How to Translate Phrases with Alexa and Google Home: Step-by-Step Guide

Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers handle a wide range of tasks, including real-time phrase translation. In our hands-on tests, we compared their performance translating English to other languages.

Translating Phrases with Alexa

To translate words or phrases on Amazon Echo, use simple voice commands like:

• "Alexa, how do you say [phrase] in [language]?"

Languages we've successfully tested include Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Swedish, Korean, and Italian. These translations are powered by Bing.

For broader language support, enable the Translated skill by saying "Alexa, enable Translated." It supports over 30 languages, though some like Arabic, Hungarian, and Icelandic may trigger errors. Reliable options include Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Once enabled, use these commands:

• "Alexa, open Translated."
• "Alexa, ask. How do you say [phrase] in [language]?"
• "Alexa, ask [phrase] in [language]."

You can also request repeats or slower pronunciation for clarity.

Translating Phrases with Google Home

Google Home makes translation straightforward:

• "Hey Google, how do you say [phrase] in [language]?"
• "Hey Google, what is [phrase] in [language]?"

Supported languages from our tests: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Chinese. Unsupported ones include Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, and Amharic.

Alexa vs. Google Home: Which Performs Better?

Leveraging Google's robust translation engine, Google Home delivered superior accuracy, natural pronunciation, and reliability in our evaluations. Alexa's native translations and the Translated skill often felt choppy or inconsistent by comparison.