There are several key components and features in Unified Messaging that enable users and callers to interact with a multiple-language voice mail system. For these components and features to work correctly and enable callers to interact with the system in multiple languages, the UM language packs must be installed correctly on a Mailbox server.

Pre-recorded prompts

TTS languages

Unified Messaging relies on a Text-to-Speech (TTS) engine. TTS functionality is provided by the Microsoft Speech Server service. The TTS engine reads and converts written text into audible output that can be heard by a caller. The TTS engine reads and converts the following items in a user's mailbox:

• Email and voice mail message bodies, subjects, and names
  
  
• Calendar item bodies, subjects, locations, and names
  
  
• Personal contact names
  
  
• Users' default voice mail greetings
  
  

Note:
After a user has recorded personalized voice mail greetings, the TTS version of the voice greetings are no longer used.

Automatic Speech Recognition

UM language packs also provide support for Voice Mail Preview, which allows users to quickly triage their voice messages by reading their transcripts from within a supported email client such as Outlook or Outlook Web App.

When a caller leaves a voice message for a UM-enabled user, the voice message file and a transcript of the voice message are placed in the body of the voice message that's sent to the user's mailbox.

All UM language packs are single files that can be downloaded. These language packs include the pre-recorded prompts, grammar files, Text-to-Speech (TTS) translation, and ASR. However, not all the UM language packs contain support for Voice Mail Preview.

The following UM language packs contain support for all the components and features, including Voice Mail Preview:

• English (US) - (en-US)
  
  
• English (Canada) (en-CA)
  
  
• French (France) - (fr-FR)
  
  
• Italian - (it-IT)
  
  
• Polish (pl-PL)
  
  
• Portuguese (Portugal) (pt-PT)
  
  
• Spanish (Spain) (es-ES)
  
  

By default, after you install the Mailbox server, the server will send voice mail previews to UM-enabled users if a supported UM language pack is installed.

There are Unified Messaging Voice Mail Preview partners that offer enhanced transcription support for the Voice Mail Preview feature. These partners employ people to correct voice mail transcriptions that were created using ASR. Each Voice Mail Preview partner must meet a set of requirements to be certified to interoperate with Unified Messaging.

If you find that the voice mail previews sent to your users aren't accurate enough, you can contact one of the certified Voice Mail Preview partners listed on the Microsoft Pinpoint for Unified Messaging page and sign up with them at an additional cost.

You can download the UM language packs from the Microsoft Download Center. For details, see Install a UM Language Pack.

To enable callers to use the multiple language features found in Unified Messaging, you must first install a UM language pack. Then you have the option to configure other UM components.

• Install the UM language pack on the Mailbox servers in your organization.
  
  
• If required, configure the default language for a UM dial plan. This lets Outlook Voice Access users associated with the UM dial plan use the new language when they access their mailbox. However, users can still configure their language setting in the Outlook Web App Options.
  
  
• If you need to enable multiple languages on auto attendants, configure the language setting on a UM auto attendant. By default, a UM auto attendant uses the UM dial plan language. However, you can change this setting and enable unauthenticated callers to connect to your organization and move through the auto attendant menus in the language that you've specified on the UM auto attendant.
  
  

You install a UM language pack on a Mailbox server using Setup.exe. After you install the new language pack, the language associated with the language pack will be added to the list of available languages that you can use. You can view the languages that have been installed using the Get-UMService cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell.

When you install the UM language pack, the files that are used by the TTS engine and the pre-recorded prompts for the chosen language are copied and made available for users who connect to the voice mail system. You can download the UM language packs from the Microsoft Download Center. For details, see Install a UM Language Pack.

Each UM dial plan that's created contains a default language setting. The UM dial plan language setting is needed because Unified Messaging may have to use TTS conversion or play a standard audio prompt for Outlook Voice Access users when they access their mailbox. You don't have to select a default dial plan language.

When you first install Exchange, U.S. English will be the default language, and the only available language option for your dial plan. After you install a UM language pack on a Mailbox server, the language associated with the language pack will be listed as an available option when you configure the default language for the dial plan.

The default language is important to callers. When an Outlook Voice Access user calls in to the voice mail system, the language that is used is based on the language setting in Outlook Web App that was set when the user first signed in to their mailbox. Unified Messaging compares the language set in Outlook Web App to the list of available languages on the dial plan with which the user is associated. If there is no suitable match, the default UM dial plan language will be used. For example, if you have a dial plan that contains only users from France, you may want to change the default language setting on the dial plan to French.

By default, because UM auto attendants are associated with a UM dial plan when they’re created, they use the default language setting of the associated UM dial plan. However, this setting can be changed after the UM auto attendant is created.

The UM auto attendant language setting is needed because Unified Messaging may have to use TTS conversion or play a standard audio prompt to a caller. Unified Messaging doesn't check whether the language of custom prompts for the auto attendant matches the language setting on the auto attendant. However, as a best practice, make sure that the language setting of the auto attendant matches the language of the custom prompts. Otherwise, the caller may hear the system shift from one language to another.

Being able to change the UM auto attendant language setting is also useful if you need several different language-specific auto attendants for callers.

UM language packs enable callers and Outlook Voice Access users to interact with the Unified Messaging system in multiple languages. After you install additional language packs on a Mailbox server, callers and Outlook Voice Access users can hear email messages and interact with the voice mail system, and Outlook Web App users and users who are using Outlook 2010 or a later version can view the transcript of a voice message using Voice Mail Preview in a specific language.

To support a specific language, a UM client language pack for that language must be installed on each Mailbox server.

In some cases, if a UM language pack for a specific language hasn’t been installed and isn’t available, a client fallback language may be used. Fallback UM client languages are available to be used in place of some languages but, for other languages, no fallback language is available. If there isn’t a UM language pack installed for a specific language, and no fallback language is available for that language, en-US (US English) will be used.

The following table includes a list of client languages and the fallback languages that are used when a specific UM language pack hasn’t been installed on a Mailbox server.

Client fallback languages for UM

Return to top