Romanian language

Google translate.. will give basic words and phrases...as a starter..

As a rule of thumb if you think something might be racist then it probably is.

They don't use the Cyrillic alphabet. If you know your Latin, it is very similar to that. We once stood in front of a restaurant in Israel, trying to figure out why the menu was in Latin, until it dawned on us that it must be Romanian.

You could maybe learn Please and Thank You?

You could physically show them the tasks.

I don't think you need to be any more careful than basic common sense.

The Romanian builders we had were lovely.

I think Duolingo does it.

No idea, but I believe Romanian is Latin based, apropos I imagine of soldiers when leaving the Roman army 2000 years ago being granted land in Dacia, as Romania was called then. Not that is any help to you OP. I must say I'd like to hear it spoken, as I imagine it sounds different from other Eastern European languages which are indistinguishable to my ears.

Fennel, you are evidently not racist because you honestly question your own motives. Racists don't do that.

omniglot.com/language/phrases/romanian.php

"You could physically show them the tasks."
grapefruit you don't know my cleaning skills which are almost nil!
Husband does most of the cleaning, he's very particular and has various pieces of sophisticated equipment.
Thanks for the other ideas - I do know latin so that should make it easier. I was just thinking of translating words like bucket, mop, water, upstairs, downstairs. etc
When she came for the interview she had a friend who spoke english on her mobile phone but I think it would help her if she actually learnt a few words herself.

ps I think husband is going to have to demonstrate.

Here's a thought.....husband writes down the tasks and demonstrates.

Number one......empty the bins. She uses google translate and writes down.

When she does the clean, she ticks off as she goes along.

I have a feeling this won’t end well.

Don't say that UG! I'm already not looking forward to it - we haven't had a cleaning lady for 30+ years. Since we were both working fulltime with 4 children at school. And that was only 1 morning a week, mainly to do the ironing. Until I made the kids do their own, and ours.
But I think husband is going to have to help to explain , he's the fussy one.
I just thought it would help her to get more work if she learnt english.

he's the fussy one.

There’s the nub of it Fennel
That and the fact that he has specialist equipment (?to be cleaned) by a non English speaking cleaner.

I see trouble ahead. Good luck.

I’d be going with my gut feeling before it all starts.
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I have had non English speaking carers before. It didn't go well.
I have had Bulgarian carers with good English and it was great. They left the job for a high paid one (carers are always on min wage)

I think the language barrier will go if the cleaner wants to learn English otherwise it can be very weird. You cannot chat for a start.

I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that it might be handy to know some Latin before engaging the services of a cleaner.

I live in a parallel universe I think ...
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How interesting! I've just been carried away by Wiki's item on Romanian. It has some cognates in common with the other Romance languages around the Mediterranean and, like them, goes right back to the Roman Empire!
Not that all that is much use to the OP. I'd advise the cleaner to get herself on to a TEFL course and prepare her for it by giving her the words for the things she will be using around the house. Could be fun!

Hi Fennel! Romanians use Latin alphabet. Romania isn't a Slavic country but a Latin one like France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. In the past, this country was called Dacia. The language is similar to Spanish or Italian. When you want to tell her where to clean use the Romanian word a curatza= to clean. Usually, the letters are pronounced as they are written, . So you can tell her clean here = Curatza aici ( clean=curatza here=aici). The Romanian word for vacuum cleaner is "aspirator", cloth for cleaning, napkin= carpa, laundry detergent= detergent de rufe( laundry= de rufe), dishes=vase with s like in English alphabet, soap= sapun, broom= matura. Use the vaccum cleaner= Foloseste aspiratorul ( use= foloseshte), sh=s in Romanian. Empty the bins= Goleshte coshurile. Clean the dust= Shterge praful (clean= shterge, the dust=praful). Romanians are nice people like the Brits , but bad people are in every country. Most problems appear when gypsies from Romania go to other countries to steal and beg for money, because they don't like to work. There are a few gypsies who work honestly as musicians and other crafts. Gypsies from Romania are an ethnic group brought here by the Ottoman Empire and they have other habits than the rest of the world. As Grapefruitpip said google translate is very useful. I hope that these Romanian words will be helpful for you!

That’s really interesting Izabela. My first Romanian words...
Especially aspirator, who woukd have thought that would be a vacuum cleaner. Thanks.

Fennel a few years ago I had a couple of Czechoslovakia people staying with us, and Google translate was a lifesaver. I would sit in front of my laptop and type out a sentence in English and hit "Translate to ..." and then one of the guests would read it and respond by doing the same in reverse. It does mean sitting at a computer, but it is extremely useful should you get stuck with detail.

E.g. I can tell you that Do you like cleaning? translates as
Iti place curatarea? in Romanian.

BTW my daughter claims, with all the use of emojis, that we will soon be back to hieroglyphics ...

OOh, I've just realised that you can type in your sentence into Google translate and hit the "audio" icon, and the computer speaks what you've written in Romanian, and vice versa.

I'm on grandchildren-care rota when my son and dil's very hardworking Romanian cleaner is working there. Izabela Is there a colloquial sort of term to say "Thank you so much"

She has very limited English but is an absolute delight. We get by on body/sign language and gesture but I'd like to show how much I appreciate her by using some of her own language.

Thanks for this thread. I never knew that Romanian was one of the Roman languages. The clue is in the name, I suppose. doh!

Izabella thanks for the words - many of them are like french, which I can speak. eg vacuum cleaner is aspirateur in french. Both languages descended from latin.