What is Code-switching?

Code-switching is alternating between two languages within a single conversation, often within a single sentence. In India it is the norm rather than the exception on business calls: Telugu grammar carrying English nouns — a register called Tenglish. A caller may say 'Saturday ki site visit book cheyyandi' without noticing they used three languages. Systems that force a single language make callers work harder than a human would.

This is where most imported voice AI products fail in India — they handle each language well in isolation and break at the switch. This is the default mode for an Outpero Telugu employee, not a fallback — it follows the caller into English and back without asking them to repeat themselves.