Amazon is creating a better Spanish experience for Americans in 2019 with updates on the company's voice assistant Alexa.
Not only will the company be launching a Spanish-speaking Alexa in the United States, but developers can also start to build Spanish-language skills using the Alexa Skills Set. Soon, Spanish-speaking Americans will get the luxury of talking to Alexa in their native tongue.
Support For Spanish-Speaking Americans
Amazon has begun a preview program that will help them create an effective Spanish-language experience for Alexa users in the United States, according to Tech Crunch. The program will help the company build an experience for users that incorporates local humor, correct word choice, and slang.
While the preview program is by invite only, Americans can expect Alexa to launch with support for the Spanish language within 2019.
In an announcement on Amazon's official blog, the company also revealed that a new voice model supporting Spanish is now available in the United States. This will allow developers to craft skills that specifically target Spanish-speaking citizens.
Any skill built by developers will be available in the preview program for clients on the platform. It is also expected to be launched along with Alexa's Spanish language support later in the year.
Furthermore, it's not just Echo devices that are expected to carry the capabilities targeting Spanish clients. Other big companies such as Bose, Facebook, and Sony are already expected to roll out Alexa built-in devices with Spanish language support, while Honeywell Home, Philips, and TP-Link will offer connected devices that support the Spanish-language features in the United States.
Spanish-Speaking Individuals In The US
With 48.6 million people in the country speaking Spanish, it is the second most dominant language in the United States after English by far. It is also the second most spoken language in the world, following Chinese with about 400 million native speakers.
While Amazon's Alexa has supported Spanish language skills in Mexico and Spain, these capabilities have not been available in the United States until now. Other companies have been ahead of Amazon in this respect, with the year 2018 seeing both Google Home and Apple's HomePod adding Spanish language support for their clients.
Alexa already speaks a couple of other languages. Aside from English, developers have already had access to support for German, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
