Amazon added multilingual support for it Alexa devices last month and now the retail giant has rolled out the ability for its Echo smart speakers to perform live translation between two different languages in real-time.
The new update allows Alexa to do live translations in English, Spanish, German, French, Hindi, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. The feature has been rolled out for the users in the US but it’s expected to come to other parts soon.
How to use live translation on Echo devices?
To use Live Translation, Echo device users need to prompt a voice command like “Alexa, translate French” to get started with translating between English and French.
You will get to hear the live translation after you hear the beep. You can speak in either language to get the translation. As per the company, Alexa will have the ability to automatically detect the language being spoken and then translate each side of the conversation in real-time.
If you have an Echo Show device, you will also be able to see the live translation in addition to hearing it. The developers of the feature have modified Alexa to better handle natural pauses in conversations.
Alexa is getting smarter
Last month, Amazon added new capabilities in its Alexa virtual assistant that now speaks in more languages.
Earlier, Alexa was able to respond in two languages as it received the ability to automatically respond to English and other languages last year. Amazon has also enabled Alexa to proactively act on human hunches without customers needing to ask.
“If you are a smart light, plug, or switch manufacturer, Alexa will automatically support Hunches for your devices using your existing Smart Home Skill API integration,” the company said.
Google is another platform that offers live translations via Google Assistant on devices that run on Android including the lineup of Google smart home devices like the Google Home.