An update to Google Assistant on smart speakers and phones will allow users to speak more than one language to it at a time.
Google Assistant previously offered support for multiple languages. However, it could only be set to speak and understand one language per session.
If a user wanted to begin using another language with Google Assistant, they would have to first make adjustments to the settings.
Users can now alternate between two different languages in the same session.
So a person who speaks English and Spanish, for example, can communicate with Google Assistant in both languages at any given moment.
“Family members in bilingual homes often switch back and forth between languages, and now the Assistant can keep up. With our advancement in speech recognition, you can now speak two languages interchangeably with the Assistant on smart speakers and phones and the Assistant will respond in kind.”
This is a first-of-its-kind feature for voice assistants, and Google is the only one to offer it right now.
Google Assistant will be able to understand any pair of the following languages:
- English
- German
- French
- Spanish
- Italian
- Japanese
Bilingual capabilities will be expanded to more languages in the coming months.
