in some languages there is no word as 'date' and it's pretty difficult to make your intentions clear on that matter...

My language for example. I thought about explicitly using some word as this, but couldn't find a word that clearly states 'going out for a romantic rantez-vous'. Well, maybe rephrasing it would work, but this could be equal to speaking of your feelings, which in my opinion is the best option.

There was no 'legitimate' reason not to use the word 'date', I admit. The only thing I can say in my defense is that before this, it was always communicated implicitly and seemed to work out fine, so I never even gave it a thought in this case.

@Boblicon Yeah, depends on the person you're communicating with if they get the hint or not. But for 'important' things like the fact that something is a date, I would personally always go for explicitly :)

Exactly...we call "rendevouz" every kind of appointment. The person suggesting it might also use it humorously. You never know until the intentions of the other part are made clear.

@Tycho'sNose there's no word for "date" in French. In fact, the whole romantic lexicon is a mess in French :| -- Note: "rendez-vous" just means "appointment" here, so no dice.

Google translate gives rendez-vous amoureux or rendez-vous d'amour for 'date'. And if that doesn't work in French, why not try "Will you go on what they call "a date" in English with me?." :P

@Tinkeringbell yep, but that's extra clumsy and wouldn't really fit in a discussion. Using "date" as-is might actually work, if served with a dash of humour!

@Tinkeringbell im like you.. i dont assume its a date at all unless it is stated clearly. I have had one-on-one with guys and most of the time i dont assume its a date.

@Tinkerbell In several non-US (non-English?) cultures the only word there is to match 'date' in English is...'date' as a foreign word. And in the cultures I know, it would seem slightly to totally awkward to explicitly state that. Teenagers might do it when first encountering the concept of having a partner (and what they have can hardly be called dates by adult definitions^^), people in their 20s would only use it jokingly, like "oh, so this is a date, haha!" to half-earnestly clarify or tease the other one. Not saying it's strictly by language/country, but it also depends on the milieu.

While this is totally the answer I thought of too, it occurs to me that the OP (though probably male) never explicitly identified as such. I have known lesbians who have had trouble communicating this clearly even when using the word "date". I even know of a few rare cases where this has happened with straight couples.

@called2voyage Good point :) The answer applies to everybody. The "If some guy asked.." part is partially from experience, so it is a little biased indeed :).

@Tinkeringbell Of course, I was thinking though that perhaps we need an answer that goes a little bit beyond just saying to use the word date, but that also says a little more on how to communicate this effectively.

@Tinkeringbell otherwise there is the word "rencard" in french, a bit familiar though :)

@Tycho'sNose If you ask someone a "rendez-vous" in french, and with a good phrasing like "Est-ce que ça t'intéresserait un rendez-vous avec moi ?" it would usually be understood as a romantic date.

@Tycho'sNose Keep in mind that it might need some tailoring depending on who you're asking out ^^

Just as a note: People in general don't take hints well. You could say the same thing about probably any person and it'd be the same story.

@A_NR So then you realise those times you hung out were actually dates. Maybe that's all a "date" is - it's hanging out which starts a relationship. In which case it really doesn't matter whether either side sees it as a date or not.

@quentin If you use rendez-vous to meet someone an evening, I think the context will be enough. Even better you can say "rencard". I'm telling that but I perfectly know that is quite uncommon in french to call a spade a spade in those cases and it's quite problematic.

One way to slip this in subtly is to make the plans, and after confirming the time and activity, casually say, "great, it's a date!" The downside of this method is it's still not 100% clear what your intentions are, but if you're just too nervous to come right out and say "do you want to go on a date with me?" it at least gets the word "date" out there in a less scary way.

In some countries (Germany as an example) the mere concept of a “date” doesn’t exist, and no one would point out that this is a date. You could improve your answer by including a formulation that makes the inclination of going there clear, without relying on cultural aspects.

@Narusan well, in switzerland, the word date has been adopted, because as you said, it doesn't exist in german. It's funny sometimes