She can speak lots of different languages!
Want to travel without leaving your house? Make Alexa go international!She speaks a slew of languages, including French (France and Canada), German, Italian, Spanish (Mexico and Spain), Portuguese, Hindi, and Japanese.
She can also speak English with a British or Aussie accent!
The catch: Here in the U.S., only English and Spanish are officially supported, so if you change your default to something else, not all of Alexa’s features will work. But if you want to practice Italian, change her setting and try a few phrases.
I’ll set my Alexa to speak Aussie English sometimes, just because I love the accent. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the Alexa app and tap Devices.
- Select the device you’d like to change.
- Tap the settings icon in the upper right.
- Scroll down to Language, then tap the language you’d like to use.
- Follow the same procedure when you’re ready to change it back.
Pro Tip #1: If you don’t want to commit to a full change of settings, you can also have her translate simple phrases to English. Just say, “Alexa, translate Italian” and then something like “Che ore sono” and she’ll translate the phrase. She’ll also show the phrases in both English and Italian onscreen. It’s a quick way to work on your accent – and learn something new!
Pro Tip #2: If you change the language, it may also affect some settings. When I go Aussie, it puts my clock on 24-hour time, rather than the 12-hour time cycle we use in the U.S. It should shift back automatically when you revert to U.S. English, but if it doesn’t, here’s the fix.
- Go to your Echo device and scroll down from the top to access Settings
- Tap Clock & Photo display and scroll down to the clock settings. If 24-Hour Clock is enabled, toggle the button to turn it off.