Google Assistant Gets Support for Hindi, Among Other Languages on Actions, New Helpers Also Launched

Google on Monday announced the rollout of Actions on Google Assistant in seven new languages. These new languages include Hindi, Thai, Indonesian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Dutch. The additions will join the likes of English, French, German, and others to bring the total tally of supported languages to 16. Developers can make use of the languages via Dialogflow or directly through the Actions SDK. Support for more languages is expected to arrive later this year. Apart from that, Google is also introducing Helpers that will allow developers to deep link actions within the Google Assistant app.

New languages for Actions

Support for the above mentioned languages has been added at an announcement during Mobile World Congress 2018. Developers will be able to make use of the new languages by accessing them through the Actions SDK or, instead, using Dialogflow and its subsequent natural learning capabilities. Google is also announcing rewards for developers in the programme. A Google Cloud credit of up to $200 (roughly Rs. 13,000) and exclusive Google Assistant T-shirts will be up for grabs for developers publishing their first Action for the app.

In order to further ease the process of localising Actions, developers can now export directory listing information as files, making transferring offline translations and localisation into different languages efficient and more organised.

Helpers

Helpers will enable developers deep link from Actions in Google Assistant to a specific function performed on the Android app. "Here's an example of SpotHero (shown in picture) linking from their Action to their Android app after a user purchased a parking reservation. The Android app allows the user to see more details about the reservation or redeem their spot," said Brad Abrams, Product Manager at Google Developers.

Helpers are expected to roll out for developers in the coming weeks. Although, developer documentation is already up on the site to provide them with a heads up before jumping into development.

Another conversation helper - called askForPlace - is being introduced that integrates Google Places API into Google Assistant to allow the virtual assistant to understand location-based context. The helper will use information from Google Maps in order to ascertain different actions on apps that provide services like food delivery and cab aggregation. In the demo by Google, the information will apparently be procured only after Google's consent.

Additionally, Google also announced that frequent users of the Assistant app will not be shown introductory lead-in and will be shown Actions as quickly as possible.