What Languages Does Alexa Speak in 2024? [with Dialects]

In this article, I’m going to address the question of what languages does Alexa speak, and I will provide a handy table of all the dialects currently available. I’ll also provide step-by-step instructions to show you how to change them on your device.

Want the short answer?

Amazon Alexa can speak English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hindi, Japanese and Portuguese. The American, British, Australian, Canadian, and Indian dialects are available for English;  Spanish, Mexican, and American are available for Spanish; and French and Canadian dialects are available for the French language.

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The Right Voice for Your Home

As smart home products get more popular; they need to be accessible to as many people as possible. With voice assistants all around us, it’s natural for us to want them to speak our language!

Unfortunately, no smart home product or assistant has come close to covering the 6000+ languages across the globe. However, with the worldwide growth of voice assistants poised to grow exponentially over the next few years [source: Statistica], there is no doubt Amazon will continue to add more languages from around the world.

I’m here to help you determine if Alexa has the right voice for your home.

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How Many Languages Can Alexa Speak?

As of June 2021, Alexa speaks eight unique languages and nine unique dialects spread across the four languages that support multiple dialects.

If you’d prefer to watch a video on this topic,  check out this overview from fellow smart home enthusiast One Hour Smart Home:

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What Languages are Available on Alexa?

At the time of this article, Amazon Alexa can speak English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hindi, Japanese, Deutsch, and Portuguese. These languages and their dialects can be seen in the chart below.

If you’re looking for more information on the languages available, check out my previous articles:

(Spoiler Alert: The answer to both is yes!)

Language	Supported	Dialects
English		US	UK	Australia	Canada	India
Spanish		Spain	Mexico	US
French		France	Canada
German		Base Language Only
Italian		Base Language Only
Hindi		Base Language Only
Japanese		Base Language Only
Portuguese		Brazil

Amazon maintains a handy list of dialects on its page for Alexa skill developers. It also has some information about buying international Alexa devices, as well as a page of supported Alexa features by country.

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How to change Amazon Alexa’s Language

Here are detailed, step-by-step instructions to set up your desired language on Amazon Echo.

1. Open the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet.

2. Tap Settings.

3. Tap Device Settings.

4. Tap the device for which you would like to change the language.

5. Tap Language.

6. Find your desired language and dialect on the list of options and tap it.

If you are unable to find your language on the list, update your Alexa app. If the option is still unavailable even after updating, then it is likely not supported on your specific. Unfortunately, this might be the case on some older devices, but you can still try and check other devices if you have more than one.

Each device connected to your system can have its own language setting, so you’ll have to repeat these steps for every device individually. You can also set devices to different languages if desired as well – if not, all members of your household prefer the same language or dialect. Hopefully, everyone in your household agrees on the language in your living room, though!

Once your Alexa product is set up to the language of your choice, she will now exclusively speak and understand that language, and all of the base functionalities will now be in that language as well. However, not all capabilities or skills will be available in all languages.

Now, hopefully, you’ve got your Alexa speaking the language and dialect you prefer! Doesn’t she sound so much better now?

Can Alexa Speak Multiple Languages?

Yes, Alexa can speak multiple languages at once! If you have a multi-lingual household and you’re looking for your devices to speak multiple languages, you might be interested in this useful option.

This allows Alexa to have multiple languages set, and Alexa will respond with the language she was spoken to in! If you’re looking to set this one up for your own Alexa, follow the same steps as above, and look for the multilingual options in the list of languages. For example, if you were looking to set your Alexa to both Spanish and English, you would select Espanol and English.

1. Open the Alexa app.

2. Tap Settings.

3. Tap Device Settings.

4. Tap the device for which you would like to change the language.

5. Tap Language.

6. Find your desired multilingual language option on the list of options and tap it.

This option is a bit limited as of now, as Alexa can only speak two languages at once, and one of them is always English. The multilingual options are Spanish, French, German, Hindi, and Japanese. Each of these is paired with English.

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What about Celebrities?

If you’re not as much of a fan of Amazon Alexa as I am, you may have asked yourself if there was any way for Alexa to sound like famous celebrities like popular actor Samuel L. Jackson instead. Well, luckily for you, the answer is yes! Amazon has some skills that allow you to talk to some of your favorite actors and characters rather than Alexa, like Darth Vader or Gordon Ramsey!

In another blog post I wrote, I talk a lot more about how to change Alexa’s voice to a celebrity.

Although these skills aren’t perfect – your device will still need Alexa’s traditional voice for some tasks – and they aren’t free (Samuel L. Jackson costs $4.99), they’re certainly fun. Unfortunately, Jarvis is not available yet.

Try asking Alexa, “Alexa, introduce me to Samuel L. Jackson,” if you’re interested! And don’t worry, parents, Sam’s voice can be set to clean if you don’t want your kids hearing Samuel L. Jackon’s controversial but popular profanities.

Here’s a YouTube video I put together on the subject (warning:
I went with the explicit option!).

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Alexa Language Options: What Do You Think?

And that’s a wrap! I hope I was able to answer the question of what languages does Alexa speak to your satisfaction. Did you find the Amazon Alexa language that you were looking for?

I’m always hoping that Amazon will continue to add more languages and even more multilingual options to be accessible to everyone!

Did this guide help you set up your Alexa? Is there a language not on here that you’re hoping Amazon will add support for? Do you have a favorite celebrity voice skill?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please share them in the comments!

If you thought this article was useful, please consider sharing it with your friends using our social media buttons below! Every share is helpful!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Brennan, a tech blogger and host of the @TecTimmy YouTube channel, writes about smart homes at oneSmartcrib, home theaters at UniversalRemoteReviews, and AI in writing at Writeinteractive. He holds a Journalism degree from Northeastern University and has covered technology for three decades. He lives on the ocean in Nahant, Massachusetts.