Spotify Podcast is in Spanish - Can't Change it.

[obba41]

I wanted to listen Lex Fridman's podcasts. But when played via GHA, it is in Spanish.
Joe Rogan plays fine.

The missus has a paid sub to Spotify. We went into her Spotify iPhone 12pro max App IOS and have made the language English (was anyway). App, just goes to the IOS language setting.

On my droid app (Samsung), non paid sub, my language is English Australian.

On Win11, logged in under the missus details, the language is set to English.

Select Lex Fridman, choose an episode and it plays in Spanish!!

Chose #433 (Sarah Walker), and it plays in Spanish...!!

In looking up he (Lex), can only speak Russian and English. It's Spotify's venture with Open AI, whereby his podcasts can be heard in various languages.

We have never been to Spain. Have no interest in Spain/Spanish. Never looked up anything to do with Spanish.

Even saying "Hey Google, play Spotify podcast Lex Fridman episode four hundred and thirty three – in English", doesn't work...

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

Device

Google Home

Living in Australia

[Eni]

Hey there @obba41, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this here in the Community. 

Could you let us know what do you mean by GHA? Also, does this only happen when you listen to that specific podcast episode, or it happens with other episodes as well?

Additionally, have you checked if this happens across devices? We went ahead and checked the episode you mentioned on the mobile and desktop apps and it played in English. Could you send us the episode's URI to check if we listened to the same one? 

We'll be on the lookout for your reply. 

[obba41]

Oh, Hi,

Sorry for belated reply. I didn't know how to get back into this help forum.

GHA is Google Home Assistant. It's pretty big out there you know?

I have Google speakers around the house. And last night I went to try the Lex Freidman podcast again, but first went "Hey Google, play podcast Joe Rogan". 

It then will play Joe Rogan podcasts in English. I can say "Hey Google, play podcast StarTalk". It will play Neils Degrasse Tyson's Startalk - in English.

Then I tried Lex Freidman and it plays in either Spanish/Italian or Brazilian....!!!! 

I went back to Joe Rogan and it plays in English.

I don't ask for a particular episode. It just plays, I guess the first one. I can say halfway through "Hey Google Next" and it seems that the 'next' podcast in order (I'm not sure as it never says any #), plays.

I can say "Hey Google, play previous", and it seems to go backwards. I'm not sure of any order, but it's the only way to move in different episodes until I find one that interests me. 

I can't provide a URL as I'm speaking to Google Home speakers.

I have just browsed some other comments. Is it possible it's the ads that are in a foreign language? Maybe I'm listening to that ad's. but I have no idea... as I can't understand them!

Thanks,

Alan.

[AlejaR]

Hey @obba41,

Thanks for the reply and for the info shared.

We'll need a video recording of the behavior you described in order for us to better understand exactly what is happening. You can attach the video in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload it to YouTube or Google Drive and make it public, so we can watch it.

On another note, you mentioned above that you tried on a computer, and you could replicate this, right? Would you mind opening your account there to check if you can replicate this behavior as well? It'd be awesome if you could let us know whose account is linked to the Google account on the speaker.

Lastly, did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event such as an OS update? If yes, please send us the details.

Keep us in the loop!

[obba41]

Hi, Ok. Wierd this. I tried to record it and it appears that Lex Freidman does not play, but someone else.

Anyway, I have done a small video onto YouTube for you to check out.

Hopefully YT does not remove it due to copyright...

https://youtu.be/C9LvgenO1zs

[AlejaR]

Hey there @obba41,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

The video helped us a lot. From what we could see, this is just happening with the Lex Fridman podcast. In that sense, and if you'd like to, we'd suggest you perform a factory reset of your Google Home speaker to see if you notice any difference regarding this behavior. To do it, you can follow these steps. 

If the above doesn't do the trick, we'd like to continue investigating this. Since you mentioned earlier that this was happening with other podcast shows as well, would you mind sharing with us the links to the other podcasts in which you noticed such behavior? 

No worries, you don't need to send us the ones that your Google device is playing, rather than the links to the shows you do follow and ask your speaker to play. To share a link, you need to follow these steps.

Now, other info that you can send us would be:

• The make/model of your speaker.
• Did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event, such as a OS update of your speaker?

Keep us in the loop!

[obba41]

Hi AlejaR,

I did the reset on the Google Speaker. This did a full factory reset and removed it from my Google Home Account. I had to re-install it from scratch.

This procedure did not work.

As mentioned in the previous message, it will not find Lex Fridman, but plays a different Podcast. I find this unusual as before, it would always find him, but play in Spanish.

Now it will not find him - if I say - "Hey Google, play Lex Fridman". It finds a different podcast (of which I have sent you the video of that).

So you know and can see and hear it happening.

In the house we have two Google 'Speaker's' - you can just type in Google Speaker and see what the 'Model' is -It's the tall one.

We also have 8 Google Mini speakers. A mixture of Gen 1's and 2's. They all do the same thing.

The 'Lex Fridman Podcast is - for me now - narrated - as in the video clip I sent you - is from someone else. It's a man and a women talking about Lex Fridman's podcasts. 

They are short clips, in some, they only go for 8 minutes, some 17 minutes. but they NEVER actually go to Lex Fridman. 

They sound like a promo or pre entry introduction. They do name the actual Lex Fridman podcast - as in who is being interviewed -  BUT - it never gets to Lex Fridman....!

Who is this Man and Women talking...?

If I have Spotify on my PC desktop, and select Lex Fridman, I get these two people. The screen shows Lex Fridman. But NO Lex Fridman...!

I will include a screen shot that shows Lex Fridman is 'chosen', only 8:40??? But it is not him, just these two people talking - as in the video you have seen. 

Also, in your last reply to me, there is a picture overlaying part of your response to me. Why is covering part of the message?

This issue is driving me nuts!

BTW: I am NOT GOING TO RESEST all the Google home speakers. I have told you that they all worked fine. I have done a few factory resets - and they do not change the problem. 

Also, please remember that my initial issue was in the foreign language - now for some reason - Lex Fridman cannot be found. and also that other podcasts (as mentioned), are working fine..!

This is driving me nuts..!

[MihailY]

Hey @obba41,

Thanks for your detailed reply and huge apologies for the confusion here. I'll do my best to address all points you've made and explain what's happening. 

In your first post, you've mentioned that the Lex Friedman podcast plays in Spanish. Your guess about OpenAI is absolutely correct, this is indeed an AI-powered translation which uses the podcaster's voice for a more authentic listening experience. You can find further info about this here. 

Note however that the shows/episodes included in this test are located in a dedicated hub (here) and are essentially separate shows (see link below) which shouldn't pop up in your search results. 

Link

Can you let me know how you've started the playback on your PC? Did you search for the podcast or did you click on a link from your Home page? If it was the latter, I suspect that you've simply clicked on what was recently played on your Google Home which brings me to my second (and main) point - your Google Assistant might not always play the most popular result for your query as evident from this thread. We're working with Google on improving this, however, since this is an ongoing effort, results may vary.

I've taken a closer look at the video you provided and indeed, the podcast that was played after the voice command was an unofficial summarized version of the Lex Friedman show (TL;DR stands for "too long; didn't read"), hence the shorter episode duration and the different speakers/voices. Again, apologies for not noticing this earlier in the thread.

TLDR version

What you can do as a workaround in this case is simply add the original Lex Friedman podcast to Your Library (link below) and always play it from there. To transfer the playback to your Google Home speaker(s), simply say "Hey Google, play Spotify." or choose the desired speaker or group from the Spotify Connect menu in the lower right corner of the desktop app.

The original Lex Friedman podcast

We hope this helps. Don't hesitate to get back to us if you have any other questions!

[obba41]

Hi again.

Well, the abridged 'unknown' people has been fixed.

I clicked on your 'reset' Go Back to the ORIGINAL Lex Fridman link and guess what???

It's back into to Spanish! Or some Latin language.

https://youtu.be/vvyhDlnGThs

Why on earth can this simple - one person podcast - be in a different language? Why is YOUR or Googles AI doing this?

Isn't there a simple option to not have AI in use? 

As mentioned we have NEVER been to Spain. We have visited Italy, but that was many many years ago. We have not looked at ANY Latin speaking countries on the PC. 

[MihailY]

Hey @obba41,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm sorry to hear you're still having trouble playing the correct podcast. Just to clarify again, the TLDR version and the Spanish version are simply separate shows and the issue here is that your Google Home selects to play those instead of the "most popular" choice which would be the original Lex Friedman podcast.

On the video you've sent I see that you've opened the correct show, but I'm assuming you've again started the playback from the Google Home with the command "Hey Google, play Lex Friedman" (which plays the alternate version).

The main idea of the workaround mentioned in my previous reply was to manually start the correct podcast (click on the link from my reply on your PC and double click on an episode) and change the currently playing device from PC to GH from the Connect picker (see screenshot below) or by using the "Play Spotify" command on GH. This way, we're not relying on Google Home to choose the correct show to play.

I realize this isn't ideal, but it's still an option to play the desired podcast from your smart speaker. Please try it and let me know how it goes.

If you encounter any issues that I haven't covered, describe them in as much detail as possible and I'll do my best to help you further!

[obba41]

Ok. 

I include two screen shots.

1) is that if i click on Lex on the web/pc it plays in English. If I close web/pc screen and then say "Hey G play Lex......", it plays in Spanish. 

If I then open Spotify on the PC, it is indeed showing the Spanish version.

2) On selecting Devices to play on. I choose ANY of the devices as shown (photo 2 tested on the Master Bedroom Speaker), I chose on Spotify Web/PC, a Lex episode.

I went into the Master Bedroom and it was playing (the Bernie Sanders episode), in English. I told Google to stop and then repeated "Hey Google play Lex.....", and it comes back on in, in, in SPANISH!!!!!

Why cannot I simply have an option to say English Only?

Or no AI auto translate.

Or no translation required.

It's pretty bad as we do pay for premium and the service is not doing what it says. I cannot listen to a podcast in English, even though the podcast is native English - yet other podcasts play fine. There is a fault in the system, yet we still have to pay the fee...!!!

Look, I/we appreciate your help. But even you are seemingly admitting that even you don't know why and saying it's a Google thing.

[MihailY]

Hey @obba41,

Thanks for your response. I understand your frustration and where you're coming from.

Unfortunately, in this case the "Play Lex Friedman" command would always play a different show (the version translated in Spanish) because of the ongoing issue in which queries to your Google Home don't return the most popular result.

However, on your PC you're able to start playing the correct one, so to transfer the playback of the English version of the podcast (or any other content) from your PC to the smart speaker you can say "Play Spotify" (and not "Play Lex Friedman").

The other way to do this is by selecting the Google Home in the Spotify Connect menu (as shown in the second screenshot) without giving a voice command to the smart speaker.

If you insist on always using a voice command without having to start the playback on the PC, you can add the episodes of the English version to a playlist, give it a distinctive name and say "Hey Google, play my playlist <name of the playlist>".

Let me know how you get on.

[obba41]

Hi Mihaily,

"....because of the ongoing issue in which queries to your Google Home don't return the most popular result.".

I accept your 'fix' is to create a playlist, might work.

However, as mentioned multiple times, is that all other Podcasts play fine..!

I do not want to carry around a PC, select Lex, change the playing device, then turn the PC off.

The use of GHA, and in our home, is that anyone (normally me), can be in any room and simply say "Hey Google, play xyz podcast".

Which works 100% except for the Spotify/Google algorithm which bizarrely plays Lex in Spanish!!

In our discussions, I have simply asked that is it possible to force Spotify/Google to ONLY be in English? Or turn off Spotify/Googles 'Translate AI'?

Obviously, changing every known language option to English (no matter which English/Canada - English/United Kingdon - English/American) - within Spotify and Google Home - makes no difference. Even selecting 'Default' language didn't work.

Anyway, time to put this to bed. From other support tickets about foreign languages playing, it's clear that this is a known issue and is not fixable by (should be, for a paid service!), by selecting the APPS language setting.

I appreciate your time and help in this matter Mihaily.

Regards,

Alan. 

[martindmuk]

I came here to find out about the exact same issue, Alan and want to thank you for undergoing the toil of answering the silly questions on behalf of all of us, when the answer was always known to be the algorithm is basically broken and is not something we're missing.

I was also seeing the exact same behaviour with Lex's podcast using GHA and checking settings showed nothing wrong.

So we know the 'fix' is simply a workaround, but at least we know this.

Thanks Alan, for doing this and your conclusion for us all.

Martin