Could someone please advise me regarding advertising on the above website. We are getting quite a few enquiries from both Polish and German holidaymakers, do we need to reply in their own language, or will it be translated for them if we reply in English. Thanks for any guidance.
regards Phil.
Ferienhausmiete
-
charliechoice
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:33 pm
- Location: Ayia napa
I can't answer for Polish but most Germans I know who holiday abroad, manage to speak enough English, even if they are not very comfortable with it. If you don't speak German yourselves, I think you would be better to stick with English rather than use an automated translation, if that is your only option.
The site does not offer automatic translation.
I always reply in English explaining that I do not speak German or Polish - therefore guests who do book are aware than when they are here we will not be able to speak their language.
Friends of ours had an enquiry in German and got someone to reply for them in perfect German. The people booked and were VERY angry on arrival when they found that they couldn't communicate. They said that they had only booked because they were delighted to find whgat they thought were German speaking owners and even threatened to report them for false representation. Obviously this only applied as the owners were on site - it was B+B accommodation - and wouldn't be such a consideration if renting a villa with no on-site owners but is still worth considering.
However, as Margaret has already said, most Germans and many Poles speak very good English.
I always reply in English explaining that I do not speak German or Polish - therefore guests who do book are aware than when they are here we will not be able to speak their language.
Friends of ours had an enquiry in German and got someone to reply for them in perfect German. The people booked and were VERY angry on arrival when they found that they couldn't communicate. They said that they had only booked because they were delighted to find whgat they thought were German speaking owners and even threatened to report them for false representation. Obviously this only applied as the owners were on site - it was B+B accommodation - and wouldn't be such a consideration if renting a villa with no on-site owners but is still worth considering.
However, as Margaret has already said, most Germans and many Poles speak very good English.
The site does a machine translation of your text, but its awfull.
Yow are free to put an eglish text in the german and in the polish versions of your ad, but this doesnt help a lot. I think the people want the read their own language.
That is why we finaly found someone who tranlsated our English advert in Polish - and finally all the rubbish enquiries stopped coming. They asked us all the time "is the villa within walking distance from beach" . And our first sencence on the advert in English was - "The villa is 20 km from the beach" - all in capital letters, but nobody cared about.
Now when we have a genuine Polish text we receive less enquiries but of better quality. The Polish people who are calling me expext me to speak Polish, but they are fine with English too. All that matters for them is the price and the location.
This is my advice for all you you - find a way to translate your adverts in the resp. language and you will see the difference.
Yow are free to put an eglish text in the german and in the polish versions of your ad, but this doesnt help a lot. I think the people want the read their own language.
That is why we finaly found someone who tranlsated our English advert in Polish - and finally all the rubbish enquiries stopped coming. They asked us all the time "is the villa within walking distance from beach" . And our first sencence on the advert in English was - "The villa is 20 km from the beach" - all in capital letters, but nobody cared about.
Now when we have a genuine Polish text we receive less enquiries but of better quality. The Polish people who are calling me expext me to speak Polish, but they are fine with English too. All that matters for them is the price and the location.
This is my advice for all you you - find a way to translate your adverts in the resp. language and you will see the difference.