Voices and languages

Every assistant speaks with one voice in one language, or detects the caller's language and switches between several. You set this up on the Essentials tab of the assistant, in the Language & voice card. Changes apply from the next call after you click Save changes.

Choose one language or several

At the top of Language & voice, under Languages, pick a mode:

One language is the simplest choice when nearly all your callers speak the same language. Choose several languages when your callers regularly use more than one.

Languages you can pick

With One language, choose from the Language list:

When you change the language, the current voice is kept only if it speaks the new language. Otherwise a suitable voice is chosen for you.

Choose a voice

With One language, the voices for your language are listed below the speech rate. Native speakers are listed first.

1. Narrow the list with Search voices by name or style…, the gender filter (Any gender, Female, Male) and the accent filter.
2. In the accent filter, Native speakers only hides voices whose home language is different. You can also pick a specific accent, for example British or Australian English. A voice with a different accent is labelled, for example "Speaks English, British accent".
3. Click the play button on a voice to hear a sample.
4. Click the voice to select it. The count next to the filters, for example "12 of 53", shows how many voices match.
5. Click Save changes.

For a new assistant, picking a voice also fills in Introduces itself as with the voice's name. You can change that name on the Identity card at any time.

Speech rate

The Speech rate slider runs from 0.60× to 1.50×. As the editor notes, 1.00× is natural conversation speed. New assistants start at 1.15×. Test a call before and after you change it.

The welcome message

With one language, the Welcome message card sets the first sentence callers hear. Leave it empty for the default greeting, which introduces the assistant by name and your company. Keep it under two sentences, and no longer than 500 characters.

By default, callers cannot interrupt the welcome message, so they always hear who they reached. You can change this with Allow interrupting the welcome message under Call settings → Turn taking.

Set up several languages

When you choose Several languages, a Languages card appears with one row per language. Each row has:

• Language: the language of this row. Each language can be added once.
• Voice: the voice used when the call is in this language, with a sample button.
• Default: the language the call starts in. Exactly one row is the default.
• A greeting box. For the default row, it is said when the call starts; leave it empty for the default greeting. For other rows, it is said when the caller speaks that language.

Click Add language to add a row, and the bin icon to remove one.

You can set up these languages this way: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Hindi and Russian. The list only offers languages for which a voice is currently available.

What callers experience

1. The call starts in the default language, with its voice and greeting.
2. When the caller speaks another language on your list, the assistant switches to that language's voice and replies in that language.
3. If the caller changes language again mid-call, the assistant follows. It does not announce the switch or ask which language they prefer.
4. Callers speaking a language that is not on your list are still answered in their language, with a standard voice for it.

Note: Some voices only speak one language. If the editor shows a warning about this, callers hear a different voice when the language changes: one person greets them and another answers. This is expected with those voices.

Languages beyond the voice

• Recording notice. When calls are recorded and the notice is on, "This call is recorded." is said at the start in the caller's language, unless you write your own wording. See Recording and consent.
• Replies. With several languages, the assistant is told to reply in the language the caller is speaking, whatever language your instructions are written in.
• Dashboard language. The language of the dashboard itself is a personal setting under Settings → Profile. It does not change what callers hear.

Troubleshooting

"No voices for this language yet." Your filters hide every voice. Clear the search box and set the filters back to Any gender and Any accent.

"Pick a voice that speaks this language." On a multi-language row, the chosen voice does not speak the row's language. Choose another voice from that row's list.

"Each language can be added once." Two rows use the same language. Change or remove one of them.

"Choose which language the call starts in." No row is marked Default. Select Default on one row.