CanTalk Canada a Winnipeg-based language company asserts,
language support must go well beyond the trade mission

WINNIPEG, MB, Sept. 2, 2026 /CNW/ -- As all levels of government urge businesses to diversify into new markets, Winnipeg-based CanTalk Canada asks a practical question: when prospective customers want to do business, are Canadian exporters language-ready?

CanTalk is launching a Global Language Gateway and asking Ottawa to extend how interpretation is provided under CanExport SMEs.

The federal program already recognizes professional interpretation as an eligible export-development expense, but its 2026–27 guide describes "in-person interactions" in a target market—even as CanExport places greater emphasis on non-U.S. expansion.

"Why value language interpretation just during a trade mission, what about when an opportunity is being explored or afterward, when the relationship is being developed?" said Maureen Mitchells, Founder and CEO of CanTalk. The trade mission may end Friday," Mitchells said. "The business relationship hopefully does not."

CanTalk turns language access into trade access with one number, giving Canadian businesses immediate, 24/7 connection to more than 2,000 professional interpreters across 220+ languages and dialects.

Global Affairs Canada's State of Trade 2026 notes that cultural and linguistic familiarity can reduce information barriers and help businesses access foreign markets, particularly where trust and communication matter. "Eventually two people have to talk," Mitchells said. "That is where trust and business relationships are built."

CanTalk is not discounting AI. It can translate websites, emails and prepare material quickly and inexpensively. Business relationships aren't scripts and misunderstandings can be the real cost. The human voice is still a real-time barometer of trust," Mitchells said.

"The recent Canada–U.S. negotiations offer a timely analogy. Both countries have sophisticated technology and speak the same language, yet negotiations remain in the hands of experienced individuals. "No government would hand its most sensitive negotiations to an AI application and ask it to make the judgment calls," Mitchells said. "Why would a business do the equivalent when an important customer, distributor or contract is on the line?"

CanTalk already provides language services supporting Service Canada, the Government of Canada's national service-delivery network. CanTalk operates through a predominantly Canadian-based interpreter network within a protected Canadian environment.

The Global Language Gateway will help SMEs identify and then provide immediate language support with live professional interpreters for any business need – to ensure the conversation continues.

CanTalk's policy request is simple: keep interpretation eligible under CanExport, but explicitly recognize real-time telephone and video interpretation before, during and after international market development.

CanTalk is making the same point with a little Canadian humour. After more than 30 years in the language business, it has unofficially added another language: AMERICAN.

"How could we resist?" Mitchells said. "Canada and the United States have spent a remarkable amount of time demonstrating that speaking the same language does not always mean coming away from a conversation with the same understanding."

"American is our tongue-in-cheek new language," Mitchells said. "The other 220-plus languages are where the export opportunity begins. Keep America. Add the world."

SOURCE CanTalk (Canada) Inc.