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Help! My Ethiopian housemaid doesn't speak english...

dreamy740

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 29 September 2011 - 15:05

It's so frustrating... Have you dealt with such situation? What did you do?
Is it possible to find some cookbooks in amharic?
She doesn't even read english/latin transcript.

Thanks in advance...

pink+blue

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 14 October 2011 - 23:29

Hi dreamy, I speak Ethiopian language as well as English, I will be happy to help, my email address is hayat.ss@ gmail dot com, or let me know you number I will call you. Huda

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dreamy740

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 30 September 2011 - 20:06

Well, after 2 days things are better :) I installed on my phone an application that has Amharic translations to many words (in audio) and that has helped a lot. I think I'll end up learning the language as well :)))) Anyway, here attitude counts the most for me, and this seems to be very good for now. She's a very positive person, willing to learn and do whatever needs to be done. Metness, thanks for your help offer and for the tip on buying DVD, that'll help, as she'll have some free time, so it will help in spending it as well. In the meantime I gave a task to one of my daughters to teach her English, and I believe this may have synergistic effect, as both the maid will learn something and my daughter's confidence will get a boost... :) Also, after 2 days, I get the feeling she starts to understand some words that are being repeated. So, there is a hope. Thanks everybody. P.S. Her CV stated she spoke English... :/ You can imagine my shock and frustration when she arrived.

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AnonDubai

5452

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 30 September 2011 - 08:03

I had a maid once who arrived speaking no English. After a year, she understood everything I said to her! Living with your family will be total immersion for her, which is a great thing... You need to be very patient and model everything to her yourself. Never expect her to understand anything you say unless you have modeled it. Repeat things many time. It also helps to write out directions in simple English and go over them with her. After a few months, she will probably have a good understanding of English and you will be happy you persisted!

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Anonymous (not verified)

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 30 September 2011 - 00:38

Hi, I understand your situation. I had previously warned someone here on this forum about Ethiopian maids' language skills. I am Ethiopian myself but understand English only because i went to one of the private schools there and my parents had to pay a lot of money for that. I am always grateful to them for sending me to one of the better schools. Most of the girls that come here to work as maids do so because they do not have any opportunity in ethiopia as they lack basic education they need to land a decent job there. such is the situation in Ethiopia for many people unfortunately. It is very difficult to communicate with someone that won't understand you. Let me know if I can help? There are cook books in Amharic but I've only ever seen them in Ethiopia- not here. May be you can buy her one of those language DVDs (you can find amharic/English ones in most of the malls here). Alternatively you can post some basic words and I can tell you how to say them in Amharic until you resolve the issue. Good luck!

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