Yes, I agree. Cortana is amazing in concept and in my case 'was' amazing in outworking.

However Cortana is all but defunct for me now. Even a hard reset resulted nothing. Only response I now receive is to "sing a song". Everything else gone.
Sadly, Cortana and my relationship like those in real life for me, fun, enjoyable but by far 'too short lived'. I have no recourse to turn her off.