A pleasant surprise! New voices

[Vinnybod]

I just started a new lesson and was surprised to hear new audio! For some of the more complex sentences, it sounds way more natural and less robotic. Thank you Duolingo for continuing to improve the quality :)

[Swisidniak]

Yes! I'm also excited for the new voices! It's great to have a variety to help with listening and pronunciation. :D

[AUZAZURZ]

I think it's not only about voices. For example, I can swear that several weeks ago Duolingo didn't understand some kanjies (for example, 鳥 or 机), and now this issue is fixed. It's nice to see that developers really care about the course :)

[Luke_5.1991]

The voice/audio people (the people in Pittsburgh), are different from the kanji-acceptance people (us volunteers).

[Firetrix]

I agree! I really like the new audio. It’s sounds more like real people which I know will be helpful for learning. I am very excited about this update.

[Vinnybod]

Update: Seems like it is only in the web version at the moment. It is a new male voice. And contrary to my first statement, it does sound MORE robotic at times, but better at other times.

[ffngg]

When they sound good, they sound really good, when they sound bad, they sound really bad. I wish there was an option to switch between them.

[DiegoDutra]

Wow! I didn't know that! I'll check it out right now! Thanks guys! :)

[LaserDuck]

I didn't encounter any new voices. Did you hear the new audio in specific lessons or in all of them?

[Swisidniak]

I've only done Practice exercises so I'm not sure if it's specific questions or completely random, but each practice about a third of the questions I get now have a more natural sounding male voice rather than the very robotic sounding female one we're all used to.

[LaserDuck]

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

[claryds99]

I didn't hear the new voices in the learning part, I'll check later in the practice part

[LaserDuck]

I did a practice now, and I still haven’t encounterd any new voices. Were you on the site or on the app?

[GiaoGiao542]

<3 hahaa its best web

[eren_yeager1]

yes this really helps because im doing a student exchange program in japan In a year

[Chellie.W]

French has a new female voice which is okay. But, I really like the male voice's southern french accent. I hope they don't change it. It's nice to hear accents from different regions.