Why do you need a Romanian translator?

I have recently found more uses for a Romanian translator. It can't be much fun being translating Romanian for British teachers looking for their work visas as the process takes so long.

In Bucharest, there is only one place they make visas. I was there recently to get my permanent visa here. There I met a really sweet looking Romanian translator, and so having nothing better to do, I watched her in action - or more precisely, inaction. The problem is there are 10 windows, and a queuing ticket machine which Romanians ignore by hovering near the booth and sliding right in there for a 'quick question' - which always seems to need a long and complicated answer. There were 2 windows open when I went there - a long queue for foreigners and a window with nothing much doing, for Romanians - both armed with cameras, which took photos that never actually seem to appear on your visa.

The poor Romanian woman who acted as the translator, with white stitching on her bag to keep it all together, has to do this queuing daily - one for each new teacher that needs help. I did it once and was bored silly - I had mastered remembering all the anti-corruption rhetoric, which in fairness does seem to be trickling down as I did not need to pay any gifts to get things done.

One teacher forgot his passport - so you can imagine how annoyed the smiling Romanian female translator must have really felt.

Fortunately for me, as I own a house here and plan to work for ISB until they extract that piece of chalk from my dead, cold hands - preferably not dropping dead in front of the children, I never need to go back in that long queue again.

Which gives me time to explore other uses of a Romanian translator. Recently I bought a super cool inflatable double mattress for my father in-law to sleep on rather than the floor or a hard, narrow sofa. We have two of the world most uncomfortable sofas - one for each of my in-laws to sleep on while helping to look after baby Victor. My wife, being my wife, decided that a double tall mattress was fine - though my father in law refused to sleep on it, perhaps a tall single would be better - so for once Google translator did its job and I could find one in Romania - and when it arrived, my wife found it so well packed that she decided it was best left where it was after all.

Here is a funny thing - shopping online in Romania never uses a credit card. Most Romanians don't have credit cards - those that do - never need to worry as no one ever looks at who signature it is anyway - but I digress - in Romania, you have three options. The first is to pay at the door - so you give cash directly to the courier. The second being you have to give cash at the post office - the third being to pay at the bank before the order is released.

The next job I will be giving a Romanian translator who, also works as a teacher, will be to teach my son English. I am a part of the 'lost generation' - where for about 10 years they decided that teaching children English grammar was left off the curriculum as they pick it up as they go along - and so I am forever unable to put into words why we use much or many - and it frustrates me terribly. So I guess I will never really become free of beautiful and rather patient Romanian translators after all!

When do you use a Romanian translator? What for? What is the oddest job you have required a Romanian translator for?

What have you used a Romanian translator for?

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