OTTAWA, Ontario - eTradeWire -- OTTAWA, Ontario - A Multilingual telephone line is harder to staff than most small businesses expect, and ALMA Intelligence Inc. has built its product around that problem.

The Ottawa company has opened invitation-only early access to AlmaTalk, an AI receptionist that answers business calls in Canadian English and Quebec French and many other languages on a single line. There is no menu asking the caller to press 1 for English, and no separate French number. The system detects the language the caller starts in, and follows them if they change part-way through a sentence.

That last detail is the one the company says decides most sales.

"Real callers do not pick a language and stay in it," said Peter Nasr, director of ALMA Intelligence. "Someone starts in English, hits a word they only know in French, and switches without thinking about it. If the system cannot follow, the caller ends up accommodating your technology. Some of them just hang up."

Staffing the same coverage is arithmetic most owners never run. A full-time position covers about 40 hours a week. A week has 168. Answering every call therefore takes roughly four schedules for one seat, and each of those people still handles one call at a time.

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AlmaTalk answers around the clock in English and French, plus 30 or more further languages. It takes messages, answers routine questions about hours and services, routes callers, and books appointments into the business calendar during the call. It answers several callers at once.

It is aimed at businesses where the telephone is the front door: clinics, law firms, trades, salons, restaurants and property managers, especially those serving customers on both sides of the Ontario and Quebec border.

Reporters and business owners can judge it without registering for anything. The line on 1-888-775-9770 is answered by the product itself, in whichever language the caller opens with. No form, no salesperson.

Detail on bilingual answering is at https://almatalk.ca/bilingual-ai-receptionist-canada and early access can be requested at https://almatalk.ca while each account is configured individually.

ALMA Intelligence Inc. builds AI voice products for small and medium businesses from its base in Ottawa, Ontario. It was incorporated in February 2026 and AlmaTalk is its first product.