Amazon‘s virtual assistant has just learned a new skill, and now Spanish speakers will be able to talk to Alexa in their native language. That’s an important step for the tech giant to leverage its users base, since the Spanish-speaking community represents nowadays a total of 41 million people in the United States.
“Customers in the U.S. will be able to switch to ‘Español (Estados Unidos)’ via the Alexa app, then ask in Spanish to play their favorite music, get the news and weather, control their smart home, set reminders, or enjoy skills from brands including Univision, Telemundo, and more,” announced Jeff Bezo‘s company on its blog.
Among the news, the virtual assistant will also have its own voice in Spanish, local knowledge and specific skills focused on the language. Users will be able to change between English and Spanish through the multi-lingual mode on supported Echo and Alexa Built-in Devices – which means that, when the user asks for something in Spanish, Alexa will answer in this language – and the same works for English.
Amazon Music listeners also got new features with Alexa’s change: users subscribing to Amazon’s streaming service will be able to ask for many Latin playlists in Spanish with special commands. Willing to hear some reggaeton stars like Ozuna or Nicky Jam? Simply ask “Alexa, pon la playlist Puro Reggaeton.”
With this latest announcement, it definitely seems that the Latin fever won not only reggeaton lovers all over the world, but also Alexa’s heart.