Guide
Multilingual customer service for small businesses, without hiring
A tourist with a question and no shared language is a sale you can lose in thirty seconds. Here are seven ways to keep it, from a laminated card to an assistant that speaks 25 languages.
Quick answer
Start with what you can print: translated signs, menus and a phrase card for your most common questions. Add a translation app for one-off conversations, and for busy counters an AI assistant like Kioskly AI that answers routine questions out loud in the customer's language. Keep wording short, avoid idioms, and find out which languages your customers actually speak.
Picture a couple at your counter holding up a phone with a translation app, while a queue builds behind them. They want to know if you sell phone chargers. You'd say yes in two seconds if you understood the question.
You don't need a multilingual team to fix that. You need the right mix of printed help, simple tools and, for busy counters, an assistant that can answer in the customer's language.
Why language matters at the counter
People buy more easily in their own language. In a 2020 CSA Research survey of 8,709 consumers in 29 countries, 76% preferred to buy products with information in their own language, and 40% said they never buy from websites in other languages.
That was about online shopping, but the same thing happens in person. A customer who can't ask where something is usually doesn't ask at all. And there are a lot of them: UN Tourism counted about 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals in 2024.
First, find out which languages you need
Don't guess. Look at your reviews and booking data, note which countries your card payments come from, and ask your team which conversations are hardest. Keep a simple tally at the counter for two weeks. Most businesses find two or three languages cover the large majority of visitors.
Seven ways to serve customers in their language
1. Translated signs for your top questions
Restrooms, Wi-Fi, payment methods, opening hours, "please wait here". Use icons and numbers, which work in every language, and add your top two or three languages underneath.
2. Menus and price lists in more than one language
Translate the documents customers read longest. Pay for a professional translation of anything about allergens or ingredients; it's the one place a machine mistake can hurt someone.
3. A phrase card at the counter
A laminated card with your ten most common answers in your top languages. Customers point at their language, staff point at the answer. It costs almost nothing and it never runs out of battery.
4. Language badges for your team
If someone on your team speaks Spanish or Mandarin, let customers know with a small badge or a flag on the name tag. People will find them.
5. A translation app for one-off conversations
Translation apps, including Apple's Translate app on iPhone, are good for the unusual questions that no sign covers. They're slower for the routine ones, because both people have to stop and pass a phone back and forth.
6. An AI assistant that answers in the customer's language
For the routine questions that come all day, a voice assistant on the counter saves both sides the effort. Kioskly AI speaks 25 languages: you pick its default, and with Premium a customer taps Change Language and is greeted, heard and answered in theirs, using only the information you added.
7. Your website and online listings
Many visitors check your hours and location before they arrive. Put the basics in your top languages on your website and your map listings, so fewer people need to ask at all.
How to be understood, in any language
- Short sentences, plain words. "The restroom is at the back, on the left" translates well. Jokes and slang don't.
- Numbers and pictures. Prices, times, aisle numbers and icons need no translation.
- Point and show. Walking a customer to the shelf beats any explanation.
- Confirm. Repeat the key fact back: "Aisle 4?" with four fingers works everywhere.
What not to leave to a machine
Allergies, medicines, refunds and complaints need a person, or at least a professionally translated sheet. Kioskly AI is built this way: it sends allergy and medical questions to your staff in every language, instead of trying to answer them.
Answer in 25 languages with Kioskly AI
- Add your information once, in your languageKioskly AI translates the facts when it answers in another language.
- Pick the default languageThe one most of your customers speak. Your greeting is translated into every language automatically.
- Let customers switch (Premium)A Change Language button, always in English so anyone can find it, lets a customer pick theirs.
- It switches back on its ownWhen the customer leaves, Kioskly AI returns to your default language for the next person.
Customer
Où sont les cabines d’essayage ?
Kioskly
Les cabines d’essayage sont au fond du magasin, à gauche.
Français
Frequently asked questions
Which languages should I start with?
The ones your customers already speak, not the ones you expect. Check your reviews, booking data and card payment countries, and ask your team which languages they struggle with most. Two or three usually cover most visitors.
Are translation apps good enough for customer service?
For everyday questions, usually yes. For allergens, medicines and anything legal, use a professionally translated sheet or a staff member, because a small mistake there matters.
Do I need to translate my information into every language for an AI assistant?
Not with Kioskly AI. Add your hours, menus and policies once, in your own language. When a customer picks another language, it translates the facts as it answers.
Sources & further reading