A reader had an interesting question about Cortana, the digital assistant in Windows 10. “Can I train Cortana in two languages? Two of us use the computer, and one speaks German and the other English.” The good news is that Cortanta speaks both German and English.  Here’s a list of current langauges supported by Cortana:

  • American English
  • British English
  • German
  • Italian.
  • Spanish
  • French
  • Mandarin Chinese

But Cortana speaks only one language at a time, and that’s the language you have Windows 10 set for. However, if you switch the language, you can train Cortana in the second language.

cortana-reminder-set-salad

Here’s how to add a second language to Windows 10. Open the Start Menu and choose Settings.

settings-search

Then select Time & Language.

settings-time-language

Choose Add a Language.

add-language

There’s a long list of languages to choose from.

add-language-list

For German, you can have the choice between German as it is spoken in several countries.

select-german

Once you’ve added German to your language list, you can just go to languages and select it as the default language for the PC.

select-german-default

You can either switch the default depending on which one of you is using the PC, or even better, create an additional user account where the language settings are in German. Then each of you can log on and use the language you’re most comfortable with.

~ Cynthia