For Canadian businesses, bilingual answering most commonly refers to English and French support. Quebec businesses serving francophone customers, and national businesses operating across Canada, frequently require this capability.
With a human bilingual answering service, bilingual agents handle calls and switch languages based on caller preference. This typically costs more than a single-language service due to the reduced pool of bilingual agents.
AI bilingual answering services detect caller language preference and respond in the appropriate language automatically. The AI is fluent in both languages and switches naturally without requiring a transfer or hold time.
Bilingual Answering in Quebec
Quebec's Bill 96 (Loi sur la langue officielle et commune du Québec) strengthens language rights for French speakers. Quebec businesses and businesses serving Quebec customers should ensure their client-facing communications, including phone answering, can be conducted in French.
An AI bilingual answering service configured for French and English satisfies this requirement while also serving English-speaking callers naturally.