Chinese technology website DoNews claims that Apple is planning to add Chinese, Japanese, and Russian language support to Siri next month, although the Chinese support will initially only include Mandarin, with other dialects to come in later updates.
Tech in Asia reports (via MacRumors)
The Chinese tech site DoNews claims to have heard from an Apple engineer who’s working on the Chinese-language version of Siri, the clever voice assistant on the iPhone 4S. From this source it claims that Siri will launch in Chinese next month, and is already undergoing internal testing this month. […]
The rumor also contends that the Chinese version will only support the standard Mandarin (aka: putonghua) Chinese, which would leave out Cantonese-speaking people, as well as some Taiwan folk who effectively speak in a different dialect. Plus, it alleges that Japanese and Russian will arrive next month as well.
While the details regarding the rumor cannot be verified, it’s likely that adding Chinese language support to Siri is a high priority for Apple, considering the size of the Chinese smartphone market, and the significant growth Apple is seeing there.