Voice messages now in eleven languages from the SMSBOX portal
Having an SMS read out as a phone call was already possible in Dutch, French and English. From now on you can choose from eleven languages in the SMSBOX portal: German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Romanian and Russian have been added.
What was voice again?
With the voice option, your message does not arrive as an SMS but as a call. The recipient picks up and hears your text, read out by a computer voice. It works to mobile numbers as well as landlines. Useful for people who do not read their texts, or for an alert that cannot wait.
Which languages are available?
- Dutch
- French
- English
- German — new
- Italian — new
- Spanish — new
- Polish — new
- Portuguese — new
- Turkish — new
- Romanian — new
- Russian — new
The price stays the same: a voice message costs the same in every language.
Where do you find the new languages?
The new languages are available only on the Send SMS page in the SMSBOX portal. Under Your options you will find Voice option. You used to choose between NL, FR and EN there; it is now a drop-down list with all eleven languages. Leave it on No voice (regular SMS) and your message simply goes out as an SMS.
The voice option is there when you send through the SMS gateway. If you pick another channel, it disappears. If you send through the API, nothing changes: voice remains available there in Dutch, French and English.
Write your message in the language you choose
The language sets the voice, not the text: nothing is translated. If you choose German, write your message in German too. An English text read by a German voice is something nobody understands.
The language of the voice is also separate from the language you use the portal in. So you can perfectly well have a Polish message read out from an English-language portal.
Write numbers, times and abbreviations the way you want to hear them. With "Tue 12/05 at 2.30pm" a voice has to guess. With "Tuesday the twelfth of May at half past two" it does not.
Test on your own number first
Always send a new voice message to yourself first. You hear straight away whether the pronunciation is right and whether names and figures are easy to understand, before it goes out to your customers. The portal reminds you of this itself as soon as you choose a language.
Afterwards you can recognise voice messages under Outbox by the VOICE label. Open the message and you will also see the chosen language.
Read more about what is possible on the voice messages page. Missing a language? Let us know through contact.