I don’t trust Google Translate. I work from home. I work Monday through Friday, 11:30 am to 8 pm. I generally work in my living room. A door in my living room opens onto a common hallway. Apparently, a Slavic pre teen girl lives in the apartment directly across from me. I know because, all too often, a group of pre teen girls giggling and chatting in some Slavic language (Russian? Polish? Romanian? Ukranian?) come to visit her. Normally, I thrive on the laughter of children. But, I’m working as a customer service representative on the phone. I like the callers to think I’m in a profesional office and the non stop giggling and chatting kind of ruins the illusion. I want to put up a sign explaining this in Russian. Something like “I work on the phone from 11:30-8 Monday through Friday. I understand kids are noisy. But please, keep it down or find somewhere else to play.” I want to phrase it as a polite request, and am aware that bad wording could just lead to more noise.
Your mistake is in thinking that any wording won’t lead to more noise.
If you are hearing a Slavic language, we know they are not Romanian. I have to agree with @Darren_Garrison , though, that people have the right to engage in chatting and even giggling in the privacy of their own home. It sounds like what you need is a noise cancellation plugin for your phone, to remove background noise; do you have any way to run or activate filters?
My bad on the Romanian.
The noise doesn’t happen in anybody’s apartment. It happens in the common hallway. Right on the other side of my door. I WISH it happened in another apartment.
I hadn’t thought of software. I’ve got (I think) an iPhone 12. Is there software that will remove their voices but not mine?
замолчи
Means shut up.
Or the famous “don’t chat” Russian WW2 poster.
Yeah, the best bet is to talk to them and ask politely as a favor. Any sign isn’t going to work.
But I have this in my house over the phone.
http://www.neboltai.org/index.cfm?pg=5&pgtitle=About-Не-болтай
Since you are unsure of the language maybe you should go with something like this:
I don’t have an iphone to test anything with. Maybe this one?
It says it is a free download; it also says they are taking it off the app store on December 26, so you should download it before then.
Yes, that was the poster I was talking about- good link!
This, so much this. Talking and giggling is expected behavior in the hallways of living quarters. I doubt a landlord will or can do anything about it.
They are probably out in the hall to give their parents some peace and quiet in their apts so the parents can work from home or the girls don’t want the adults in their lives overhearing everything, pretty normal developmentally.
In my experience, it’s more likely to go away with ignoring it than with calling any kind of attention to it. In a few weeks they should be back in school during a big part of that day.
How about getting a good headset with a microphone that won’t pick up extraneous noise?
If you don’t even know what language it is, a written sign sounds to me like a lost cause. Heck, you don’t even know what alphabet their language would use. And especially in the current geopolitical environment, the use of the wrong language could, in itself, be quite offensive, no matter how politely it’s worded in that language. Imagine getting a Ukrainian’s nationality wrong, and addressing them in Russian.
Any particular reason you assume they aren’t bilingual? I mean, around here if there were a bunch of pre-teen Hispanic girls giggling in Spanish, I would also assume they’re all also literate in English. (in fact it’s not uncommon for people to be bilingual, but only literate in English)
Polish isn’t written in Cyrilic and different Slavic languages are written different and that could cause issues…
Realistically, any passive aggressive attempt is probably going to fail. Maybe take some cupcakes over and try to be friendly, so you can explain in person, like they’re real people? Give them a reason to like you, before asking them to do a favor for you.
I’m not trying to be passive aggressive. I was genuinely trying to be polite.
I don’t know if the girls speak English. I’ve lived in this neighborhood for about 20 years and have met a lot of folks who don’t speak English.
I’m not sure when I could go over, or exactly which apartment to go to. I think one of the girls lives across the hall. I’m not really sure.
I have a lot more to say, but the end of my break is coming up
Maybe you could take it to this Reddit group and see if the consensus is that you were “trying to be polite”?
Handmake one that says
С Т Ф У
I’m assuming the OP is male? A conversation with the girls, explaining your sitch might work-- temporarily-- until they forget or new kids join the group.
Taking treats to a group of teen girls you don’t know is probably not a good idea these days. I don’t see any way that can go well.
The techie solution sounds like a good one. An app plus good headphones.
Also, maybe hang a noise-deadening curtain over the door? A simple matter to install a curtain rod over the door and slide the curtain out of the way when you don’t need it.
How about walking across the hall at a time when the parents would be home and politely explaining the situation–including noting that outside your work hours you have no objection to the laughter?
Someone knocks on your door. They tell you that they are attempting to do business from their living room and could your children please refrain from laughing between 11:30 AM and 8:00 PM Monday through Friday. Are you saying that your response to that person would not include suggesting to them to perform some anatomical impossibility on themselves? Because mine sure as hell would.