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An interpreter puts your own team on the line with a caller who speaks another language and translates both ways while the call runs. Unlike an AI agent, it has no instructions, knowledge, or tools: your teammate answers the call, and the interpreter only carries what each side says into the other language.

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Prerequisites

  • Voice settings write access to create or change an interpreter. Read access is enough to see the list.
  • Human calling available in your workspace, with teammates set to Available for calls.
  • A verified phone number under Settings → Phone Numbers if callers dial in, or a team if calls reach your team from the app or a transfer.
  • Interpreters are rolling out gradually. If Select Interpreter is not offered in your workspace yet, ask your OpenCX contact to enable it.

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Create an interpreter

  1. Open Channels → Phone → Agents and choose New Phone Agent.
  2. Pick Select Interpreter. The AI Agent option is the regular agent that answers and resolves calls on its own.
  3. Fill in the form and save:
A number and a team can each have one interpreter. Saved interpreters appear under Interpreters on the agents page, where you can edit or delete them.

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How an interpreted call works

  • A call to the interpreter’s number, or a call that reaches its team, rings your teammates as any other team call. The interpreter joins the moment a teammate accepts.
  • Interpretation is consecutive: each side speaks, pauses, and then hears the translation. Short sentences and a brief pause after each one give the best results.
  • Only speech in each side’s configured language is interpreted. Words in another language, background voices, and the sound of the translation itself are left out, so neither side hears its own words translated back.
  • The caller hears only the interpreter’s voice in their language; your teammate’s own voice is not played to the caller. Your teammate hears the caller’s original voice and the interpreter’s translation.
  • Hold, transfer, participants, wrap-up, and availability work as described in Human calling.

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Transcripts and recordings

Every turn lands in the session as a transcript message in the language the other side heard, with Show original message revealing what was actually said. Interpreted calls do not need the Live transcripts setting; the interpreter writes the transcript itself. Recording follows the same rules as other team calls, see Recordings and transcripts.

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Limitations and troubleshooting

  • Calls are interpreted in the first Caller speaks language; additional languages in the list are not used yet.
  • If a translation cannot be produced for a sentence, that sentence is skipped and the original still appears in the transcript. The call continues.
  • No interpreter on the call. Check that the dialled number or the ringing team is bound to the interpreter, and that the teammate accepted the call from the dashboard. Calls answered on a SIP phone or an external destination are not interpreted.
  • Caller hears nothing. Ask your teammate to pause after each sentence; the translation plays once the sentence is complete.