Home / FAQ
Questions & answers
Everything people ask before their first call
Short answers, in plain language. If something here is unclear, it is a bug in this page, not in you.
- ~1 secondTime from your text to spoken speech — measured at 0.9–1.3s in internal testing
- NothingWhat the other person needs — a normal phone call on a normal line
- NothingWhat you have to say out loud — you type, Melanie speaks
- A written recordWhat you keep afterwards — summary plus the full bilingual transcript
What is Montreal Reception?
Montreal Reception is an AI phone-call interpreter. You text what you want to say in your own language, Montreal Reception places the call and speaks it out loud in the other person’s language with a natural human-sounding voice, then texts every sentence of their reply back to you translated, while the call is still live. It works with any phone number and the other person needs no app, no account and no setup.
How does Montreal Reception work, step by step?
Four steps. 1) You open the app and write your message in your language. 2) You enter the number and Montreal Reception dials it. 3) When someone answers, Montreal Reception introduces itself as calling on your behalf and speaks your message in their language; each sentence they say comes back to you as text in your language about a second later. 4) When the call ends you keep a written summary and the full bilingual transcript.
Do I have to speak during the call?
No. You type, Montreal Reception speaks. You can listen to the live call if you want to, but you never have to say a word in a language you are not comfortable with. Typing is also why the call stays accurate: what you wrote is exactly what gets said.
Does it sound like a robot?
No. Montreal Reception uses a natural, human-sounding voice with the local accent — Quebec French in Montreal, not textbook French — and it starts speaking about a second after you send your line, so the conversation keeps its normal rhythm instead of stalling. Most people on the other end simply answer as they would any other call.
How fast is the translation?
About one second. In internal testing on the Montreal Reception voice bridge, a typed message became spoken speech in the other language in roughly 0.9 to 1.3 seconds end to end. That is fast enough that the person on the phone does not feel a pause worth commenting on.
Which languages does Montreal Reception support?
Montreal Reception is built for high-resource language pairs in both directions — Spanish, French, English, Arabic, Mandarin, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Russian, Hindi, Tagalog and more. The first market is Spanish and Arabic speakers calling French-speaking institutions in Quebec.
Is Montreal Reception the same as a phone interpreter service?
The job is the same, the shape is different. A traditional over-the-phone interpreting service is a three-way call with a human interpreter, billed per minute — LanguageLine’s published pay-as-you-go rate is $3.95 per minute for audio. Montreal Reception has no third human on the line and no scheduling: you text, it speaks, and you get a written record. Human interpreters remain the right choice for legal proceedings, complex medical consent and anything where a certified interpreter is required.
Does the other person need to install anything?
No. They receive a normal phone call on a normal phone line. There is nothing to download, click or agree to on their side.
Does Montreal Reception tell people it is AI?
Yes. Montreal Reception announces at the start of the call that it is an interpretation service calling on behalf of a named person. It never impersonates you, and it never invents an answer — if it is asked something you have not told it, it holds the line and asks you.
What does Montreal Reception cost?
Pricing is not published yet — Montreal Reception is in early access at bonjour.montrealreception.com. The design target is a cost per call far below per-minute human interpreting, because no third person has to join the line.
The four steps, again
Write what you want to say
In your language, the way you would actually say it. No perfect grammar, no script, no translation app in the other hand.
Melanie dials and speaks
A natural voice in their language — not a robot reading a translation. Melanie introduces itself as calling on your behalf.
You follow the call live
Every sentence comes back to you as text in your language, roughly a second after it is spoken. Send a new line any time and Melanie says it.
You keep the outcome
Dates, names, file numbers and next steps, written down in your language, with the full bilingual transcript attached.
Questions about specific calls
Does the school know they are talking to an AI?
Melanie introduces itself as calling on your behalf. It never pretends to be you, and it never invents facts — if the office asks something you have not told Melanie, it politely holds the line and asks you.
Can I stay on the line and listen?
Yes. You hear the live call while reading the translation of every sentence, and you can send a new instruction at any moment.
Is my health information kept private?
Calls and transcripts belong to you. Melanie only says what you have written or approved, and you can delete a call and its transcript at any time.
What if the clinic puts the call on hold?
Melanie holds the line silently and pings you the moment a human comes back.
Can I use the transcript as proof?
Every call is saved with its timestamp, the number dialled and the full bilingual transcript, which you can export.
Will Melanie sit through the phone menu and the hold queue?
Yes — it presses the right options and waits. You get pinged when a person picks up.
Can Melanie give my personal details to the agent?
Only the details you have given it for that call. Anything else, it holds the line and asks you first.
Can I set this up for a parent who is not comfortable with apps?
Yes. Melanie works from plain text messages, and a family member can help write the first request or read the transcript afterwards.