Sayelo's voice agent understands and speaks nearly 100 languages, included in every plan. When a caller speaks a language other than the agent's usual one (by default, your country's language), the agent switches to the caller's language from the first few words, handles the conversation, then switches back if the caller does. For your part, you receive a summary of every call, whatever language is spoken.
What's included
- Nearly 100 languages, on every plan, from Solo to Business, with no paid add-on: see pricing.
- One setting per agent. Language switching, the “Multilingual agent” option, is turned on with a simple toggle, agent by agent. It is off by default: you turn it on for the agents that need it.
- A summary of every call, whatever language the call is in.
- A transcript true to the language spoken, which can be translated in one click.
How a call in another language works
The agent greets the caller as usual. If the caller replies in Spanish, Italian or another language, the agent switches to their language from the first few words. There is no menu to choose from, no key to press and no transfer to another department: the conversation simply carries on in another language.
The agent then does the same job as in its usual language: it gives information, books the appointment or reservation in your calendar, takes a message or transfers the call according to your rules. If the caller switches back to the agent's usual language along the way, the agent switches back with them.
An example, inspired by the one on our pages and deliberately fictional: a customer calls a hotel and asks in English for a room for two for the weekend. The agent answers in English and offers a room on the Saturday. The caller then asks in French whether they can pay on arrival: the agent switches back to French, confirms and wraps up the call. At the hotel, they receive a single summary.
What you receive after the call
The summary, whatever the language
Whatever language the conversation was in, the summary sent by email sets out who called, what they wanted, what the agent did and what is left to do. You can act on it straight away.
The transcript, in the language spoken
The transcript stays true to the language actually spoken. That is useful for checking a proper name, an address or a specific request. If you don't read the caller's language, one click translates the transcript.
Why we don't publish a list of languages
We write “nearly 100 languages” and leave it at that: a fixed list would soon be out of date, and what matters to you is your customers' language. Rather than relying on a list, check that one:
- Create your agent and turn on language switching.
- Start a “Test call”, from your browser, and speak to it in your customers' language. Nothing is recorded or billed.
- During the 14-day trial, ask someone who speaks that language to call your number, and read through the transcript.
If a particular language is crucial to your business, ask the team via the contact page.
Setting up the multilingual agent
- Turn on switching where it helps. A neighbourhood pizzeria may not need it all year round; a hotel does. With several agents, from the Pro plan upwards, each one keeps its own setting.
- Keep your information up to date. Opening hours, prices, address: the agent relies on the same information, whatever the language of the call.
- Listen to the first calls in other languages. The transcript shows you whether the agent correctly understood names, dates and special requests.
For a pizzeria in a tourist area, a hotel or a shop with foreign customers, the guide to multilingual phone answering explains how to organise this, and the guide to phone bookings for restaurants covers reservations in detail. To hear an agent in action, the demo offers you a free 3-minute call with no card required.
