Amsterdam massage booked with a translation app

Write short sentences in your own language first

An app translates short sentences much better than long ones. So write the way you would write a list, not a letter. One fact on each line. No jokes, no idioms, no polite introductions. For example, instead of a long sentence about your trip and your wish for a relaxing evening, write: Address. Day and hour. Length. Name. Number of people. Then translate. Short lines come through almost unchanged, and when something does go wrong, it is easy to see which line it was.

Keep numbers as digits

Write every number as digits, not as words: 90 minutes, not ninety minutes; 21:30, not half past nine. Apps are very good with digits and sometimes poor with number words. In Dutch and in German, the words that look like half nine mean 8:30, while in English half nine is 9:30, because each language counts the half hour its own way. Digits on the twenty-four hour clock avoid this completely. The same is true for the date: write the month as a word in your own language, and the app will translate the month name correctly.

Never let the app translate the street name

Of everything on this page, this matters above all. An app may translate a Dutch street name into your language or into English, and then the address no longer exists. A street called Keizersgracht may come out as Emperor's Canal. Nobody in Amsterdam will look for that. So copy the address from your hotel confirmation into the English message after the translation, not before it. Paste it in by hand, exactly as it is. Do the same with the hotel name, which an app may also try to translate.

Check three things in the English version

Before you send, read the English text once, slowly, and look only at three things. Is the hour the same as the hour you wrote? Is the date the same, with the right month? Is the address exactly the same, letters and numbers included? If all three are correct, send it. The rest of the message may sound strange in English, and that does not matter. Nobody on the other side is checking grammar. The hour, the date and the address are what she travels on.

Reading the Amsterdam massage reply through the app

The reply comes back in simple English. You can paste it into the app to read it in your language. When you do, check the numbers in the translation against the numbers in the original English. The price, the deposit and the arrival window must be the same in both. If the app shows a different figure, trust the English. Some words may translate strangely. Balance may become the money in your bank account, and deposit may become a security payment. The page on the words in the reply explains what each one means here.

Figures with points and commas

In English, 1,250 means one thousand two hundred and fifty. In many other languages, the same number is written 1.250, and 1,25 means one and a quarter. An app does not always change these marks for you. So when you read a price, do not trust the point or the comma alone. Look at the size of the number and ask yourself if it makes sense. The overnight costs one thousand two hundred and fifty euros, never one euro and a quarter. The house always writes large figures in the English way, with a comma for thousands.

Answering yes through the app

When you are ready to confirm, you do not need the app at all. Write yes, in English. It is a short word, and it is the one that fixes the booking. If you want to add something, such as a room number, write it as digits after the yes: yes, room 214. Do not translate a long answer when a short one will do. Every extra sentence is one more chance for the app to change something you did not mean to change.

Polite words the app adds, or removes

Some apps add polite words that you did not write, and some remove the polite words you did write. Do not worry about this in either direction. The thread is not a formal letter, and nobody reads a short message as rude. A message that says only address, hour, length and name is a normal message here. What matters is that the facts arrive unchanged. If the translated English sounds too cold or too formal to you, leave it as it is. Correcting the tone by hand is where new mistakes appear, usually in the one line that mattered.

The app in the room

A translation app can also help during the visit. Some guests keep the phone on the table, with the app open, in case a word is needed. That is fine. Keep it for short things: a question about the temperature, a word you did not understand, a wish about pressure. The therapist may use it too. Most visits need very few words anyway. The page on a little shared English shows how far a few simple words can go.

What not to put into the app

Do not paste payment details, card numbers or codes into a translation app. They are not needed, because payment details come to you in the thread, in English, and you do not need to translate them. Numbers and account names are the same in every language. Also, do not paste the whole thread at once. Translate one message at a time, so that each translation stays short and clear. When the booking is done, you may delete the translations from the app's history. The booking page explains the four steps again, if you want to read them before you start.