Language barriers with nannies.
![[Post New]](/nanny-forum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I see this all the time on here. "This and that is difficult because there is a language barrier between the nanny and I" or something of that nature. WTH! How can you trust someone to properlly watch your kid while they can hardly communicate with the parents? Whenever I see someone say something about language barriers and their nanny, I assume that their kid sits at home all day watching tv while the nanny just sits and watches him. What else could they do when they can't communicate all that well? Talk about unsafe, too.
Anyways, there's my little rant for the day. |
Hydro
Member Offline
Member Offline
|
I was an au pair in Europe for a year. Before I arrived I spoke NONE of the language whatsoever. My DB knew English moderately well (but traveled often for work), my MB very little, and my 7 year old charge spoke no English at all. Once I arrived, I enrolled in language classes but my progress was incredibly slow :long story short, I was learning German but living in Switzerland in an area that speaks Swiss German which is a virtually unwritten language and varies greatly by village - therefore I wasn't hearing "high German" around me and once people realized I had an American accent, they simply spoke to me in English.
However, the 7 year old an I communicated fabulously! In the beginning, we had to be creative (drawing pictures, looking up words, using grand gestures and acting things out). And around three months into my stay, my charge was more fluent in English than either of her parents and often acted as an interpreter between MB/DB and I. Meanwhile, at around the same 3 month mark, I was still struggling to ask "where is the train station" in German. Children have an incredible ability to communicate creatively and pick up on new languages. |
Hydro
Member Offline
Member Offline
|
I forgot to add that I did far more than supervise TV watching. I did school and activity pick ups/drop offs, organized play dates, took her out on adventures through the city (museums, restaurants, movies), did homework help, and tons and tons of crafts - not to mention all the cooking, daily grocery shopping, and heavy housework.
It's totally possible to communicate well, even with a language barrier, as long as both parties try hard enough. |
Anonymous
| I agree with you OP. I don't get it at all. |
Anonymous
So you could talk to the parents primarily through their seven year old, and you were able to communicate with the outaide world only because your native tongue was a common second language in the area? The second one isn't applicable in the majority of the US, and the first is hardly ideal. |