I have a business idea! Cleaning Lady Translator Service

penguin

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 6:17 pm

Don't you know the story about the man who was eating at a kosher restaurant and the newly immigrated Chinese waiter was shmuezing with him in fluent Yiddish?

"Where did your employee learn Yiddish?" asked the customer of the proprietor.

"SHHH! He thinks I'm teaching him English!"

Raisin

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 6:22 pm

I have a language in common with my cleaning lady but I still find it hard to give complicated instructions in a language I am not totally fluent in. But then, I am terrible at all languages. bh I can say basic stuff though, and my husband helps translate if necessary.

debsey

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 6:33 pm

Well, guess what! I don't speak yiddish. I don't speak spanish. I don't speak French, Russian, or any other language (despite FIVE YEARS of French, one of which was at the college level)
I'm terrible at languages (though I flatter myself that my command of English is rather good......)
So learning Spanish is out.
I really need someone to come and communicate for me!

UQT

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 7:58 pm

I actually call my husband's Spanish worker who speaks a passible English and ask him to translate for me. What they are probably saying is something closer to Marina's video.

sequoia

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 8:17 pm

amother wrote:

I need a Ukrainian translator !! I need to tell my cleaning lady not to use so much soap on the floors but I have no idea how and I need to leave it in a note. Google translator doesn't get things across do clearly.
Anon because I've been telling my friends this.

Are you sure she doesn't speak Russian? Only Ukrainian?

amother

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 9:37 pm

amother wrote:

Yiddish? What does that have to do with Spanish? English is a lot closer if anything... And not a single housekeeper I had knew the word shmatta.

All of mine know the word shmatta and that's in Lakewood, Brooklyn, and the mountains. It is a universal word by now.

Call Denise O'hayon, debsey. She'll set you up with someone to translate for you. I have a neighbor that does it but not sure she'd appreciate being plastered all over the internet.

amother

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 9:39 pm

The last time I asked my MIL to tell my cleaning lady something over the phone the poor woman ended up in tears. My MIL literally shrieks when she talks and she scared the woman witless. Needless to say, I use google translate now.

debsey

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 9:42 pm

amother wrote:

Thanks. I know she used to do an agency, but didn't want to bother her.

turca

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 9:49 pm

debsey wrote:

This is more like what I'm looking for. A frum person who will understand my needs so she can explain it clearly. I'd even pay someone like 15 an hour to come to my house and help me show my cleaning lady exactly what I mean.

$15/ h???
Do u know how much a translator cost???
If I would ever take money for that, it would cost much more.

gp2.0

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 9:53 pm

I used google translate to write notes for my cleaning lady when I wasn't there in the morning and she understood fine. Tell us what you need translated and we can all look it over to make sure that the right message is getting across.

amother

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 10:22 pm

amother wrote:

Universal in Lakewood, Brooklyn and the Catskills maybe but there are a whole lot of frum Jews who don't live in any of those places.

DrMom

Mon, Sep 22 2014, 10:39 pm

amother wrote:

Universal in Lakewood, Brooklyn and the Catskills maybe but there are a whole lot of frum Jews who don't live in any of those places.

I love how Lakewood + Brooklyn + Catskills ("the mountains!") = "The Universe".

Scrabble123

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 1:16 am

Debsey if you need help with a few things, I'll help you. I enjoy your posts, and this will be my way of saying thank you for the great posts. I'm pretty busy now, but I can try.

Mama Bear

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 9:40 am

I actually find that google translate is pretty accurate, and I've learned enough spanish to tell them that manana trabajar por favor, and domingo no trabajar porque mi casa es limpia porque mi hijo no en casa and so forth. Even if it's broken spanish it's enough to get the point across, comprende? I'm sure between google translate and pantomiming you can communicate somehow... lol

sequoia

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 9:52 am

amother wrote:

Sequoia, Russian would work too, but Google translator butchered the last note I left in both Russian and Ukrainian.

Ne izpol'zyute tak mnogo myla kogda moete pol.

debsey

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:16 pm

Scrabble123 wrote:

Debsey if you need help with a few things, I'll help you. I enjoy your posts, and this will be my way of saying thank you for the great posts. I'm pretty busy now, but I can try.

Scrabble, you are so sweet! That offer made my day. I'm still holding out for finding someone to come to my house and help me go through it thing by thing with her. A friend of mine has a live-in housekeeper who speaks fluent English and Spanish, so I might ask to hire her for one day of Chol HaMoed (my friend is going to Israel) and have her come and help me that way. (and yes, I expect to pay her 15 an hour -it's more than she makes cleaning houses, but since I can't hire her for a full day, that seems fair to me)
It will cost a lot, having two ladies there, but this way, my lady will fully understand what I'm trying to say to her.
debsey

penguin

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:24 pm

Seriously dating myself, but Marina's video reminded me of an episode of Leave it to Beaver!

I'm going to hide it so all my fellow oldsters can try to remember.

He had a new boy in his class who only spoke Spanish.

Hidden:

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Sep 23 2014, 2:29 pm

amother wrote:

Wow, talk about being very narrow minded.
Do you really think that every Jew knows the word shmatta? Or even yiddish? And lakewoo, brooklyn and the mountains (which mountains would that be?) are not the world.

Very very narrow minded.