Google Assistant is now available in Dutch

It took a little longer than expected, but since yesterday, the Google Assistant is finally available in Dutch. What it means and what can you do with it, we will describe in this article.

The availability of the Dutch Google Assistant

In February, Google announced that the Assistant should be able to speak 30 new languages by the end of 2018. Next to the existing eight ones they promised to launch a few European and Asian languages, making it possible for the majority of Android users to talk to the virtual assistant in their mother tongue.

The Dutch Google Assistant is available in the Netherlands on Android smartphones using at least Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The Google Home smart speaker is not yet being sold in the Netherlands but is expected to happen later this year and supporting the Dutch language already. Right now the device can be purchased abroad and with the English speaking virtual Assistant. 

To use the Google Assistant you have to download the app on your Android smartphone, which you have set up in Dutch, and train the Assistant to recognise your voice first. You can do this via the system preferences. It is also possible to type a command instead of speaking in which case you use your keyboard.

What can Google Assistant do?

Google Assistant can interact with you and do a variety of tasks. From playing your favourite music to sending a text message, giving you information about the weather, showing you photos from the library, the Assistant can even tell you a joke. The technology behind the high-quality speech recognition and understanding of the Dutch language is based on artificial intelligence and Natural Language Processing, which is an area that Google has been investing in for years.

Since the Dutch Google Assistant has just been launched, there is a learning curve it needs to overcome. In the beginning, you might have to explain everything in detail to the Assistant. Your command might go like this "Ok Google, play NPO Radio 2", but next time, it will be enough to say "OK Google, play Radio 2" and the Assistant will directly understand what you want and turn on the same music channel as before. In fact, the Assistant keeps learning and improving by each command. The more you use it, the better it gets.

There is another fantastic function of the Assistant; it understands languages seamlessly. You can say command in English and then switch to Dutch, and it will automatically recognise your language each time you speak and reply accordingly. That is a massive advantage if you are multilingual. If you are not, it is any way fun to try.

Google Assistant and your business  

The availability of Dutch language on Google Assistant opens lots of new opportunities for businesses, as well. By using Actions on Google, you can have your services or products ordered directly via a voice command of the consumer.

Actions on Google is a developers' platform which enables building software to extend the functionality of the Google Assistant. For the end user that means they can engage in conversation with the Assistant to get things done. Such as book a flight via KLM, getting a recipe from AH or starting a meditation session with Rituals.

To activate such a command you need to say "Ok Google, talk to Rituals Moments..." (in Dutch "OK Google, praat met Rituals Moments...") and the Assistant will connect with the company's app to start the conversation.

There are already a couple of tech-forward Dutch companies which built Actions on Google to engage their audience in a dialogue on Google. Rituals is one of them. We helped them develop a conversational agent that enables natural-sounding conversation with their meditation app. And we can help you too. Feel free to contact us. 

Are you curious how the growth of voice search will effect your business?