How to choose your chatbot's languages

Adding languages to a website assistant is cheap to switch on and easy to get wrong. Pick them from evidence about your own customers, not from a guess about who might visit.

Start with your own evidence

The best data about your customers' languages is already in your business:

• Inquiries and e-mails. Search your inbox for messages written in other languages, or that start with "Sorry for my English".
• Call notes. Ask whoever answers the phone how often a caller struggles in English, and which language they would have preferred.
• Front desk and staff. If a team member regularly translates for customers, note the language.
• Website analytics. Most analytics tools report the language setting of visitors' browsers. A steady share of browsers set to Spanish, Korean or Portuguese is a strong hint.
• Reviews. Reviews written in other languages tell you who already buys from you.

Public data on languages in your area

For a wider view, the US Census Bureau publishes data on languages spoken at home from the American Community Survey, down to the county and city level. Start at the Census Bureau's language use topic page, or search data.census.gov for table S1601, "Language Spoken at Home", and enter your county or city. The table also shows how many people in each language group speak English less than "very well", which is the group an assistant in their language helps most.

Use the most recent release available and note its year when you share the figures with your team. Census data describes residents, not customers, so treat it as a second opinion next to your own evidence.

Standard: English plus two

Allinaa Standard includes three configured languages: American English by default, plus two more that you choose. For most local businesses that is enough. A typical pattern is English, Spanish and one language from your neighborhood or customer base.

In the setup wizard you choose the languages yourself. After launch, the Allinaa team changes them for you on request. You also test them yourself in the wizard, ideally with a native speaker.

When Premium's all supported languages make sense

Premium includes all supported languages: the assistant's catalog currently has 108 languages, and new ones become available to Premium automatically. It makes sense when:

• You sell online across many countries and can't predict who will visit.
• You serve tourists, international students or visitors from many places.
• Your evidence shows more than two non-English languages that matter.

Answer quality differs between languages. Major languages are usually handled well; for less common ones, test before you rely on them.

Test before launch with native speakers

A machine can't tell you whether its own answer sounds natural. Before you announce a language:

1. Ask a native speaker, a staff member, a friend or a customer, to chat with the assistant in the wizard's test chat.
2. Have them ask about prices, hours and a policy, the things that cost money when they are misunderstood.
3. Check that prices, dates and times come out right, and that the tone fits your business.
4. Fix the knowledge where needed. Unclear English knowledge produces unclear answers in every other language.

Should you translate your website too?

An assistant in Spanish on an English-only website helps, but visitors still meet English everywhere else. If one language brings a meaningful share of your business, consider translating the key pages: services, prices, contact and booking. Allinaa also offers website localization with human review, from $300 per project for one language and from $500 for up to three. See the pricing section.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to write my knowledge in each language?

No. You write the knowledge once, usually in English, and the assistant answers in the configured languages. Testing with native speakers is still important.

Can I change my Standard languages later?

Yes. After launch the Allinaa team changes them for you.

How many languages does Premium include?

All supported languages. The assistant's catalog currently has 108, and new ones become available to Premium automatically.