Why Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner Speaks Chinese and How to Fix It
You brought home a brand new Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum, turned it on, and instead of the usual "Cleaning Start," you heard the indistinct "Kaishi Jingsao." Or worse, the unit is stubbornly taunting in English, even though the settings are Russian. Familiar situation? The problem is that there is no localized firmware for your model or the wrong regional settings in the Mi Home app.
The manufacturer often supplies devices with global or Chinese firmware where Russian voice is either missing or not activated correctly. Fortunately, you can fix this yourself without going to the service center. In this article, we will examine all the working methods: from changing the region in the application to manually firmware voice packets, and also explain why after updating the software voice can again be confused with Chinese - and how to avoid this.
Important: the methods vary depending on the model of the vacuum cleaner. For example, for Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop 2 Lite, you can change the region to Mi Home, and owners of Dreame D9 or Viomi V3 will have to manually download voice files, we covered all popular scenarios - choose yours.
Method 1: Change region in the Mi Home app (for most models)
The easiest way is to change the region of your account in the official app, which will work for global firmware devices (e.g. Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop 2 Pro or Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop Essential). If your vacuum cleaner is bought in Russia or Europe, chances are that the Russian voiceover is already sewn into the system - it just needs to be "unlocked".
Instructions:
- 📱 Open the Mi Home app and go to Profile → Settings → Region.
- 🌍 Choose Russia (Russian) or Ukraine (Ukraine) – in these regions voiceover in Russian is guaranteed to be present.
- 🔄 Restart the app and wait for the device to sync (may take up to 5 minutes).
- 🎙️ Check your voice: tell the vacuum cleaner a command (like “Start cleaning”) or run a test cleanup.
If the voice is Chinese after the change of region, then the firmware of your model does not have a Russian voice packet, in which case you go to method 2 or 3.
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Before you change region, untie the vacuum cleaner from your account in Device Settings → General → Untie the device. Once you change region, re-tie it, which will speed up the application of new settings.
Method 2: Installation of Russian voice packet via Token (for advanced users)
This method is suitable for models where Russian voiceover is technically supported, but not activated through standard settings, such as Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P or Dreame D9 Max. This will require a device token – a unique identifier that allows you to control the vacuum cleaner through third-party applications (for example, Home Assistant or Valetudo).
Steps:
- Get a token: 🔧 Use the MiHome Token Extractor (for Android) or the Python script miio-cli (for PC). 📋 Copy Device. ID, Token and IP-vacuum cleaner address (you can find it in the router or through network scanning).
Install the voice packet
- 📥 Download the archive with Russian voice files for your model (see forums) 4PDA Xiaomi Community).
- 🖥️ Connect to the vacuum cleaner SSH (If supported, use Valetudo to upload files via the web interface.
- 📁 Replace files in the folder /mnt/UDISK/voice/ (path may differ!).
- Reboot the device: adb shell reboot or via the command in Valetudo: Reboot.
Get a device token|Download the archive with Russian voices|Check the compatibility of the model|Backup of original files|Connect to SSH/Valetudo-->
⚠️ Warning: Incorrectly replacing voice files can result in loss of voice functionality altogether.Be sure to back up the original files from the folder before starting. /mnt/UDISK/voice/!
Method 3: Firmware alternative software (Valetudo, OpenMiHome)
If the first two methods didn’t work, the radical option remains custom firmware, which is true for closed firmware models (e.g. Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum 1S or Viomi V2 Pro), where the manufacturer has blocked the change of voice packets.
- 🤖 Valetudo – open source with support for the Russian language and advanced settings.
- 🔓 OpenMiHome – modified firmware for Xiaomi devices with unlocked functions.
Instructions for Valetudo:
- 📌 Make sure your model is supported (the list is on the official website).
- 🔌 Connect the vacuum cleaner to the PC through USB-C (need OTG-cable).
- 💻 Install Docker and run the container with Valetudo: Docker Run -d --name valetudo -p 80:80 -v /path/to/config:/config --device /dev/ttyUSB0 ghcr.io/hypfer/valetudo:latest
- 🌐 Open the web interface at the address http://[IP_vacuumer]:80 And follow the customization wizard.
Once you have the firmware in Valetudo’s settings, you can choose Russian for voice prompts, and the advantage of this method is that you have full control over your device, including disabling cloud dependency from Xiaomi.
What happens if you interrupt the firmware?
Table: Compatibility of models with Russian voiceover
Not all Xiaomi robot vacuum cleaners support Russian voiceovers out of the box. In the table below, you can see the current data on popular models (2026).
| Model | Russian voiceover in standard firmware | Is manual installation required? | Supports Valetudo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop 2 Lite | ✅ Yes, in the region of Russia) | ❌ No. | ✅ Yes. |
| Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P | ⚠️ Partially (needs token) | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes. |
| Dreame D9 / D9 Max | ❌ No. | ✅ Yes (voice packets) | ✅ Yes. |
| Viomi V3 / SE | ❌ No. | ✅ Yeah) | ❌ No. |
| Proscenic M7 Pro | ✅ Yes (in the latest versions of the software) | ❌ No. | ❌ No. |
⚠️ Warning: Manufacturers regularly update firmware, and support for the Russian language may appear or disappear, 4PDA or Reddit/r/Xiaomi).
Frequent problems and their solutions
Even after a successful setup, Russian voice acting may not work properly, so let's look at typical scenarios and how to fix them.
Problem 1: The voice is in Chinese after the software update.
- 🔄 Solution: Disable automatic updates in Device Settings → General. → Update of the PO.
- 📵 If the update has already occurred, re-install the voice packet (method 2).
Problem 2: There is a voice, but it sounds robotic or with an accent.
- 🎤 Solution: Try replacing voice packets with an alternative one (e.g. from the Xiaomi community) EU).
- 🔊 Check the volume settings in the app – sometimes poor sound quality is due to file bitrate.
Problem 3: The vacuum cleaner does not respond to voice commands in Russian.
- 🗣️ Solution: Voice and voice are different functions. Teams need to set up Alice or Google Assistant separately.
- 🔗 Make sure Mi Home includes integration with voice assistants (Settings) → Voice control).
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If you've never heard the voice after all the manipulations, check if it's turned off in the settings of the device: Settings → Sounds → Voice prompts. Sometimes the problem is a trivial switch that's turned off.
How to get back the original voiceover if something went wrong
Experimenting with voice packets or firmware can lead to unexpected results: the sound is lost, the vacuum cleaner gives out errors or completely stops turning on, in which case a rollback to factory settings will help.
Resetting instructions:
- 🔋 Make sure the vacuum cleaner is at least 50 times charged%.
- 🔘 Press the Power button for 10-15 seconds until you hear an audible beep (or flash the indicator).
- 📱 Connect to the vacuum cleaner via Mi Home and perform the binding again.
- 🔄 If the reset does not help, run the original firmware through the Mi Flash Tool (instructions are available on the device). 4PDA).
⚠️ Warning: Reset will remove all stored room maps, cleaning schedules and custom settings. Before reset, export the cards via Mi Home (if the feature is supported by your model)!