Setting up Hausa-language call answering for your Kano business

In Kano, a caller who opens with "Sannu, ina kwana" is not asking for a translation — they are speaking their first language and they expect to be understood in it. An AI that responds in English-only to a Hausa greeting creates immediate friction: the caller either switches to imperfect English, or hangs up and calls a competitor who has a Hausa-speaking staff member.

Maraba handles Hausa natively. This is not a translation layer bolted on top of an English system — Hausa speech recognition was trained on recordings of Nigerian Hausa speakers, including the vowel-length distinctions and tonal patterns that shape how northern Nigerians actually speak. This guide explains how to configure it correctly for a Kano business.

Step 1: Enable Hausa in your language settings

In your Maraba dashboard, go to Config → Call Flow → Language Detection. By default, new accounts are set to English-only. To add Hausa:

If your business serves callers from both Kano (predominantly Hausa) and elsewhere in Nigeria (English or other languages), the auto-detect setting is usually the right choice. Maraba identifies the dominant language within the first few words and responds in kind. A caller who says "Na gode, ina son sani farashin ku" (Thank you, I want to know your prices) will receive Hausa responses for the rest of the call.

Step 2: Write your Hausa greeting

Your greeting is the first thing a caller hears. For Kano businesses, a Hausa-first greeting signals immediately that this is a business that serves northern customers. You set this under Config → Greetings → Business Hours Greeting.

Example Hausa greeting for a Kano pharmacy:

A note on diacritics: Hausa uses several characters that are not in standard ASCII — ƙ, ɗ, ɓ, ɗ, and the hooked letters that distinguish sounds. When you write your Hausa greeting in the dashboard text box, these characters must be entered correctly. Maraba's TTS system reads them correctly — do not substitute plain ASCII equivalents, as this changes the pronunciation.

Step 3: Build your Hausa knowledge base

The knowledge base is what Maraba draws on when answering caller questions. For a Hausa-first Kano business, your knowledge base should include Hausa-language content. Under Knowledge Base → Add Entry, you can write entries in Hausa, English, or both. Maraba will use the matching-language entry when responding to callers.

Practical knowledge base entries for a Kano shop:

You do not need to translate every entry perfectly. Maraba handles callers who mix Hausa and English in a single sentence — so even if your knowledge base is in English, Maraba can use it to respond to Hausa callers. But having Hausa-language entries gives responses that feel more natural and local.

Step 4: Configure Hausa escalation phrases

Some callers will want to speak to a human. In Hausa, this might sound like: "Na fi son yin magana da mutum" (I prefer to speak with a person) or "Ina son sakatare" (I want the secretary). Under Config → Escalation → Trigger Phrases, you can add Hausa phrases that trigger a transfer to your human team.

Maraba pre-loads common Hausa escalation phrases, but you should review them and add any that are specific to your business or your region's dialect. Hausa spoken in Kano has some differences from Hausa spoken in Sokoto or Zaria — particularly in vocabulary and speed. If most of your callers are from Kano, the default model handles this well. If you serve callers from across the north, contact support to discuss dialect tuning.

Step 5: Test with a Hausa speaker

Before going live, use the dashboard's Test Call feature to make test calls. If possible, have a Hausa-speaking colleague make the calls using natural conversational Hausa — not slow, over-enunciated test speech. The system should handle real conversational Hausa, not classroom-perfect Hausa.

Things to test specifically:

• Opening in Hausa and getting a Hausa response
• Mixing Hausa and English in the same sentence (e.g., "Do you have this item in stock, ko kuwa?")
• Using local Kano expressions that are commonly used in commercial contexts
• Asking a question that is not in the knowledge base — Maraba should acknowledge it cannot answer and offer to take a message or transfer

WhatsApp summaries in Hausa

Maraba sends post-call WhatsApp summaries to your configured number. These summaries are in English by default — this is deliberate, as the summaries are for the business owner rather than the caller, and English is the standard business language for written records across Nigeria. If you prefer summaries in Hausa, this can be configured under Settings → Notifications → Summary Language.

Plan requirements for Hausa support

Hausa language support is available from the Starter plan at ₦20,000 per month. The free plan is English-only. If your Kano business currently relies on a personal phone to answer Hausa-speaking customers, the Starter plan is the minimum viable setup. It covers 200 calls per month — enough for most independent shops, pharmacies, and service businesses in Kano.