by Brian Owen, Editor, VoiceFirst Canada Media, presenter of VoiceCon Canada ‘VoiceCAN’
I recently had the opportunity to connect with Guillaume Dufour (Twitter – @DufourGui), the founder and spokesperson for Alexa Quebec (Twitter – @AlexaQuebec). This couldn’t be more front of mind, as I had recently initiated dialogue regarding the availability of both official languages in Canada, especially for Business to Business and Business to Consumer applications.
Brian Owen: Can you please give us some background about Alexa Quebec? When did you form Alexa Quebec, what was the prime reason, and what are your objectives and plans?
Guillaume Dufour
Guillaume Dufour: Hi Brian! And thank you for what you do for the #VoiceFirst community here in Canada. To answer your questions, Alexa Quebec is a small Meetup group, active since March 2017. We discuss everything Alexa related, but with emphasis on skill development. Among the subjects: Introduction to Alexa, an Alexa Bootcamp, Voice UX Design, and Voice applications in the medical field. We aim to be at the forefront before the wave comes!
Owen: How great is the penetration of SmartHome Voice Assistant devices in the Quebec market and how much of that is Amazon Alexa?
Dufour: I have to say that Alexa isn’t quite as popular in Quebec yet. The first reason is that it’s not available in French. Even though there is currently development for the French language for France, we both know that the French accent in Quebec is somewhat different, as well as expressions. In regard to other assistants, the only one that is currently available for French Canadians is Google Home (since June 26th 2017) and information about its market penetration is scarce.
Owen: The big question in my mind has to be about French language and that Alexa does not currently provide French Canadian language support. Attitude plays a major role in market development and technology adoption, especially where culture or language is a factor or posing barriers. What’s the overall attitude towards Alexa among Francophones? Is it just not on their radar, or are they eagerly awaiting French language support? Or perhaps they just buy Google Home instead?
Dufour: In the past 12 months, I’ve been involved with the VoiceFirst community in Quebec, Canada, but it was like preaching in the desert. People are far more interested in blockchain and crypto-currencies than anything else. That being said, I still feel that the voice revolution will come for French Canadians too… just a bit later. I’m also looking to be more inclusive of other intelligent voice systems, namely Google Home, Harman Kardon Invoke (using Cortana) and Apple Home Pod.
Owen: Is there any concern or discussion about meeting language requirements that respect bilingualism through the Official Languages Act and legislation particular to Quebec?
Dufour: In term of legislation, it’s mostly in term of packaging than anything else. For example, it’s totally impossible to buy Heihei (The “world’s most stupid chicken” from Disney’s cartoon Moana) from Toys R Us here in Quebec, because the packaging is English only.
Owen: What is your direct or personal involvement in the technology?
Dufour: My company, Daforno Software has 3 employees. I am always looking for voice design and development mandates. Unfortunately, other businesses that should be looking at voice technology applications are still looking from far away or are already working with Amazon. I have a few personal skills in development for Alexa as well.
Owen: Have there been any recent developments in the Quebec marketplace that you would like to share?
Dufour: While going to a large web conference in Quebec City last week, I had a big hint about Alexa coming to Canada in French, or at the very least an announcement of it in the current year. The source seems very credible since they are already working with Amazon on Skills for English Canada. That totally makes sense since Alexa has been announced in France. So at this point, Amazon just needs to train Alexa for our particular accent, grammar and phrase differences. Also, people in the two VoiceFirst sessions were quite enthusiastic about everything they were seeing.
Owen: Do you have any closing comments or thoughts?
Dufour: I am active in presenting at conferences in French, with my most popular presentation being “Introduction to Intelligent Speakers”. I really enjoy everything #VoiceFirst related and hopefully the time invested will pay someday. Let’s be ready before the (sound) wave comes!
