Following up on an earlier rumor that Siri would soon support Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Japanese languages, 9to5Mac noticed that if Siri is actually asked what languages it supports, Japanese is listed as one of the options.
Today Apple's Siri virtual assistant for the iPhone 4S claims it can already speak Japanese, despite the fact that the language is not yet enabled in the feature's settings.
Watchful iPhone 4S users noticed on Tuesday that Siri is now claiming to speak Japanese. Given that recent rumors have claimed Siri will understand and speak Japanese, Mandarin and Russian as soon as March, Siri's admission could be taken as evidence that Japanese support, at the least, is imminent.When asked what languages it can speak, Siri responds, "I speak Japanese, English, German and French. I'm studying some new languages, too."
It then adds, "You can change the language I'm using…just go to Siri settings." However, the settings pane for the feature shows only English (with separate selections for Australia, United Kingdom and United States), French and German, with no way to select Japanese.
Apple has promised that Siri support for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish will arrive sometime during 2012. Though the iPhone 4S has had the fastest international rollout of any of Apple's handsets, Siri has been unable to keep up the pace. In fact, Japan was one of the first countries to receive the iPhone 4S when it launched last October.
Apple has repeatedly promoted Siri as the standout feature for the iPhone 4S. Most recently, it released two new television commercials last week that show iPhone 4S users seeking advice from Siri as they realize their dreams of cross-country road trips and becoming a "Rock God."
Contrary to what Siri claims, Japanese is not available as a choice in the Siri preferences pane. It's possible that Siri's additional languages will be launched with the iPad 3 launch next month. That launch is rumored to be set for March 7.
