Google goes beyond English, adding five new languages

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become central to the development strategies of leading technology corporations. Google, with its long history in the fields of search, natural language processing, text processing and translation, has been constantly striving to make AI not only powerful in terms of features but also close and friendly to users globally. Expanding AI capabilities, especially putting the user's native language at the center of the experience, is one of the key steps to making AI truly universal.

Recently, Google has officially announced an important update: the AI ​​mode integrated in Google products will go beyond English for the first time, adding five new languages: Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese. This is not only an expansion in the number of languages, but also an effort to ensure the quality, smoothness, and natural feeling when using AI in the mother tongue, something users have long expected.

1. New languages ​​added

Google selected five new languages ​​to integrate into AI mode based on a variety of criteria, including user size, socio-cultural influence, and real-world demand from users globally:

Hindi : One of the most spoken languages ​​in the world, especially in South Asia. India is a fast-growing market, with a growing middle class, rising internet access, and a growing demand for high-tech, especially AI.

Japanese : With its high-tech industry and high rate of IT users, Japan is an important market. Supporting Japanese allows Google to ensure that AI can understand the nuances and linguistic context unique to the country.

Korean : Similarly, Korea is not only a technologically advanced market but also a place where users focus on language experiences, chat apps, entertainment content, online writing… The fact that AI understands Korean naturally is a huge advantage.

Spanish : Is one of the most popular languages ​​in the world, especially in Latin America and Spain. There are many countries that use Spanish as their primary or second language. Supporting Spanish helps reach a large number of users with diverse needs, from education, work, content creation, to daily communication.

Portuguese : Primarily spoken in Portugal and Brazil, along with parts of Africa and diaspora communities. Brazil is a large market in South America with a thriving online culture. Supporting Portuguese helps Google better tap into this market and meet the needs of Portuguese-speaking users.

The choice of these languages ​​reflects Google’s goal: not only to expand the number of users, but also to reach a variety of cultures, regions, and linguistic nuances. Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese were chosen not just because of the number of users, but because they wanted AI technology to respond in a way that felt familiar and natural to native speakers, without feeling “soft” or “machine translated.”

2. Scope of application

Google didn't announce the new language support in general terms: they also specified the devices and conditions for users to experience the new feature.

First supported devices : Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and Pixel 8s. These devices are equipped with the latest hardware and software, capable of handling high AI requirements, and have screens, memory, and processors that meet high levels of complexity in natural language processing.

Older devices : Google has also pledged to update older Pixel devices to support these new languages, once they update to Android 14. This means that not only new users will benefit, but also those who already own a Pixel phone if their device can update to Android 14.

Applicable features : New languages ​​will be fully supported, similar to English in smart compose capabilities, smart reply suggestions, email content summarization, post writing support, messages... In other words, not only understanding language, Google AI will "generate" suitable content, respond to diverse contexts, and adapt to user styles.

Contextual and performance requirements : Google said they redesigned the AI ​​model to not simply translate from English to other languages , but to develop it specifically for each language. This ensures smoothness, regional language suitability, slang, idiom, and grammatical accuracy, and vocabulary usage context.

3. Innovation in AI model design

One key issue that many companies struggle with when expanding AI language is how to respond in a way that is not only word-accurate, but also contextually correct, culturally appropriate, and feels “real,” without being stilted or robotic. Google has focused on a few key points in this update:

It’s not enough to build a generative model and translate from English. This avoids translation bias and loss of the nuances inherent in each language. Google has to collect rich data in Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese from many different sources, regions, and speaking styles. This data includes real conversations, social text content, and formal and informal writing contexts, helping the model better understand real-world language variation.

When users type messages, write emails, or ask AI to help summarize or reply, they expect speed and low latency. Google has had to work to make the new language processing model on the device or via the cloud achieve low latency, maintaining high quality without making users feel slow.

Every language, every region has its own way of speaking, idioms, and expressions. For example, Japanese has many levels of honorifics, Korean has slang, Latin American Spanish is different from European Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese is different from European Portuguese. Google had to fine-tune its AI to understand these differences not just as a translation of meaning but as a “translation of feelings”.

When users switch between languages, AI maintains a smooth experience, without repeating errors, without misinterpreting the context due to changing language codes. This is difficult in multilingual development, because there can be grammatical and vocabulary conflicts in mixed-language content (code-switching).

4. Benefits to users and the market

Expanding AI mode through the addition of more languages ​​is more than just a technical announcement: it brings a lot of practical benefits to both individual users, businesses, local markets, and Google as a company.

4.1. Users

Easier Accessibility : Users can use AI in their native language, reducing language barriers, speeding up understanding and response, and avoiding back-and-forth translation.

Improved communication quality : AI responding in the right context and style will help users feel comfortable, friendly, and less likely to make annoying language errors. For example, when composing emails, writing messages, posting or interacting on social networks.

Increased productivity and creativity : When users do not have to think much about how to express themselves in a language that is not entirely familiar, they can focus on content, style, ideas, and creativity. AI supports smart text generation, suggested answers, summaries, etc. are powerful tools.

Enhanced personalization : When AI understands native language, can learn from each person's unique writing and usage style, it will become "smarter" with that individual: knowing the words they often use, their favorite expressions, and the right level of formality or intimacy.

4.2. Market and business

Expanding user reach : With Spanish and Portuguese, Google can reach the large Latin American region, Brazil; with Hindi, reach the South Asian market; with Japan and Korea, market deeper into high-tech countries. Supporting native languages ​​gives Google a big competitive advantage over AI companies that only support English.

Promote localized products : Businesses can leverage Google’s AI tools to make their products and services “speak” to customers in their native language, from customer support communication, marketing, to product content. This often helps increase trust, increase conversion efficiency, and reduce the cost of high-skilled translation.

Develop local content creators : Bloggers, journalists, video makers, translators, writers, copywriters... will be more strongly supported in creating content in their mother tongue, doing everything faster, with higher quality. This can promote the development of the local content market.

Increased competition in AI : As Google goes strong in multiple languages, competitors will have to match their efforts and accelerate progress. Users benefit from this as there will be more choices, more innovative products, lower costs, and better performance.

4.3. For Google

Increased user loyalty : Users who feel “personalized,” understood, and supported in the right language are more likely to be emotionally attached to the Google product ecosystem (Gmail, Docs, Chat, Search, Pixel, etc.).

Better data collection and feedback : When users use AI in their native language, the feedback and usage will be richer and more realistic, helping Google collect data to improve the model better.

Continuing its technological leadership : The rapid rollout of high-quality language support is a sign that Google is not only keeping up with trends, but sometimes even leading the way in popularizing AI to global users.

5. Google's long-term strategy and lessons for the industry

Expanding support for new languages ​​isn't just a product update; it reflects a long-term strategy Google is pursuing and also signals to the entire tech industry.

5.1. Personalize user experience

Google puts the individual user at the center. AI must not only provide general functionality, but also understand the user, their context, writing style, and language. Expanding languages ​​is the first step in a deeper personalization effort, not just language but also style, habits, and preferences.

5.2. Access and integration with global technology

Not everyone is good at English, not everyone lives in a place where English is widely used. Making AI support multiple languages ​​helps reduce the digital divide, making it possible for more people to benefit from technological advances.

5.3. Enhance competition and promote innovation

Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI… are racing in multilingual AI. If Google does well, it will maintain its leading position. The industry will benefit from this race: better technology, more exemplary products, more choices for users.

5.4. Sustainable development

In the long term, Google also needs to balance between rapid expansion and maintaining quality. Investing in language research, corpus, professional teams, and user trust in security are factors that cannot be overlooked. In addition, expanding to less popular languages ​​is also the next challenge, but if successful, the social effect will be huge.

6. Compare with competitors and industry trends

To see the importance of this move, it is necessary to put it in the context of current competition and development trends.

Many AI companies have multilingual support, but sometimes it only stops at translation or simple support. Smart text generation, suggested answers, content summaries, all in the new language. Google is working hard not just to “translate” but to “generate language”.

Some smaller AI products focus on specific languages, such as AI chatbots for Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, but trying to generalize them across multiple devices and regions is a big challenge. Google has the advantage of scale, infrastructure, and resources to do this.

The global trend is that the more user-friendly and localized AI is, the more it will be accepted by users. Technology will not only be about machines but also about understanding regions, cultures, and emotions. Companies are investing heavily in collecting local data, hiring language experts, and evaluating user experiences in remote areas.

Google’s expansion of AI to five new languages ​​– Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese – is a milestone in the history of AI. It’s not just a promise of broader reach, but a commitment to quality, to deep linguistic and cultural understanding, to bringing AI closer to everyday users.

With widespread device support, optimized performance, and a clear long-term strategy, this is a big step toward AI becoming a truly global tool rather than a tool reserved for a small group of English-speaking users. While there are still challenges in context, culture, and quality, Google has the resources and experience to overcome them. And as more languages ​​are supported, users everywhere will have the opportunity to experience AI in a natural, useful, and innovative way.