Setting Up Multi-Language Support for Your AI Agent

Learn how to configure your AI agent to speak multiple languages and handle international customers.

Overview

Speako's multi-language support allows your AI agent to:

  • Speak in a primary language for most calls
  • Optionally respond in additional languages when detected
  • Auto-translate greetings when you change languages

    💡 Why does this matter?

💡 Each AI voice is optimized for a specific language. A Japanese voice speaking English text will sound unnatural—like reading English with a Japanese accent. Speako automatically translates your greetings to match your selected language, ensuring natural-sounding conversations.

Step 1: Set Your Primary Language

  1. Navigate to Agent Settings > Voice & Languages
  2. Under Primary Language, select your default language
  3. Languages display with native names (e.g., "日本語" for Japanese, "中文" for Chinese)
  4. Your primary voice will be assigned to this language

    💡 What happens when you change languages?

💡 When you save a new primary language, all your greetings are automatically translated. This ensures your AI voice speaks naturally in its native language.

Step 2: Add Additional Languages (Optional)

If you serve customers who speak different languages, you can enable additional language support:

  1. Click Manage Languages to open the language configuration sheet
  2. Enable additional languages using the toggle switches
  3. For each enabled language, assign a voice that matches that language
  4. Toggle Language Detection to automatically detect the caller's language

Step 3: Understanding Auto-Translation

When you change your primary language, Speako automatically translates all your greetings using AI. Here's what you need to know:

How It Works

  1. Your original greeting text is preserved in the background
  2. A translated version becomes the active greeting your AI speaks
  3. An indicator shows "Auto-translated from [language]" on the Greetings page

The "Restore Original" Feature

If you click Restore original, your greeting reverts to the original text.

💡 ⚠️ Important: Restoring the original text means your greeting will be in a different language than your voice. For example, if your voice is set to Japanese but you restore an English greeting, your AI will speak English words with a Japanese accent. This usually isn't what you want.

When to use Restore:

  • You're changing back to the original language
  • You want to re-translate from scratch with manual edits
  • You prefer the original wording and will adjust the voice accordingly

Manual Edits

Once you manually edit a translated greeting:

  • The "Auto-translated" indicator disappears
  • You've taken ownership of the text
  • The original text is still preserved for potential future restoration

Step 4: Best Practices

  1. Choose your language first - Set your primary language before customizing greetings
  2. Review translations - AI translations are good but may need minor adjustments for your business context
  3. Test with real calls - Make test calls to hear how your greetings sound
  4. Keep it consistent - Your voice and greeting language should always match

    💡 Pro Tip: If you serve customers in multiple languages, enable Language Detection. Your AI will automatically respond in the caller's language when additional languages are configured with appropriate voices.

Next Steps

  • Setting Your Primary Language
  • Adding Additional Languages
  • Auto-Translation & Restoring Original Greetings