Language Settings

Your AI receptionist can handle calls in multiple languages. When you enable additional languages, callers will hear a language selection prompt at the start of the call and can choose the language they prefer.

Video walkthrough

Where to find it

Language settings are located on the Overview page of your receptionist dashboard, in the Languages section.

Viewing your current languages

The Languages section shows the languages currently enabled for your receptionist as a comma-separated list (for example, "English, Spanish, French").

Changing your languages

  1. In the Languages section, click Edit.
  2. In the Select Languages modal, use the Select Languages (BETA) dropdown to add or remove languages.
  3. Click Save to apply your changes.

English is included by default. You can add as many additional languages as your plan supports.

Available languages

Frontdesk AI supports a wide range of languages, including but not limited to:

  • Cartesia-supported voices: English, German, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, French, Spanish, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Turkish
  • Additional languages: Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hungarian, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Swiss German, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

The list of available languages is loaded from a configuration file and currently includes over 40 languages. The full list is displayed in the language selector when configuring your receptionist.

How multilingual calls work

When more than one language is selected, callers hear a language selection prompt at the beginning of each call. The receptionist then conducts the rest of the conversation in the chosen language.

Important note about caller experience

The dashboard includes this advisory: "Our data indicates that 90% of callers hang up when they hear the initial language selection prompt." Frontdesk AI recommends against enabling multiple languages unless a significant portion of your callers speak different languages.

Multilingual voice selection

When you enable non-English languages, you can assign a separate voice for non-English calls. This is managed in the Voice Library.

  • Your English voice is used for English calls.
  • Your multilingual voice is used for calls in all other selected languages.

Some voice providers do not support all languages. If you select a language that is not supported by your chosen Cartesia voice, the system will automatically use Deepgram's Helio voice for those languages. You can also choose your own Deepgram or ElevenLabs voice as an alternative.

Multi-language greetings

When additional languages are enabled, separate greeting fields appear in the Greeting Phrase settings for each language. This lets you write a natural greeting in each language rather than relying on a translation of your English greeting.

Plan requirements

Multilingual support is an advanced capability. If your current plan does not include it, you will see a message with a link to upgrade: "You can't select multiple languages in this tier. Click here to upgrade."

Tips

  • Only enable multiple languages if your callers genuinely need them -- the language selection prompt adds friction to the call experience.
  • Set custom greetings for each language so callers hear a natural-sounding welcome.
  • Test your receptionist in each enabled language to make sure the voice and responses sound correct.