A booking in a foreign city depends on a handful of short exchanges: the message you send, the confirmation you read, a few words at the door and a few more during the evening. If any of those feels uncertain, the whole booking feels uncertain. This guide explains how English speaking body to body in Amsterdam works on the roster, which women speak which other languages, how to write a booking message when English is not your first language, and a few simple words that make an evening in a second language comfortable for both of you. Every name below is a real woman on the portrait wall, and every language listed is printed on her card.
English on the wall: the common language
Every one of the fifteen women speaks English. It is the language the office writes in, the language of the confirmation, and the language most sessions are conducted in, whatever the passports of the two people in the room. That reflects the city itself. English is widely spoken in Amsterdam, more than in many cities of continental Europe, and nearly everyone who works with international visitors uses English every day.
For the guest, this means that choosing a woman never depends on finding one who can understand you. You can choose on look, on format, on the district she sets out from or on the kind of evening you want, and communication will follow. The women's English varies in accent, not in usefulness. Some speak it with the rhythm of Kyiv, some with the vowels of Madrid or Copenhagen, and all of them are used to guests whose English is equally accented.
The native speaker
One woman on the roster grew up with English as her first language: Molly, who is Irish, twenty-five, and sets out from Centrum. Guests from the United Kingdom, Ireland, North America, Australia and New Zealand sometimes choose her for exactly that reason. Jokes land, idioms need no explanation, and a conversation can wander the way it would at home. Guests whose own English is a second language sometimes also prefer her, because a native speaker tends to adjust her speed and vocabulary naturally to the person in front of her. The page on Molly sets out her formats, height and rates.
English speaking body to body with a second language
Beside English, the women speak twelve other languages between them. The list is short enough to set out in full:
- Ukrainian: Angelika and Violetta
- Hungarian: Bianka
- Dutch: Cindy and Lucie
- French: Danielle and Lucie
- German: Jasmin
- Polish: Karolina
- Italian: Laura and Liana
- Czech: Lea
- Romanian: Liana
- Spanish: Luna
- Serbian: Milena
- Danish: Nora
Two women speak three languages each. Lucie, who is Belgian, speaks French, Dutch and English. Liana, who is Romanian, speaks Romanian, Italian and English. Neighbouring languages help too: a Slovak guest can usually follow Lea's Czech, Croatian and Bosnian speakers understand Milena's Serbian, and a Norwegian or Swedish guest will often manage Nora's Danish, at least in its slower form. Portuguese speakers frequently find Luna's Spanish easy enough to follow when both speak slowly.
When to choose on language
For many guests language is a detail. For others it changes the whole evening, and it is worth knowing which group you are in before you choose. Language tends to matter most in four situations. The first is a first booking of this kind, when being able to ask small questions without searching for words makes a guest far more relaxed. The second is the end of a long business trip, when a week of meetings in English has left a guest tired of translating himself. The third is a guest whose English is basic, for whom even simple arrangements feel stressful in a second language. The fourth is a couple, where one partner speaks good English and the other does not.
If you are in one of these situations, narrow the wall by language first, then choose by face. The guide to choosing a therapist goes through the other filters in order.
Writing the booking message when English is not your first language
The office reads messages written in every kind of English, including messages typed into a translation app. Nobody minds mistakes. What makes a message easy to answer is not grammar but completeness. Include five things, each on its own line if that helps: the name of the woman, or two names; the hotel name or the street and house number; the date and the time; the length; and whether you are alone or with a partner. A message as short as this is perfect: Jasmin or Lucie. Hotel on Damrak. Today 22:00. One hour. Alone.
Use the twenty-four hour clock for times. It removes the confusion between morning and evening that trips up many visitors. Be particularly careful with the word half. In Dutch and German, half ten means half an hour before ten, that is 9:30, while in British English it means 10:30. A Dutch-speaking guest who writes half ten may be expecting a knock an hour earlier than the office reads. Writing 21:30 or 22:30 avoids the problem entirely.
If you write in your own language, the office may still answer in English, because English is the language every woman on the roster shares. Replies are kept short and simple, with numbers written as figures.
Understanding the confirmation
The confirmation is always brief. It names the woman, the date and time, the length and the total in euros. It gives the arrival window, which for a central address is forty to sixty minutes from confirmation when you book for as soon as possible. If a deposit applies, it states the amount, always half of the total, and the details for sending it follow in the same chat after the office has accepted the booking. If any word in the confirmation is unclear, simply ask. A one-word reply such as deposit? or time? is enough, and the office will explain in simpler words.
Deposits apply to every first booking with the house, to anything booked more than twenty-four hours ahead, to two women, overnights, three hours or more, Schiphol and airport hotels, and peak dates. They are paid by card first, or by Revolut, Wise or crypto, and a cancellation made more than a day ahead brings the whole deposit back. The full text in plain English is on the cancellation policy page.
A few words that make the evening easier
You do not need a phrase book. A handful of simple English words covers nearly everything a guest might want to say, and the women use the same words themselves. Slower and faster. Softer and firmer. Warmer, for the room or the oil. A small break, please. Stop, which is always respected immediately and needs no explanation. Yes and no, said clearly. If you do not understand something she says, it is perfectly fine to say sorry, again please, or to show with a gesture. Most women on the roster have worked with guests from dozens of countries and are good at reading what a guest means before he finds the words.
Equally, if you prefer silence, say so at the beginning. Quiet please, or no talking is fine, is a request the women are used to and not at all rude.
Talking to the office, and talking to her
It helps to know that the booking involves two separate conversations. The first is with the office, in the chat, and it is practical: names, times, addresses and amounts. The second is with the woman herself, once she arrives, and it is personal. You can write to the office in simple English or through a translation app and still choose a woman who speaks your own language for the evening. Guests often do exactly that, using English for the arrangements and switching to German, Polish or Italian at the door. Nothing about the arrangements needs repeating at the door, and any preference about conversation or quiet can simply be said to her when she arrives.
Couples who speak different languages
Couples are often mixed: one partner Spanish and the other German, one Dutch and one English. When a couple books one woman together, choosing someone who shares a language with the less confident partner usually works well, since the other partner can follow in English. Lucie is an easy choice for a French and Dutch pair, Liana for a Romanian and Italian pair. A couple sharing one woman pays the couple line on the rates table, three hundred and sixty euros for one hour and seven hundred and twenty for two hours.
Pairs of women who share a language
Seven women give four hands: Bianka, Danielle, Karolina, Lea, Lucie, Milena and Nora. Only one pair among them shares a language other than English, and that is Danielle and Lucie, who both speak French. For a French-speaking guest who wants two women, that pair means the whole evening can run in French. Every other pair speaks English together, which the guest will hear as easy, natural conversation. A single guest with two women pays three hundred and sixty euros an hour, and every booking with two women carries a deposit of half.
Whichever language you choose to speak, the rules underneath do not change: the house books guests who are twenty-one or over, the reply agrees the hour in writing, and the woman you chose usually reaches a central address forty to sixty minutes after that.