We’ve heard the rumors, and Windows Phone teased recently that Cortana would be coming to the UK “soon”. Nobody knew how soon, but it appears soon means sooner than you think. Marcus Ash, Group Program Manager for Cortana on Windows Phone has today confirmed that Cortana will be rolling out to the UK and China within the coming weeks, not months.

This is great news for customers outside the United States, who have so far been unable to use the new personal assistant on Windows Phone 8.1. Ash recently commented on the idea of launching Cortana on other platforms, and stressed that it would not happen until Cortana was stable and global on Windows Phone.

Cortana didn’t launch outside of the US in April because it wasn’t ready. Cortana struggled to understand the British accent, and I would imagine Microsoft wasn’t, and still isn’t done with programming her to understand other languages.

@sM4llziE I should have added one. 0. Making #Cortana available in the UK and China will happen very soon. Weeks not months. — Marcus Ash (@marcusash) June 14, 2014

Launching Cortana in the UK and China is that first step in becoming global, and we’re excited to finally see it happening. Now that it’s official, are you excited? Cortana will be rolling out to the UK and China in the coming weeks, hopefully before the end of this month. Until then, you can check out alternative ways to enable Cortana on your device outside the US, or you can wait for it to officially launch.

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