SektorCepte · 2026-10-26
A Second Language for a Street With Tourists
If tourists walk your street, add one more language. Hours, address, how to order, and the price stay the same. You do not translate the whole site on the first day.
If tourists pass your street and the window stays in one language, the sale stops in front of the door. The person does not understand the menu, cannot read the hours, and walks on without coming in. A second language is not translating the whole site that week. It is writing, clearly, the four things asked on that street: what you sell, what you charge, what hours you are open, and how to order. Those four things say the same facts in both languages. If one is current and the other is old, the tourist arrives at the wrong hour.
1. Choose the language of the street
Do not open every language at once. Choose the language you hear on your street. A person who asks for the morning coffee in that language expects the menu to be readable in it too. A further language comes only when a second crowd actually stands on the same street. A third language is not added before the first two stand properly. The name of the language should be clear from the sentence of the page itself, not from a flag. A flag stays small on a phone and can point at the wrong country. Write the name of the language at the top of the page. The person should see a letter they recognise. Putting a language you do not speak on the page does not mean you will answer in it. Say in one sentence on the page that the order can also go in Turkish, or by pointing.
2. Write the four things first
Let the first page stay short. The name of the trade, three examples, the price, the hours, the address. Leave your story, the year you opened, and a long greeting for another day. A hungry tourist looks for the hour and the price. An about page is not read at that moment. The price should be the same figure in both languages. A reduction in one and the ordinary price in the other should not stand. The hours should match as well. If you write the midday break in one language and forget it in the other, someone arrives during that break. Write the address with the neighbourhood and the name of the stop. The shop name alone is not enough for a person who does not know the street. The pin on the map and the address on the page should show the same door.
3. Let the order sentence be short and shared
Write how to order in the same steps in both languages. Come in, say the number, pay at the till. Or sit down and say how many people. The steps should not pass three. A long rule sends a hungry person away. Do not mix the kitchen language with the page language. If the dish has a name in that language, put the name you use beside it. The person serving should not have to hunt the foreign name in the kitchen. The photo should be the same frame in both languages. A separate photo is taken as a separate portion. The allergen line should stand in the second language as well. Write what is inside, not only the dish whose translation sounds pleasant. If the contents are not carried over, the page is a window and not information.
4. Update both languages on the same day
When the hours change, both pages change. Leaving one until tomorrow sends the person who arrives in that language to the wrong door. The same holds when the price changes. When a reduction ends, it comes off in both languages. A holiday closure carries the same dates in both. Make this one person's job. If two people correct separately, one language is forgotten. Once a month, open the two pages side by side. See whether the hours, the price, and the address match. If they do not, correct them in that sitting. Leaving last season's sentence in the second language makes the shop look abandoned. A tourist does not take an abandoned page for an open shop.
5. Let the page carry what you cannot say
If you do not speak the second language fluently, do not hide that. The page carries the order. The chat can stay short. A point, a number, and the line on the page are enough. People are used to this. Promising a long conversation and then going quiet hurts more than a page that is simply correct. In the greeting, say that an order can be taken in writing. Write calmly that you cannot hold a long talk in that language on the phone. A calm sentence shows an arrangement, not a lack of skill. You may learn the language later. The page does the work from that day. A page that works holds more of the sale than three sentences learned by heart.
This week, choose the language you hear most on your street. Write the four things in it: what, the price, the hours, how to order. Set it beside the Turkish page and compare the figures. If one differs, correct it the same day.