SMS notices in Portuguese and English: sending each customer the notice in their language

WhatsApp & APIs·· 9 views· 3 min read

The short answer: the SMS goes out exactly as you send it: there is no automatic translation. Store each customer's language, have each notice written in both languages and pick the right text before sending. Mind the cost: Portuguese accents can put a message into Unicode, and English rarely does.

On the SMS page in Meu MozOut

1 Split your contacts by language into groups, such as "Customers PT" and "Customers EN". Each contact should be in only one of them.
2 Keep one template per language for each notice you repeat: "Lembrete de consulta (PT)" and "Appointment reminder (EN)".
3 Send or schedule twice, one send per group, each with its own template.

Through the API

Your system picks the text from the customer's language field and sends it as usual. In a batch send, each entry can carry its own text, so one list can hold customers in both languages.

The Accept-Language header only changes the language of the API's own messages (errors, for instance), not the SMS the customer receives.

What each language costs

Text Alphabet Characters per part
Reminder: your appointment is tomorrow at 10:00. GSM-7 160 in one part; 153 per part if longer
Lembrete: tem consulta amanhã às 10h00. Unicode, because of the "ã" 70 in one part; 67 per part if longer

The same notice can use more credits in Portuguese. The maths is in how many credits an SMS uses and, for developers, in GSM-7 or Unicode in SMS.

Dropping accents to save money? You can, but read the result out loud. A word or two is fine, but a text full of words missing their accents looks careless and sometimes suspicious. Shortening the sentence is usually the better fix.
Do not leave language to chance. Ask for it at sign-up or at the counter, next to the phone number. A customer who reads English and gets a notice in Portuguese may ignore it, and the other way round.

Want to talk to each customer in their own language? See the SMS prices.

See SMS prices

SEE ALSO

How many credits an SMS uses: 160, 153, 70 and 67 characters explained

GSM-7 or Unicode in SMS: why one accent splits a message into more parts

SMS templates and AI: ready-made messages, the template library and improving a text

Notification preferences: letting customers choose which SMS notices they receive

Sending many SMS notices in one API request: the batch endpoint and its results

SMS contacts and groups: importing a CSV list and keeping it clean

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