Earlier this year, we turned to Batman and the Riddler for some direction in our lives. However, Batman and the Riddler are from Gotham, not Malaysia. They could not relate to our real plight, mispronounced street names.
Photo via pocket-lint / alchetron.com
We love our street names because they reflect the culture and history of our multiethnic society. However, artificial intelligence may not know how to pronounce them like we do. Dato’ Yasmin Yusuff, former Miss Universe Malaysia 1978 understands. She, too, was tired with the butchering and mispronunciation of our street names and she thought to herself, “why not do something and voice them myself?”
Dato’ Yasmin is a professional voiceover artist, having hosted for BBC’s Radio 4. She is also the original voice of the LRT! So, what did Dato’ Yasmin do? She dropped an offer in the Waze Malaysia Facebook group and before she knew it, she was contacted for an audition. This time, she only recorded turn-by-turn instructions. However, she hopes to one day record the street names as well.
Here is a sneak peak of the recording process:
In the video you can hear common local phrases while in the car such as “alamak miss!” and “kiri la dok.” We can’t wait to hear what other phrases Dato’ Yasmin has included.
If you would like Dato’ Yasmin to show you the way, you can change your Waze navigation voice under Waze Voice in the Voice & Sound tab of your Waze settings.
If you think you can do better, you can also record your own voice by clicking on “Record new voice” under the same settings tab.
By: Catalina Hubbard
