I was talking to Siri one day in Japanese and was happy to see that she was able to understand what I was saying in Japanese. I then asked my students to talk to her and was surprised when I found that Siri didn't understand them! Granted, children are still refining their ability to speak clearly but I was a bit shocked: is my Japanese, at least according to Siri, better than the average Japanese teenager or is Siri just biased towards a small subset of Japanese speakers?

Fun post that I need to disappoint you on. English is not my native language and I can still get Siri to understand more than when my American friends try. This is not my pronunciation that is that good, I just speak slower and more standardized from a Siri point of view. No fancy words, simple phrases. It is somehow like the Scottish guy with Siri: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2npEwpclJoo

I'm a chinese-language Siri - often find it much easier to understand a foreigner speaking chinese than a chinese speaking chinese ...

Non-natives are probably more likely to take efforts at clear enunciation. When I use Siri in my native language, I find that I have to speak slower than a usual conversational register and overpronounce my words to make sure she gets it right.

I'm a native German speaker and Siri so regularly misunderstands me that I have disabled it. Haha