Can an AI Phone Agent Speak Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician?

Short answer: yes, on the phone. Voice agents speak Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician, as well as English, and you choose each voice from a library and listen before you pick. On WhatsApp and website chat the position is narrower: replies run in 37 languages, Spanish is one of them, and Catalan, Basque and Galician are not. We have not published a ranking of how each voice sounds in each region, so test with a native speaker before you connect your number.

Why do the four languages matter?

Spanish is the official language of the state. Catalan, Basque and Galician are official alongside it in their own regions under their statutes of autonomy (stated here from general knowledge, not from a source read for this post). A clinic in Barcelona, a physiotherapist in Bilbao or a notary in Santiago de Compostela may find that a share of callers expect to be answered in the regional language, and some prefer it. An agent that insists on Spanish is not a disaster, but one that greets people in their own language makes a better first impression.

What can the voice agent do in each language?

Voice agents also speak French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and many other languages, which matters in tourist areas. The full voice list is on the voice AI agent page.

How should I set the language?

In the agent's settings you choose the language the agent speaks, or leave it to match the caller. Write the opening line in that language, because the first sentence sets the caller's expectation. If you serve a mixed area, such as Barcelona, one approach is a Spanish greeting that offers Catalan and English, with the agent following the caller's choice. Test that the agent really does switch: ring it, answer in Catalan, then in English, and read the transcript.

How do I test a voice before I trust it?

1. Listen in the library and shortlist two or three voices per language.
2. Ring the agent from your browser and read out ten real questions from your own inbox, including place names, surnames and street names in the regional language.
3. Hand the phone to a native speaker who does not work for you and ask what sounded odd. Pronunciation of names is the usual weak point.
4. Read the transcripts for the first fifty calls and correct the knowledge base wherever the agent got something wrong.

We make no promise about regional varieties. Valencian and the Balearic forms of Catalan, for example, are not something we have tested, so a person from Valencia or Mallorca should hear the voice before you use it.

What about WhatsApp and chat?

Chat and WhatsApp replies run in 37 languages, including Spanish and English. Catalan, Basque and Galician are not on that list, so an agent replying on WhatsApp in a Catalan-speaking area will answer in Spanish or English. You can still write your WhatsApp templates (the approved messages you send first) in any language, as long as you get them approved. If a regional language on chat is essential for you, tell us at hello@thinnest.ai.

What should the greeting say?

Keep it short and put the choice of language in the first sentence. For a clinic in Barcelona it might run: the practice's name, that this is an automated assistant, then an offer in Spanish, Catalan and English to carry on in whichever the caller prefers. For a physiotherapist in Bilbao, the same in Spanish and Basque. Write it once in each language you offer, read the result aloud to a native speaker, and change anything that sounds like a translation. If you record calls, say so in the same breath, because callers should hear it at the start rather than discover it later.

Names are the hard part of any language. Add the names of your staff, your streets and your treatments to the knowledge base spelled the way people say them, and listen to how the voice handles each. A voice that stumbles on the doctor's surname in the first sentence loses trust faster than one that is a little stiff but gets the names right.

When is this not the right tool?

• If every call must be answered in perfect regional language by someone who knows the town, a human receptionist is a better choice.
• If your callers mostly use a strong dialect or mix languages in one sentence, expect more misheard words than with standard speech.
• If you need chat in Catalan today, the product does not do it yet.

For the full picture of languages, numbers and data in Spain, see the Spain page, and for the receptionist itself, the AI receptionist page.