Domestic Staff Who Speak Another Language: Contract, Rules, Respect

If your helper, nanny or driver speaks a different language, three habits prevent most misunderstandings: a contract translated by a person, short written instructions, and working hours that apply to messages too. Piou handles the everyday part: each of you writes in your own language and, with Piou Premium, reads the other person’s messages in your own, as long as both languages are among the 20 that Piou supports. For the contract, pay and health, machine translation is never enough on its own.

Have the contract translated by a person, then read it together

The contract sets pay, hours, the weekly day off, duties, leave and how the job can end. A machine translation can shift the meaning of a word, drop a “not” or garble a number, and the person signing needs to understand every line in a language they read fluently.

• Hire a professional translator and give your employee a copy in each language.
• Go through it together, clause by clause, and leave room for questions. If you share no language, bring in an interpreter or someone your employee trusts, not only someone you trust.
• Don’t use Piou for this step: it doesn’t translate documents or PDFs, and an attachment arrives exactly as it was sent.
• Minimum pay, rest days, leave and work permits depend on the country. Check with the official labor and immigration authorities where you live.

Write instructions that survive translation

The messages that translate best are short and concrete: one instruction per message, with a time, a place or a quantity. Humor, sarcasm, idioms and abbreviations tend to break. “Can you keep an eye on Leo while I pop out?” may come out oddly, while “Please stay with Leo during his nap, from 2 to 3 p.m. I’ll be back at 3:30” leaves no room for doubt.

Here is a typical exchange with Dewi, who reads in Indonesian:

• You write: “Mia’s lunch is at 12:30. No nuts of any kind: she’s allergic.”
• Dewi reads: “Makan siang Mia pukul 12.30. Tanpa kacang jenis apa pun: dia alergi.”
• Dewi replies: “Bu, susu Mia sudah habis. Saya beli di minimarket, ya?”
• You read: “Ma’am, Mia’s milk has run out. I’ll buy some at the minimart, okay?”

Each translated message carries a “Translated” label, and “Show original” displays the exact words that were typed. A weekly schedule (meals, naps, school runs, chores), sent once and pinned in the chat, saves you from repeating the same instructions.

Working hours apply to messages too

A messaging app makes everyone reachable at any hour, which is exactly why you need clear rules, agreed on day one:

• no messages outside working hours or on the day off, unless it’s a real emergency;
• if an instruction comes to mind in the evening, jot it down and send it the next morning;
• during breaks and meals, don’t expect an instant reply.

Your employee’s private life belongs to them. Their phone, their conversations, their passport and ID stay with them, and you don’t ask to see their messages. For running the household, one Piou group with both parents and your employee covers groceries, schedules and last-minute changes. Personal topics such as pay, health or time off belong in a private chat, never in the group.

Safety and emergencies: prepare before you need it

An emergency is no time to translate. Prepare a sheet, written in both languages by a person, with:

• the local emergency numbers and your full home address, to give to responders;
• your phone numbers, plus a neighbor or relative who can be reached;
• each child’s allergies and medication;
• what to do, in order: call emergency services first, then you.

Print it and put it on the fridge. Piou doesn’t translate photos, so a picture of the sheet would not be translated; that’s why it should already be bilingual. Also know this: Piou calls only connect Piou users. You can’t reach emergency services or any regular phone number through the app, so in an emergency, dial the local number directly.

On the first day, Face to face mode makes the house tour much easier: put the phone between you, speak your own languages, and the app shows the translation and reads it aloud. One phone is enough, and the mode works offline once the languages are downloaded.

Languages: what Piou translates, and what it doesn’t

Piou translates between 20 languages, including Indonesian, Hindi, Arabic, English, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese. Tagalog, Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali, Nepali, Sinhala and Amharic are not on the list, so a message written in one of them will not be translated.

Don’t guess someone’s language from their passport. Ask which language they read most comfortably. If it’s one of the 20 (many people also read English or Hindi, for instance), they pick it in Settings → Language & translation. If not, keep a simple shared language for daily life and use an interpreter for anything important.

Even between supported languages, translation slips: names, abbreviations, typos, messages that mix two languages. Politeness gets lost too. In Indonesian, many people appreciate being addressed as “Mbak” or “Bu” before their first name; in Hindi, adding “ji” after a name shows respect. Ask how your employee prefers to be addressed, and type it yourself at the start of your message.

Respect, every day

Translation carries words, not always tone. A few habits make a real difference:

• say hello and thank you in writing too: “Thanks, Dewi, that was perfect” translates without trouble;
• instead of “Did you understand?”, ask “Is that clear, or should I put it another way?”;
• give feedback privately and calmly, never in front of the children or guests;
• learn a few words of their language: “Show original” lets you see how they write “thank you” and “see you tomorrow.”

Messaging on Piou is free for both of you. Translation is part of Piou Premium and it’s personal: for each of you to read the other in your own language, each of you needs Premium. You can also gift it to your employee from the app or the website. The 7-day free trial requires a card: nothing is charged for 7 days, then the subscription starts at the displayed price unless you cancel before the trial ends. As a guide, it costs S$7.98 a month or S$62.98 a year in Singapore, HK$46 or HK$368 in Hong Kong, and AED 21.99 or AED 174.99 in the UAE. The exact price for your country is shown before you subscribe.

Chat between English and Indonesian with Piou