6 October 2026 ยท 4 min read ยท fad.fyi team
Hinglish customers and AI: speak the way your customers type
Your customers type "kitna hai" and "kal open hai". Here is how to set up an AI chatbot that answers in Hindi, Hinglish or English, the natural way.
Your customers do not type in textbook English
Open your WhatsApp Business chats. You will see "bhaiya rate kya hai", "aaj open ho?", "COD hai kya". This is how a large part of India chats. It is not wrong Hindi or wrong English. It is Hinglish, and it is the natural language of the shop counter.
A chatbot that only speaks formal English feels like a call centre script. A chatbot that answers "Haan, COD available hai, โน50 extra lagega" feels like your shop. The second one feels like talking to you, and that is the whole point of having your own fad.
Turn on the languages your customers use
A fad can answer in English, Hindi and Hinglish. You pick the languages in the Shape it step when you create it, or later in the Voice tab on the Manage page. Pick more than one if your customers mix, because many do within a single message.
Pick a tone too. Friendly suits shops, tuition classes and home businesses. Professional suits clinics, CAs and offices. Concise is good when people want a quick fact. Try two settings in Try it and keep the one that sounds like you on a good day.
Write the welcome and questions in their words
The welcome message is the first thing people read. Write it the way you greet a customer: "Namaste, main {name} hoon. Price, timing ya delivery ke baare mein poochhiye." Then write three suggested questions the way people really ask them: "Rate kya hai?", "Timing kya hai?", "Delivery hoti hai?".
Suggested questions are buttons. On a phone, tapping is easier than typing, and a Hinglish button tells the visitor they can type in Hinglish too. That small signal matters. It tells them this chat is for them, not for someone else.
Feed it the spellings people use
Hinglish has no fixed spelling. "Kitna", "kitnaa", "ktna". "Kya", "kia", "kyaa". Your documents are probably in English, and that is fine. For the most common questions, add Q&A pairs using the spellings your customers use. A Q&A pair is answered exactly as you wrote it, so the reply is always the one you want.
Then watch the Teach tab. It collects the questions the fad could not answer and the replies people gave a thumbs down. Many will be Hinglish variants. Write the answer once, in Hinglish, and it becomes a Q&A pair for everyone who asks later.
Keep the numbers clear
Prices and timings must never get lost in translation. Write them both ways where you can: "โน500 (paanch sau)" and "10 baje se 8 baje tak (10 am to 8 pm)". Put them in Q&A pairs so they come back word for word, in any language the customer uses.
When in doubt, keep it simple. Short sentences, common words, the numbers in digits. That is good advice for your fad, and for the signboard outside your shop too. Your customers will thank you by actually reading it, and by coming back with the next question.