Code-switching · live · தமிழ் + English
Tanglish AI voice agents
Outpero's AI voice agent speaks Tanglish: it opens in spoken Tamil and switches to English the moment the caller does, mid-sentence, in the same voice. It treats Tamil-English mixing as normal, calls each new lead within 30 seconds, and logs a recording, transcript and summary for every call, from ₹5/min.
* Time from the lead reaching Outpero to the first ring, under normal conditions. It depends on how quickly your lead source delivers the lead.
No census counts Tanglish; it is the everyday register of many of Tamil's 69 million first-language speakers in India (Census 2011), especially in Chennai and Coimbatore
Why Tanglish is hard for voice AI
Tanglish attaches Tamil suffixes to English words — 'confirm-aa', 'cancel pannunga', 'office-la irukken' — so the meaning sits in the joint between the two languages. The '-aa' question marker turns a statement into a question, and missing it flips the intent. Chennai Tanglish is also heavily colloquial, far from written Tamil, and callers switch to full English sentences when talking about money, documents or technical details.
What Outpero does in Tanglish
Tanglish is how Outpero's Tamil agent works by default, with no separate mode. The agent speaks colloquial Tamil, keeps the respectful 'neenga' register, and follows callers into English mid-sentence. It uses a neutral spoken register rather than per-dialect models, so callers from the Kongu belt or the southern districts are best tested with a small batch first.
Hear it
Tanglish sample calls
Sample calls from the product in Tamil, one per sector. Press play; nothing loads until you do.
By use
Five ways to use a Tanglish AI voice agent
Tanglish AI calling agent
A Tanglish AI calling agent places the first call quickly and speaks colloquial Chennai-style Tamil with the respectful 'neenga', not textbook Tamil. When the lead drifts into 'documents ready-aa irukku, but salary slip illa', the agent follows and records the missing document for your team.
Tanglish voice bot
A Tanglish voice bot has to read the '-aa' ending correctly: 'confirm-aa?' is a question, 'confirm' is an instruction. Menu-style bots drop the suffix and act on the English stem. A conversational one keeps the whole phrase, answers in the same mix, and does not push the caller back to a numbered menu.
Tanglish AI receptionist
A Tanglish AI receptionist covers calls that reach a hospital, school or showroom after office hours. Callers in Coimbatore or Madurai say 'appointment venum, naalaikku morning' and get a slot. Returning callers are recognised, and anything sensitive can be transferred to your own staff.
Tanglish IVR replacement
Tanglish IVR replacement ends 'Tamil-kku onnu azhuthunga'. A caller says 'bill amount enna' or 'service center timing sollunga' and the agent responds, with no keypad and no language selection. That fits Tamil Nadu well, where a caller may start in Tamil and give account details in English.
Tanglish AI telecalling
Tanglish AI telecalling is a bulk run across a Tamil Nadu list: Chennai office workers, Tiruppur garment-trade owners, Madurai families. Calling windows, retries and DND screening are set before launch, connected minutes are billed from Rs 5, and unanswered calls are not billed.
How it opens the call
Hi, நான் QuickLoans-ல இருந்து Priya — நீங்க personal loan-க்கு apply பண்ணிருந்தீங்க, documents ready-ஆ இருக்கா, ஒரு two minutes பேசலாமா?
“Hi, this is Priya from QuickLoans — you had applied for a personal loan. Are your documents ready? Can we talk for two minutes?”
A test-ride follow-up from a two-wheeler showroom in Coimbatore, written the way the call sounds.
A sample Tanglish call, line by line
| In தமிழ் + English | In English |
|---|---|
| Agent: Vanakkam sir, naan Meena pesuren, Kovai Motors-la irundhu. Naan oru AI assistant. Neenga online-la test ride book panneenga, Saturday morning vara mudiyuma? | Greets, says it is an AI assistant from the showroom, and asks whether the booked test ride on Saturday morning still works. |
| Caller: Saturday-ah, konjam kashtam. Sunday evening ok-va? Aprom on-road price enna varum? | Saturday is difficult; asks about Sunday evening and what the on-road price will be. |
| Agent: Sunday evening 5 mani slot irukku, book panniten. On-road price variant-a poruthu maarum, approx 1.15 lakh. Exact quote showroom-la kidaikkum. | Books Sunday at 5 pm, gives an approximate on-road price of 1.15 lakh and says the exact quote comes at the showroom. |
| Caller: Sari. EMI option iruka? Down payment evlo vekkanum? | Asks whether EMI is available and how much down payment is needed. |
| Agent: EMI irukku sir. Down payment 15,000-la irundhu aarambikkum, adha showroom executive confirm pannuvaanga. Location WhatsApp-la anuprein. | Confirms EMI exists, down payment from about 15,000, final figure from the showroom executive, location on WhatsApp. |
| Caller: Anuppunga, thanks. | Asks for the location to be sent and thanks the agent; the EMI interest is saved in the summary. |
Illustrative call, written for this page. Real calls follow your script and your lead’s answers.
Before you choose
Best Tanglish AI voice agent: how to judge one
| What to test | How to test it |
|---|---|
| The -aa question suffix | Say 'cancel-aa?' on one call and 'cancel pannunga' on another. One asks, the other instructs. The reply and the saved summary should show the difference each time. |
| Spoken forms, not textbook Tamil | Use 'irukken', 'pannuren' and 'poitten' rather than formal Tamil. The agent should understand them, and its own lines should sound like a courteous Chennai telecaller, not a newsreader. |
| English terms for money and papers | Mention EMI, CIBIL, Aadhaar, salary slip and a figure like five lakhs. Callers often go fully into English here; confirm each term is caught and the agent does not re-ask in Tamil. |
| Tamil numerals beside English ones | Say 'munnooru', 'aayiram', 'oru lakh' and 'rendu aayiram' on separate calls. Mixed counting is routine, so check the transcript and the custom field hold the right amount each time. |
| Names with the zh sound | Try Thiruvanmiyur, Pollachi, Kuzhanthaivel and Saravanampatti. Long names and the retroflex zh are easy to garble; check the spelling in the transcript and add key places to the knowledge base. |
Outpero is published by the vendor being described. Run these tests on every shortlisted product, ours included, using recordings of your own callers.
What you will hear
How Tanglish is spoken across regions
| Variety | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Chennai Tanglish (Chennai, Tambaram, Ambattur, OMR) | Fast and heavily colloquial, with English for work and money. The agent keeps a respectful register throughout; treat it as a neutral spoken style and confirm with calls from your own area. |
| Kongu Tanglish (Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, Salem) | Kongu speech has its own endings and vocabulary, and textile and engineering owners tend to speak Tamil-first with English for orders and specifications. No per-region training; pilot with a small batch. |
| Southern Tamil Nadu Tanglish (Madurai, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Virudhunagar) | A broader southern vocabulary in which Tamil carries most of the call and English appears in small doses. A few dozen real calls will show whether anything needs adjusting. |
| Border-belt Tanglish (Hosur, Krishnagiri, Vellore) | Industrial towns with Kannada and Telugu speakers beside Tamil. The Tamil agent speaks Tamil and English; callers who prefer another language are better reached with a separate campaign in it. |
Tanglish AI voice agent or Tanglish text to speech?
A Tamil voice-over or text-to-speech tool delivers a fixed script, and because spoken and written Tamil differ so much, a formally scripted line sounds like a newsreader on a sales call. A voice agent speaks colloquial Tamil and listens: when the caller asks 'EMI irukka?', it answers. Voice broadcast is one fixed recorded or synthesised message played to a list, not an AI conversation.
Where it matters most
Industries that call in Tanglish
Loan and EMI follow-ups in Chennai and Coimbatore, where CIBIL, sanction and salary slip are English words inside Tamil sentences.
Test-ride and booking calls for showrooms across Tamil Nadu, where price, EMI and down payment are discussed in Tanglish.
Order and quotation calls to Tiruppur garment units and Coimbatore engineering firms, where specifications are English and negotiation is Tamil.
Gold-scheme instalment reminders and festival-season enquiries for jewellers in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore, with weights and rates quoted in English.
Appointment and follow-up calls for Chennai and Madurai hospitals, where department names are English and the rest is spoken Tamil.
Admission enquiries to engineering and arts colleges across the state, where parents ask in Tamil and cut-off marks and fees come in English.
Questions people ask
Do I need a separate Tanglish setting?
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No. Pick Tamil and the agent handles Tanglish by itself — it opens in spoken Tamil and switches to English the moment the caller does, mid-sentence, in the same voice. Choose the English agent only for lists that are English-first, such as Chennai IT professionals or study-abroad applicants, where opening in Tamil adds little.
What does Tanglish look like on a sales call?
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For example: 'Loan amount evlo sanction aagum? Documents ellam ready, but CIBIL score konjam low-aa irukku.' Every important term — loan amount, sanction, documents, CIBIL — is English, while the grammar and the worry are Tamil. The agent needs to catch both, answer in the same mix, and record the low credit score as a field for your team.
Why do voice bots built for Hindi struggle in Tamil Nadu?
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Tamil and Hindi come from different language families, with different grammar, sounds and word order, and a bot that only switches between Hindi and English is no use to a Tamil-speaking caller. Tamil Nadu callers also notice quickly when a voice sounds non-native. Outpero runs Tamil as its own live language with English switching built in, not as an add-on.
Which industries in Tamil Nadu need Tanglish handling?
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Loan and NBFC follow-ups, where financial terms are almost always English; coaching and college admissions; hospitals and diagnostic labs in Chennai and Coimbatore; real estate along OMR and in Coimbatore's Saravanampatti; and D2C brands confirming COD orders. In each, customers mix freely, and an agent that sticks to pure Tamil or pure English sounds scripted.
How do I test Tanglish handling?
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Sign up at app.outpero.com for 50 free credits — about ten minutes at ₹5/min. Call your own phone and answer like a real customer: Tamil sentences, English money terms, a sudden 'one minute, hold pannunga'. Then read the transcript and the summary in the dashboard. There is no setup fee, no monthly base fee and no contract.
How much does a Tanglish AI voice agent cost?
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Outpero has no setup fee and no monthly base fee — you pay only for connected talk time, from ₹5 per minute (1 credit = ₹1, credits never expire), plus ₹649/month for a dedicated calling number. The price is the same in every language.
What is the best Tanglish AI voice agent?
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The best Tanglish AI voice agent is the one that passes your own test on your own callers. Check the -aa question suffix; spoken forms, not textbook Tamil; english terms for money and papers. Outpero is a specialist in regional-language voice AI and publishes its price, but it is the vendor writing this page, so run the same tests on any shortlist.
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