Have you ever considered changing the language your Alexa device speaks? You‘re not alone! As Amazon‘s popular virtual assistant continues expanding globally, many users want Alexa to speak their native language or help teach them a new one.
Luckily, it‘s super easy to get Alexa speaking another tongue fluently. This comprehensive guide will walk you through exactly how to change that Alexa language in just 5 quick steps…plus provide additional customization options to perfectly fit your needs!
Why Change Alexa‘s Language?
Alexa was originally only available speaking English, but now can understand and respond naturally in 8 major languages. These include:
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Hindi
Here are 3 great reasons you may want to switch from the default English:
Speak to Family in Native Language
Having Alexa respond in languages like Spanish, Portuguese, or Hindi is extremely helpful for interacting with family members more comfortable in their mother tongue.
Practice a Language
What better way to study a foreign language than conversing with a virtual assistant? Alexa makes perfecting French, Italian or Japanese fun!
Use Alexa Abroad
When traveling or living overseas, switching Alexa to that country‘s major language allows you to take full advantage of Alexa‘s capabilities.
Method 1: Change Language in Alexa App
The simplest way to change Alexa‘s voice is directly through the Alexa app on your mobile device.
Step 1: Open App & Login
First download the free Alexa app for iOS or Android if you haven‘t yet. Open the app and login to your Amazon account.
Step 2: Access Settings
From the main Alexa app screen, tap the 3 lines "More" icon in the bottom toolbar. This opens a sidebar menu – choose "Settings" and then "Device Settings".
Step 3: Select Device
You‘ll now see a list of all your compatible Alexa gadgets like Echo speakers, Fire tablets, smart plugs and more. Tap to choose the specific device you want to change language for.
Step 4: Open Language
With your device selected, click the gear icon to access advanced settings. Scroll down to the “Language” section typically under “General” settings.
Step 5: Choose Language
Here you can switch Alexa to speak any of the available languages in your country. Once picked, Alexa will enable your new language selection right away.
And remember – you can always come back to adjust languages again anytime!
Method 2: Change Language on Amazon site
Don‘t have access to the Alexa app? Not a problem! You can change languages just as easily from any desktop or mobile web browser.
Step 1: Login to Alexa Website
Open alexa.amazon.com and login using your Amazon credentials, the same ones used for shopping.
Step 2: Device Settings
In the left sidebar, click "Settings" followed by clicking the device you want to update from the list shown.
Step 3: Set New Language
Scroll down to the "Language" section and switch Alexa to any available tongue from the drop-down menu. Click "Save" so Alexa enables your selection.
And that‘s all there is to it! Alexa will now start speaking in the new language you‘ve enabled.
Additional Customization Options
Beyond just changing languages, there are a few additional ways to customize Alexa‘s voice:
-
Switch Between Male/Female Voices: For some languages you can toggle between male and female voice under “Alexa’s Voice” settings.
-
Accents: Give Alexa an English, Australian, Indian or German accent under the “Alexa’s Voice” section.
-
Speaking Speed: Make Alexa talk faster or slower by moving the speech rate slider.
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Celebrity Voices: Enable celebrity voices like Samuel L. Jackson for $4.99 by saying “Alexa, introduce me to [celebrity]”.
So get creative in customizing how Alexa sounds to best fit your personal preference!
Multilingual Mode
Amazon has also introduced a unique "Multilingual Mode" allowing Alexa to understand and fluently speak two languages on the same device.
You can enable Multilingual Mode by selecting English plus one other language from:
- Spanish
- Hindi
- German
This allows Alexa to seamlessly switch languages automatically in responses based on the last question asked. Pretty cool!
By the Numbers: Alexa‘s Global Language Support
Just how well has Alexa expanded languages over the years? Here‘s a quick breakdown of where things stand:
| Year | # of Languages Supported |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 2 (English, German) |
| 2017 | 5 (added Spanish, Portuguese, French) |
| 2018 | 8 (added Italian, Japanese, Hindi) |
| 2021 | 8 major languages |
Additionally, 125 million Alexa devices have been sold globally as of January 2021. The most popular languages used are:
- English (US/UK/Australia)
- Spanish
- Japanese
So while Alexa adoption continues growing exponentially, Amazon has focused on expanding language support to fewer major languages but optimizing them to converse fluently.
Why So Few Languages?
You may be wondering why Alexa doesn‘t support more of the over 6,500 languages spoken worldwide. Localization experts estimate that for ideal integration, smart assistants need between 500 – 5000 hours of audio recordings per language.
As quoted in this Voicebot analysis:
"The reason Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft only support a handful of languages (14-20) is because you need 1000s of hours of transcribed audio in a language to train an accurate speech recognition model."
So there are still technical challenges in gathering enough speech data and training Alexa to converse naturally in less common tongues. But additional language support expands every year as this data becomes available.
Let‘s Summarize…
Hopefully by now you have a complete understanding of how to update Alexa‘s language and voice settings by:
- Using the Alexa app – Simplest way to change languages on any device
- Logging into Alexa website – Alternative way to update settings without the app
- Customizing voice speed, accent and gender – Personalize how Alexa sounds
- Enabling Multilingual mode – Allow Alexa to understand and converse in two languages
Switching the language opens up tons of new possibilities to use Alexa in your daily life. Give it a try today on your Echo, Fire tablet or other Alexa gadget!
Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments.
