When this flow fits
When callers need a clear language choice before hearing the rest of the menu.
Keep each route tied to a caller need. With Auto Attendant each option does one thing: it rings up to three phones one after another (never together), takes a voicemail, or plays a message and hangs up; a line can also skip the menu entirely. A forwarded call shows your business number as caller ID, and the team returns calls from its own mobiles.
With Auto Attendant. With Auto Attendant, a menu can be in English, French and Spanish, up to all three on one line, with a US Spanish voice for the Spanish prompts and spoken hours. Choose language first (“For English, press 1. Para español, oprima el 2.”) or put the language keys at the end of the menu (7 Spanish, 8 French, 9 English). Each language can ring its own phones, up to three in turn, and the app itself is available in Spanish. The layouts are set out under bilingual menus.
Why this flow is built this way
A bilingual menu asks the language question first and only once. The caller who hears “For English, press 1. Para español, oprima el 2.” makes one choice and then hears everything else in their language. Asking again later wastes a caller’s patience and is where most bilingual menus go wrong. Auto Attendant also offers the alternative of keys at the end of the menu (7 Spanish, 8 French, 9 English), which suits a business where most callers use one language and a few need the other.
The harder part is not the recording but the people: each language branch must lead to someone who can actually speak it. If option 2 rings a phone where nobody speaks Spanish, the menu has made a promise it cannot keep. List the people who will answer in each language before recording a word.
Flow and keypresses
The diagram shows what the caller hears and where each choice leads. The count is the number of keypad selections from the first menu to that destination; a submenu adds another press.
Offer both language choices before anything else (language first).
- Press 1: English → English menu, then ring the English-speaking phones in turn
- Press 2: Español → Spanish menu, then ring the Spanish-speaking phones in turn
| Caller destination | Key sequence | Keypresses | Route in this example |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 1 | 1 | English menu, then ring the English-speaking phones in turn |
| Español | 2 | 1 | Spanish menu, then ring the Spanish-speaking phones in turn |
Original script wording
Replace the shaded fields with details your callers need. Do not read them aloud as written. Word count and duration are calculated from each script; spoken time is estimated at 150 words per minute, so pauses and keypad instructions may make the spoken greeting longer. Auto Attendant reads your wording in a text-to-speech voice; you type the words rather than recording them.
Language choice · 14 words · about 6 sec at 150 words per minute
Thanks for calling Business name. For English, press 1. Para español, oprima el 2.
Spanish continuation · 27 words · about 11 sec at 150 words per minute
Gracias por llamar a Business name. Para new customers or sales, oprima 1. Para ayuda con un servicio existente, oprima 2. Para dejar un mensaje, oprima 3.
Shaded text is a fill-in field: replace it with your own.
A worked example
Illustration: a family-run clinic offers 1 for English and 2 for Spanish. The Spanish branch rings one bilingual staff member, then the other, and, failing that, a Spanish voicemail that asks for name, number and the reason for the call. The Spanish scripts are written by a native speaker and read by one; the English-speaking manager checks the options match.
Translation is an editing job, not a machine one. A phone script that sounds natural in English can be stilted word-for-word in Spanish. The dialect of the callers matters too: choose words your customers use, and read the script with a speaker of that dialect before recording.
Timing, options and common mistakes
Keep the language choice at the first menu so callers do not need to understand a longer announcement first.
Have a fluent speaker review the full Spanish wording and the names of the services before typing it into the menu. Instead of asking first, keep one menu and add the language keys at its end: 7 for Spanish, 8 for French, 9 for English. Callers from Quebec area codes still start in French in that mode.
- Do not offer a language route unless someone can handle the calls in that language.
- Avoid placing the second language only after a long first-language menu.
Say the option before its key, put the most frequent caller need first, and repeat the key choices at the end. A practical starting point is no more than about four top-level options: callers must listen, remember the choices and select one. Use a submenu for a less common branch rather than making every caller hear every detail.
For a full routing walkthrough, see call routing and menu design. An Auto Attendant menu has up to seven options; each rings up to three phones in turn, takes a voicemail or plays a message. The menu can be in English, French or Spanish. Voicemails are emailed in the business’s chosen language with the MP3 attached, followed by a transcript in the language of the message.
Standards and rules behind it
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey asks whether a person speaks a language other than English at home, and federal agencies, local governments and private enterprises use the results to identify needs for services for people with limited English-speaking ability 1. It is a reasonable place to look when deciding whether a second language is worth the effort for your area.
Menus that include a language choice add a step for every caller, so keep the rest short. The ADA’s effective-communication principle also applies to businesses open to the public 2, and relay services connect deaf and hard-of-hearing callers through an operator 3. Provide a non-voice route in each language where practical.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state and change; confirm anything that affects your business with the source or an adviser.
Test it before you publish it
- Name who answers each language branch before recording.
- Have a native speaker write and review the second-language script.
- Ask for the language choice once, at the very start.
- Test every key in both languages from a mobile.
- Add a non-voice contact route in each language.
Related templates and guides
- Main business greeting: call-flow template
- Service versus sales submenu: call-flow template
- General voicemail greeting: call-flow template
- Appointment-based business: call-flow template
- Medical clinic: phone menu guide
- Cleaning service: phone menu guide
- Restaurant or takeout business: phone menu guide
- Call routing and menu design
- What is an auto attendant?
- Business phone glossary
Further reading
Longer research pieces on this topic, each with its own source list and a downloadable PDF.
Articles on this topic
Sources
Every regulatory and pricing claim on this page links to the primary source it came from. Figures were checked on the date shown at the top of the page; rules and prices change, so verify before relying on one.
- US Census Bureau, About Language Use in the U.S. Population (American Community Survey language questions). Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.census.gov/topics/population/language-use/about.html - ADA.gov, ADA Requirements: Effective Communication. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.ada.gov/resources/effective-communication/ - 47 U.S.C. § 225, Telecommunications services for hearing-impaired and speech-impaired individuals. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/225