In Saudi Arabia it is not unusual to have a housemaid who will assist with various tasks around the house. Some expats like myself may have engaged a housemaid who does not speak English. Therefore in directing them and explaining their duties, it is important to know some basic and common words. This month’s lesson will focus on clothes and laundry. Or even if one does not have a housemaid, it is common for laundries and dry cleaners to both pick up and deliver rather than making one have to go to the shop to drop off and pick up. So the following words will assist with laundry whether done at home or to an outside cleaners:
Bed sheets Sharashef
Blankets bat’taniyat
Trousers bantaloon-aat
Towel menshafeh
Skirt tannureh
Dress libas, thob
Shirt qamees
Vest sedriyah
Pillow mukhaddeh
Pillow cover gheta al mukhaddeh
Scarf weshah
Coat me’taf
Jacket jaket
Dry cleaning tanzeef nashif
Washing ghaseel
Dirty wasekh
Clean nazeef
Stains mulawwath
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Housemaids speak Arabic eh? Interesting, I thought they’d speak Urdu or Tagalog.
Since most housemaids work for Saudi families many of them have very good arabic.
My Mother in Law’s former maid here in the USA worked for years in Saudi Arabia. She was originally from Sri Lanka and spoke Tamil, but had decent Arabic skills as well as some English.
Do the housemaid recruiters consider the ability to speak Arabic a requirement to go work there?
Well technically they are supposed to be able to speak either Arabic or English to help communicate but I happen to know many of them will indicate they can speak those languages just to get a job…then arrive in Bahrain not knowing either well enough to converse with their new owner…I mean employer. Of course this is going to cause problems from the start…the housemaid either learns real quick the basic phrases or suffers a great deal depending on her employers personality.
Arabic is not a requirement but most housemaids will usually end up learning a fair bit if they did not know it already. And housemaids who are muslim usually know some arabic already from the Quran and they tend to catch on quickly in learning more.
So, I guess they could just as easy learn the words in English if the boss was English speaking.
that is true and what I have done with my non-English speaking housemaids.
Also, I know that for dress some say “Fustan” and for shirt “bloozah”.
Thanks for sharing “Saudi Arabic” on a monthly basis. It is actually interesting and helps me touch base with my Arabic skills………..lol
You’re very welcome, Manal.