Amazon Alexa to get support for Hindi soon


Amazon_Alexa

Amazon launched Alexa virtual voice assistant along with Echo devices in India back in 2017. Since then, it has been getting updates which added more skills, India specific features, and is getting improved over time. Today, Amazon revealed that it is working on infusing regional languages capabilities in Alexa for the Indian market including support for the Hindi language. 

The support for the Hindi language on Alexa is still a work in progress and is still in early stages. According to the company, making Alexa just to speak Hindi might be a relatively an easy task, but the company has to navigate its way through challenges of getting the accents and the form of the language that is spoken in a particular place right which Alexa also has to understand and react accordingly.

Amazon aims to make Alexa more natural and conversational with humans with new Machine Learning (ML) capabilities that they are applying now.  The company also adds that these challenges are not language dependent but more culture-dependent and they do not give customers that is half-baked.

As of now, Alexa can understand some Hinglish commands but these are few and far between. The company also aims to introduce a feature where users can respond to Alexa’s English statements in Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati and other regional languages apart from Hindi.

The support for the Hindi language on Alexa is still in early stages and it is to be seen when the company will roll out the feature.

Commenting on this, Rohit Prasad, Vice President, and Head Scientist for Alexa said:

Yes, we are working on infusing regional languages capabilities in Alexa for the Indian market but these are early days. For us, it is a contextual, cultural as well as content-related challenge as the question is not that Alexa just needs to understand Hindi. This part we can do relatively easily but Alexa needs to be Indian when it speaks in Hindi as there are several dialects and accents out there which Alexa has to understand and react accordingly.

These are challenges which are not language dependent but more culture dependent. We believe in introducing a wholesome experience to delight our customers and not something that is half-baked. We are working on to solve these issues in the Indian context.

We want Alexa to be everywhere. The whole idea is to make it more natural and conversational with humans with new Machine Learning (ML) capabilities that we are applying now.

Alexa is a personal assistant, a companion, a friend, a family member. That’s how I think of Alexa because our customers think of it that way. We are very transparent from day one on the privacy of your conversations and beyond the awake’ word, nothing is being recorded.

Alexa is not just to facilitate entertainment but can help in sectors like education and health. For those who are differently-abled, Alexa can help plan daily schedules apart from reading news or playing songs.


Author: Manoj Nagendra

Manoj Nagendra is passionate about smartphones and the latest technology. He likes to write and explore the latest tech and you can often find him with an Android phone. You can follow him on Twitter @manojshesh24 and also mail at manojnagendra@fonearena.com