Enquiry in Spanish - what do i do?

[bananacake]

i just received an enquiry in Spanish... while i understand the gist of the enquiry how do i reply?

google translate?

[christinedavid]

I would reply in English and apologise that you do not speak Spanish. Translate it using Google translate as well, although it's likely to sound like jibberish to the client. It's better than nothing.

[Marks]

I find that when using any of the online translators keeping your English (or own language) simple and in short sentences improves the quality of the translation.

I tend to ramble a bit to UK guests but when replying in French, Spanish whatever I say things like:

Thank you for your enquiry. The apartment is available. The price is xxx. You pay by xxx. I need to know: xxx

[bananacake]

many thanks all!

[tavi]

I find Babylon slightly better at translating than Google.

I always add

"(translated by Google/Bablyon)"

at the bottom of the translation.

[Tizfata]

What I do when I receive some enquiries in Flamish or Danish is to keep it simple but translate something like.
Dear Mr. Flamish,
many thanks for your enquiry.
I am sorry but I do not speak Flamish, so I wrote my letter in English. Please find a google translated letter in Flamish under the English version.
Have a nice day,
Tiz
In general, I think you know that Google always translate something into English, then again into the desired language. This could lead to terrible mistakes like:
Italiano = Prenotare
English = Book
French = Livre

[DaveN]

When using the Google translate, I find it useful to repeat the translation in reverse i.e. back to English. It sometimes just completely omits parts of a sentance, so I don't send the reply until I've got something back into English that I'm happy with.

As previously suggested, I include the English as well in case they can do something with it.

[LPC]

With any computer based translation (Google, Babel etc) it is wise to check the translation by copying it, pasting it and translating that text into any other language which you happen to know. For example, if I get an enquiry in German (which I don't know) I use Google to translate into German and then copy/paste that text and translate into Russian (which I do know). Sometimes this can bring out serious shortcomings in the translation which it is possible to correct. This is not always the case if you just translate back to the source language.

Today I translated the following English into German on Google, in replying to an enquiry:

"The property is still available for the dates you require" and got:
"Die Termine, die Sie erwähnen, sind immer noch für den Moment nicht verfügbar"

My German is almost zero - but I know that "nicht" means "not".

Eh?!! Not available?!! Try it yourself in Google Translate....

We could have lost a booking if I had followed that translation.

Never trust a computer!

[aasta]

we often use www.tradukka.com ....but like the other responders, we apolize that we do not speak their language and write in simple English