Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Multilingual Google Assistant to add more than 20 languages to its repertoire

Mark Jansen
By
mobile trends google assistant ai
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Mobile World Congress 2024
Read our complete coverage of Mobile World Congress

Ahead of MWC 2018, Google has laid out its forward plans for Google Assistant on iOS and Android smartphones, announcing that it aims to bring the ever-present assistant to more than 30 languages by the end of year, as well as rolling out updates that make Google Assistant instantly multilingual and capable of responding in different languages.

At the moment, Google Assistant is available in eight languages, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese (Brazil), and Google’s plans would see that total expand to over 30, with Google claiming that the coverage would increase to 95 percent of Android users. Since that’s a pool of 2 billion users, that’s a heady boast. Users can expect to see updates that add Danish, Dutch, Hindi, Indonesian, Norwegian, Swedish, and Thai in the coming months — on both Android and iPhone devices — while the rest of the planned updates will come throughout the rest of the year.

Recommended Videos

Other plans include the ability to make Google Assistant multilingual, so if you speak more than one language or live in a multilanguage household, then Google Assistant will soon be able to detect the language you’re speaking and respond quickly and fluidly. According to Google, it will be even able switch between languages for a single user, perfect for people who use different languages throughout the day, and also useful for anyone learning another language.

Related

But it’s not all about software updates. With the mobile world gathering in Barcelona next week for Mobile World Congress, Google also took a moment to reflect on the progress of making hardware more compatible with the Google Assistant package. While Google’s own Pixel range obviously supports the Assistant, support for phones from other manufacturers requires a close working relationship with Google. Google has been working closely with some manufacturers for the last year, in an initiative it calls the “Assistant Mobile OEM program,” which should help manufacturers to introduce helpful features like activating “OK Google” while the screen is off, and introducing device-specific keywords. While there has been no timetable given for those plans, we should expect innovations from LG, Sony Mobile, and Xiaomi to be coming soon.

Also tied into those improvements is a closer relationship with network carriers like Sprint, Koodo, Telus, and Vodafone. Google wants to let users find out more about their current plans from their Assistants, hinting that users may soon be able to add services to their plans, get support, and more.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Jansen
Mark Jansen
Contributor
Mark Jansen is an avid follower of everything that beeps, bloops, or makes pretty lights. He has a degree in Ancient &…
Does the Google Pixel Watch have fall detection? Not yet, but it’s coming soon
Lifestyle image of a woman wearing a Google Pixel Watch.

Looking for a great Android smartwatch? The Google Pixel Watch is Google's response to the Apple Watch and the Samsung Galaxy Watch. With this new kid on the block, Google has inaugurated its own multi-device hardware-software ecosystem with many of the same critical health and safety features.

The Pixel Watch offers Google's software suite, which users can access via LTE or smartphone connection, and incorporates health resources from Fitbit's fitness line. The new watch, which runs Wear OS 3.5, is designed for optimal integration with the Google Pixel 7 and Google Pixel 7 Pro smartphones, which debuted alongside it.

Read more
Experts warn AI assistants are hurting the social development of children
Wear OS - Google Asssitant

The likes of Google Assistant and Alexa have been at the receiving end of privacy-related concerns for a while now, yet they continue to make inroads inside millions of homes. But it appears that they might also have a detrimental impact on the growth of children when it comes to their psycho-social development and acquiring core skills.

According to an analysis by experts from the University of Cambridge’s School of Clinical Medicine, interaction with AI assistants affects children in three ways. Starting at the bottom of the chain is the hindrance posed to learning opportunities.

Read more
Google Assistant to forget its location-based reminders
Google Pixel 6a

Google Assistant has been losing features over the past several months and two more are gearing up to be quietly cut. Assignable reminders and location-based reminders will be sunset "soon" according to the Google Assistant support page. This might be a tricky change for people who have been relying on the features since they were introduced in 2019.

Assignable reminders are a great way to divide tasks among groups of people as they reduced the number of assignments and notifications individuals received when collaborating with others. Additionally, location-based reminders offered a similar kind of help but instead of simply assigning each notification to a single person, they allowed everyone in a specific area to share tasks. Now, both features will be cut at an unspecified future date.

Read more