When do you need a Spanish greeting?
The rule of thumb is simple: as soon as some of your callers do not follow the English message. Think of clinics and dental offices, contractors and home services, restaurants and hospitality, auto repair, and any business in a county with a large Spanish-speaking population.
Bilingual in one message, or two separate ones?
For most businesses one bilingual message works best: brief English first, then brief Spanish. Keep both halves extra short, because the total length counts double. Separate messages per language are better if your phone system has a language menu ("for English, press 1; para español, oprima 2"), but for smaller businesses that is often overkill.
Write Spanish, do not translate literally
The biggest pitfall is a word-for-word translation of the English text. English phrasing pushed into Spanish sounds off to a native ear. Use the standard Spanish formulas: "en este momento no podemos atender su llamada", "deje su nombre y número", "le devolveremos la llamada". The examples below use those formulas.
Example scripts
“Welcome to [company name]. All of our staff are currently busy; we will be with you as soon as possible. Bienvenido a [company name]. En este momento todos nuestros agentes están ocupados; le atenderemos lo antes posible.”
“Welcome to [company name]. We are unable to take your call right now. Please leave your name and phone number after the tone, and we will get back to you within one business day. Bienvenido a [company name]. En este momento no podemos atender su llamada. Deje su nombre y número después del tono y le devolveremos la llamada dentro de un día hábil.”
“Welcome to [company name]. You have reached us outside our business hours. We are open Monday through Friday, from [time] to [time] [time zone]. Please leave a message or email us at [email address]. Bienvenido a [company name]. Nos ha llamado fuera de nuestro horario. Abrimos de lunes a viernes, de [time] a [time]. Deje un mensaje o escríbanos a [email address].”
Practical details that make the difference
- State the time zone with your hours ("Eastern Time", "Pacific Time"): your caller may be three time zones away.
- Read phone numbers digit by digit, and repeat them once. A number heard in a second language is easy to mishear.
- Use the same voice for both languages, or at least the same gender and tone: it then sounds like one company.