Amazon Alexa to now converse in Hinglish for Indian users

To capture the Indian-ness of the audience in India, Amazon's smart digital assistant Alexa may speak in Hinglish. According to a report from Bloomberg, Amazon Echo speakers are on its way to assist Indian users and not just the urban crowd.

A team of linguists, speech experts, developers, and engineers have given Alexa a "desi" touch to make it sound more Indian. “We wanted our devices to talk, walk and feel Indian,” said Parag Gupta, head of product management for Amazon Devices in India. He added, “Alexa is not a visiting American, she has a very Indian personality.”  The Bloomberg report states that Alexa knows that Independence Day for Indians is on August 15, she also wishes “Happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year!”, refers to a living room as a drawing room, and can help you add ‘jeera’ and ‘haldi’ to your shopping list.

Amazon isn't the only one to introduce this feature. Technology giants like Apple and Google are training their virtual assistants of the languages and cultures. Apple also started hiring native Hindi/Hinglish speakers to refine the ‘Hinglish speaking experience’ of Siri. In the recently launched iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, a Siri user can, in fact, set its keyboard to Hinglish.

Though many people understand American and British English, they feel comfortable with assistants who sound more like them.

The first set of Alexa-powered devices in India includes the Amazon Echo, priced at Rs 9,999, Amazon Echo Plus, priced at Rs 14,999, and Amazon Echo Dot, priced at Rs 4,499. The devices are scheduled to start shipping starting this week.