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Arabic Language Excluded from Google Assistant

Google Assistant. (Google)
Google Assistant. (Google)
    San Francisco, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Arabic Language Excluded from Google Assistant

Google Assistant. (Google)
Google Assistant. (Google)

Google intends to add more than 20 languages to its voice-command based digital assistant app by the end of this year. The voice assistant will be available in more than 30 languages by the end of 2018, but noticeably absent is Arabic.

In the next few months the Google Assistant will be able to respond by text in Danish, Dutch, Hindi, Indonesian, Norwegian, Swedish and Thai on Android phones and Apple iPhones, the CNET.com website reported.

Nick Fox, Google's vice president of product, said in a blog post that the assistant will be available in more than 30 languages, reaching 95 percent of all eligible Android phones worldwide, reported the German news agency.

The assistant currently responds in eight languages by text on Android phones: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

Fox said Google Assistant will also gain multilingual speech later this year, allowing the assistant to understand you fluently in multiple languages, instead of just one. This feature will start with English, French and German.

"If you prefer to speak German at work, but French at home, your assistant is right there with you," he added.

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Croatia's Scientists Seek to Ward Off Threat to Posidonia Seagrass

Salema porgy swim near seagrass in the protected area of France's Porquerolles National Park ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Salema porgy swim near seagrass in the protected area of France's Porquerolles National Park ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
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Croatia's Scientists Seek to Ward Off Threat to Posidonia Seagrass

Salema porgy swim near seagrass in the protected area of France's Porquerolles National Park ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Salema porgy swim near seagrass in the protected area of France's Porquerolles National Park ahead of the UN Ocean Conference on Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

At Croatia’s Dugi Otok island in the Adriatic Sea, scientists, demanding action to protect environmentally important meadows of seagrass, have been on a diving mission to assess the damage inflicted by human activity.

Named after Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the sea, Posidonia oceanica, commonly known as Mediterranean tapeweed, provides food and shelter for fish, protects coasts from erosion, purifies sea water and can play a vital role in helping to tackle global warming.

A meadow of Posidonia can annually soak up to 15 times more carbon dioxide than a similar sized piece of the Amazon rainforest, scientific research has found.

But the scientists say much more needs to be done to protect it from tourist anchoring and from trawlers dragging fishing nets in the waters of the Adriatic Sea off Dugi Otok and the surrounding Kornati archipelago national park.

They have urged tougher regulations and fines for anyone breaching them.

Dominik Mihaljevic, a biologist at the national park, said the park had begun to install anchorages that would not harm the seagrass.

"Our ultimate goal is to completely prohibit anchoring at the 19 anchorage locations that are currently in use," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Matea Spika, a senior associate at Croatia’s Sunce environmental protection association, told Reuters Mediterranean Posidonia, endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, had declined by 30% in the last 30-to-40 years.

Apart from the issue of anchors and fishing nets, she said chemicals, excess nutrients from farms and cities, warmer waters due to climate change, and invasive species had caused further damage.

New ports and artificial beaches have also blocked sunlight essential for Posidonia’s growth.