The race to add local language support on internet services is getting competitive. Amazon is working on adding Hindi support for its voice assistant Alexa.
Internet companies are going an extra mile to serve the local audience. Amazon Alexa is learning the Indian accents of English along with Hindi words. The company is said to be working on implementing Hindi voice commands on Alexa. The voice assistant’s abilities are currently limited and in a nascent stage.
The support for regional languages will open a huge user base for Amazon which speaks Hindi as the first language. The AI-powered assistant powers the smart-speakers by Amazon. Amazon Echo and other speakers from partner companies are powered by Alexa. The company had launched these products with Hinglish (mix of Hindi and English) support.
If Amazon adds a complete Hindi voice command support, it will attract the userbase that either doesn’t understand English at all or those that fondly prefer speaking Hindi over English. The news has been confirmed by a source that doesn’t want to be named. Amazon’s Alexa team is training the algorithm to understand different Indian accents.
The current version of Alexa comes with support for widely used Hindi terms like ‘atta’, ‘jeera’, and other grocery items. Amazon Echo can very well identify popular Bollywood songs and other Hindi names. Amazon supports Hindi on limited skill sets that offer a recorded message to user queries.
These skill sets come with predefined option list in the Hindi language. Alexa can let you know about heart-related information, Bollywood trivia in Hindi. Amazon is probably working on widening the support for Hindi on other skills.
While there are no official details about the upcoming Hindi support for Alexa, the company is continuously working towards improving its product to match up with the deep-rooted Indian market. Amazon’s newly introduced Echo speakers, Prime Music and voice assistant Alexa have received a great response in India.