Bilingual Customer Service in Canada: English and French Chat and Phone

Bilingual Customer Service in Canada: English and French Chat and Phone

Many Canadian businesses serve customers in both official languages. Hiring bilingual staff for every hour is hard. AI chatbots and voice agents can answer in English and French, as long as the content and handoffs are set up for both.

Last reviewed: November 2026.

Let the customer choose

Detect the language automatically, but always let the customer switch. On the phone, a short bilingual greeting such as "Hello, bonjour" followed by a choice works well.

Write approved content in both languages

Do not rely on machine translation of your knowledge base alone. Write or review the French content with a fluent speaker, especially prices, policies and anything legal. Keep both versions in sync when things change.

Handoff in the right language

If the conversation needs a person, route French-speaking customers to someone who speaks French, or say honestly when a French-speaking team member will be available.

Websites

If your website has French pages, make sure the chatbot opens in French on those pages, and that the French pages are proper translations, not thin copies.

Quebec

If you serve customers in Quebec, the Charter of the French Language and Quebec's privacy law (Law 25) may apply to how you communicate and handle personal information. Check with your adviser.

Test both languages

Run your full test script in English and French, including the awkward cases.

How we help

We build chatbots and voice agents that answer in English and French from content you approve. See AI chatbots and AI voice agents.