How to use English Alexa Skills on my German Echo Dot

Question

I want to use English Alexa skills on a German Echo Dot. But when I switch to US English to access English skills I get this problem:

Die ausgewählte Spracheinstellung stimmt nicht mit den Einstellungen Ihres Amazon-Kontos überein.
Daher werden Sie nicht auf Skills zugreifen können.
Um auf Skills zuzugreifen und die optimale Spracherfahrung zu nutzen, gehen Sie bitte in den Einstellungen zur Sprachoption, und wählen Sie Deutsch aus.

Translation:

The language you selected does not match your Amazon account settings.
As a result, Alexa skills are not available.
To get the best Alexa experience, please choose German by selecting continue.

I switched the account settings but that did not yield in any positive results. How do I use the bigger Alexa skill base that exists for English?

Answer 1

I figured it out. However my solution has some drawbacks. It's either or.

Here we go.

1. Go to Amazon.de Inhalte & Geräte (Content and Devices)
2. Click on other possible Kindle Shops where the US store should be available
3. Port your Kindle Account to the US
4. Restart the Alexa App
5. Reconnect the Echo (Dot) to your WLAN
6. Use US language Alexa skills

Drawbacks, while in US mode the German skills are not available. Since I didn't want my digital content account in the US, I switched back. It works the same, just starting out with Amazon.com where using the German digital content store will be offered (I assume based on my IP or browser settings).

Since Alexa skills are not actually on the device the English skills cease working right after switching back to the same German skills I had before. Thus, it seems one can change the language and the skills at one's own discretion but one has to decide which one to use.

Answer 2

Additionally to Helmar's answer, one might add the following:

You don't need to transfer your whole account. Under Content and Devices > Settings > Country Settings, don't click the big change button, rather click the small link below and follow the instructions. That'll change your content-account to use the US-store. If you have to insert an address in the US, you're doing the wrong thing.

Edit: It looks like Amazon changed their UI. Now, when I go to Content and Devices, I only get a list of my content and no ore settings or country settings directly. Instead, At the top of the page, (having set my content to the US-Store) I get the following two messages:

You can manage your content and devices directly from Amazon.de. Learn more

Your default Kindle Store is currently set to Amazon.com. Go to the Manage Your Content and Devices page at Amazon.com.

The latter is irrelevant, but at the former, I get the option to Transfer your Kindle Account to Amazon.de. These links might be personalized. If you don't have these two messages at the beginning, try the latter link. You might have a message then.

Answer 3

I'm a Brit living in Germany and got Alexa all sorted mainly to encourage my kids to speak more English at home. You can imagine my face when I realised this was going to be not-straightforward...

However, I also have a "dirty" workaround - whereby I don't have to reset any of my Amazon.de/com/co.uk settings. Here goes:

I bought a 3-pack of Echo Dots to complement the main Alexa. I set ONE of the Dots to GERMAN (Language settings) - everything else to English.

This means: - I speak English to my devices (apart from one) - I can use any Skills that are also available in English - I have to speak VERY weird German if I want to listen to German radio etc

Answer 4

You can read more in an old post on reddit (link).

But, in general, I had the same problem and after a long conversation with Amazon support, they told me:

1. Echo device does not support English (or other languages except German) in Germany. If you want to use all features you need to use German. Which is ridiculous in case if you don't speak German.
2. You can switch the language in your Amazon account, but then you won't be able to use your prime account on Amazon.de with your Echo device

I had to send the Echo device back and I'm completely disappointed in Amazon services and products. Amazon told me that they are aware of this problem and trying to fix it, but this issue exists since 2016.

Answer 5

Okay, so this is a bit of a mess, but this is how I did it.

First, I tried with my German account to link it and had the same problem with skills. I could use Alexa in English, but not install skills. Frustrating.

Next, I created a second Amazon account in the USA and linked my Echo Dots, giving me access to the skills. Of course, I no longer have access to prime music, but the skill library was more important to me than my German Amazon content. So that's a choice you need to make.

Even after I installed the skills, some weren't functioning correctly, especially Plex and Harmony with finding my devices. Again, it seems that the German Alexa app (on iPhone) was causing problems, as I would get another language warning from time to time. So I had to switch my iTunes back to the USA store and redownload the Alexa app, so I had the USA version. Now, everything is working perfectly. So if you go this route, there are probably other skills that won't work correctly with the German version of the Alexa app.

Hope this helps!