Google Assistant embraces bilingual speech and more smart home tech

By Chris Davies/Aug. 30, 2018 1:00 pm EST

The Google Assistant is going multilingual, with the ability to recognize and then reply to more than one language at a time, alongside a host of new smart home features. Announced at IFA 2018, the new language feature means smart speakers like the Google Home and Google Home Mini will be able to differentiate automatically between two languages, and respond in the same.

It's likely to be a boon for bilingual homes, where switching between languages is commonplace. Google has supported different languages with the Assistant in the past, but you've needed to manually select one of them. Now, that process is automatic.

Initially, Google says, it'll support just a handful of languages with the feature: any pair made up of English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. However it plans to expand that support in the coming months, the search giant says.

On the smart home side, Google is adding a number of partnerships with connected device-makers, some of which are more popular in Europe than elsewhere. The taco Smart Thermostat and Smart Radiator Thermostat, for instance, will be supported, as will the Homematic IP Radiator Thermostat.

Netatmo's Smart Indoor and Outdoor Security Cameras, the TP-Link Kasa Cam KC120 and Kasa Cam Outdoor KC200, the Smanos K1 SmartHome DIY Security Kit, and Somfy's TaHoma smart home hub are to be supported too. In lighting, Nanoleaf's Light Panels will be controllable by the Assistant, as will the Fibaro Switch and the Median RGB LED bulb and stripe.

Electrolux's smart ovens, meanwhile, and iRobot's Roomba 980, 896, and 676 robotic vacuum cleaners are also gaining Assistant integration. Google says that the Assistant support for these – and other – products will be rolling out over the next few months.

Finally, there's international availability news for some of Google's hardware. The Google Home Max is now available in the UK, Germany, and France, expanding the larger smart speaker's sales outside of North America.