Narrator: International Date Format versus American Format

Question

Narrator: International Date Format versus American Format

Anonymous

My blind companion has been using Narrator on his Surface Go for about 6 months now. He prefers Catherine's Australian Voice as his Narrator. Until Friday, Catherine read the date and time with the United States' format. On Friday, she began reading the date and time in international format. He finds this very confusing and frustrating. I have checked the settings and nothing has changed except Catherine's reading. Is there a way I can make Catherine read the date in US format with her lovely Austrailian accent again? We have temporarily set the Narrator voice to Zira, but she is still too "tinny" sounding for him. Any assistance in this situation would be appreciated.

And out of curiosity, was there an update that changed the Narrator voice to only read date and time in the format custom of their own culture?

Thank you,

Blind Mike's Admin

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4 answers

Answer 1

Hi BlindMike'sAdmin,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused to your blind companion.

Click the link below so you can check some of the information you might find useful in customizing Narrator on Surface.

Customizing Narrator

Complete Guide To Narrator

To clarify, is the Narrator voice Zirca reading it in US format with an Australian accent too? Is it just the Narrator voice Catherine having this issue?

If this helps, please let our Community know by marking this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread for further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z

Answer 2

Crest_Z,

Currently:

The US Voice is reading the date in an American accent in US format. (He does not like this voice, because it sounds very tinny and computerized.)

The Australian Voice is reading the date in an Australian accent in International format. (He does not want the International format.)

Prior to January 10, 2020:

The Australian Voice was reading the date in an Australian accent in US format. - which is what he likes and wants.

I hope this clarifies my issue in need of resolution.

BlindMike'sAdmin

Answer 3

Hi BlindMike'sAdmin,

Thank you for the clarification.

Since you are not certain if there was an update installed that made changes as to how the Voice Narration Catherine works before, then we would like you to check for any updates made in update history. To do that, simply go to Settings > Updates & Security > and look for Update History and check if there were any updates before this happened and you may uninstall it.

Or you can check the date and time format in Settings then go to Time & Language > select Region and under Regional Format, select English (US). After that, change the Narrator Voice from Zirca to Catherine.

If this helps, please let our Community know by marking this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread for further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z

Answer 4

Thank you for your reply.

All updates have been installed as of the date of the original and follow-up post I made with the clarification. I have not checked them today.

As for the Time and Language - region - this is selected as English (US) under both Zira and Catherine. This was the first place I checked. I even changed them and switched them back just to be sure the setting was synced with the voices.

The problem still exists.

If anything else comes to mind, please let me know.

Blind'sMikesAdmin