Before MWC 2018 started, Google revealed that it plans to take the tally of supported languages in Assistant to 30 by the end of this year. Now, at the show floor, the company announced that it has added support for seven new languages to virtual assistant immediately. This includes Hindi, Thai, Indonesian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Dutch.

With the addition of these seven new languages, Google Assistant now supports a total of 15 languages. And Google expects to double this number by the end of this year.

Additionally, Google also showcased how developers can deeply integrate Assistant into their apps. This can be done through the new Android Link feature which allows developers to build an Action for Assistant. The example given by Google shows how one could use Assistant to get details about their booked parking spot using the Spothero Action app. Android Link will be rolled out to developers in the coming weeks.

There’s also a new askForPlace helper being introduced by Google today which should simplify certain tasks that require a lot more user input. For example, while booking an Uber, a user needs to provide their location and the drop-off location. To make this easier, Google is bringing the askForPlace helper which integrates with the Google Places API. How does that make things easy? Check the image shared by Google below to know.

Lastly, Assistant will now remember some of the information you have shared with it previously. This should save you the trouble of always telling Google your home address or granting it the necessary permissions in the example above. The data stored by Assistant is decided by the digital assistant itself, with no input from developers here.

Our Take

It is impressive to see Google continuously update Assistant with new features and languages. The addition of these 7 new languages and deeper application integration will make Assistant more useful. However, it is the bilingual support expected to arrive later this year which is going to be a game changer in my opinion.