Ok, Lemmy, let's another play a game!

And I honestly think this one’s more important.

Post how many languages in which you can say Please and Thank You, including your native language. If you can, please provide which languages and how to phonetically say them so the rest of us can learn!

I spent a fair amount of bopping around Europe in the early Aughts and as a native English speaker, I found everyone appreciating my bad mangled attempts at politeness.

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[–] 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do programming languages count? :)

Here's Go:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Please and Thank You")
}
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  • [–] [S] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    But how do you do it in Rust?

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    [–] 11 points 1 year ago*

    Bissäguet, Merci (Swiss German)
    Bitte, Danke (German)
    Please, thank you (English)
    S'il vous plait, merci (French)
    Par favore, grazie (Italian)
    Bonvolu, dankon (Esperanto)
    Onegaishimasu, Arigatougozaimasu (Japanese)

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago*

    Two languages. English and Maori.

    Thank you in Maori is "kia ora" (key-ah or-ah, but mostly said more like k-your-ah). Literally translates to "be well", kia meaning be, ora meaning life/wellness.

    Please in Maori is a bit less clear. There is the word "koa" (I don't know how to phonetically write it, but all the letters are pronounced the same as above), but that's a concept that came with pakeha (European settlers). Before that, it was more about the tone of the request.

    Edit: actually I do know more, but English and Maori are the two main languages I know any of.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Languages I'm fluent:

    • Spanish (Por favor, Gracias)
    • Portuguese (Por favor, Obrigado/a)
    • English (Please, Thank you)

    Languages I can mostly understand but I'm a disaster speaking:

    • Italian (Per favore, Grazie)
    • Catalan (Si us plau, Merci (Technically Gracies, but most people use Merci))

    Languages I can speak small child like phrases and express some simple things (although I'm very rusty in both of them):

    • Russian (пожалуйста (Pajalsta), спасибо (Spaciba))
    • German (Bitte, Danke)

    Languages I can say "I'm sorry, I don't speak X, do you speak English?" (Which I think is more important than just please and thank you)

    • French (Si vous plat, Merci)
    • Dutch ( [don't know this one], dank je)
    • Finnish ( * , Kiitos)

    Languages I can say Please and thank you (because I've seen enough TV in this language):

    • Japanese (Onegai, Arigato)

    * There's no word for please in Finnish, which you'd think makes the language sound harsh, but I think it's the other way around, it makes everyone be polite by default, when going into a coffee shop and saying "one coffee" is the equivalent to "hello, can I please have one coffee, thanks" it's hard to be rude.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Can you expand on the Finnish? Is it engrained in the language somehow?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I don't really speak Finnish, so probably someone can expand better, but AFAIK they don't have a word for Please. When I was in Finland I went to a coffee place with a friend, and noticed he said "yksi kahvi" which literally means one coffee, when he got his coffee he said "Kiitos" (thanks), I noticed no one used any recurring word that could mean Please, so I asked my friend and he said something like "They're all being polite, we just don't have a word for please, one could say something like: I would like a coffee, Thanks. But that's just overcomplicated"

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Native here. I think this is pretty accurate. Politeness is usually tied to other phrasings or modes of speaking, and as an ESL speaker I just think "please" is just a word that gets sprinkled in. In everyday conversations like buying something, it's kinda more polite to get the thing over with as fast as possible. If you just want a coffee, you don't need more than "hey" and "thanks" to be nice, right?

    That said, it's definitely not impossible to be explicitly polite: "Ole hyvä"/"Olkaa hyvä" ("[You] (2p. sg./pl.) be kind") is basically "please" as in "could you do..." or "here you go, have this" or "go ahead and do that" depending on context. "Ole kiltti" ("[You] (2p.sg.) be nice") is "please" as in "would you be especially kind to do..." But as you can see, these are basically direct orders, it's "be kind", not "please be kind".

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    [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    "Please" and "thank you". English.

    (Pleez ahnd thank yehw)

    "Oes gwelwch chi'n dda" ac "diolch". Welsh/Cymraeg.

    (Oys gwel ook kheen thza ak deeolkh)

    "Por favor" y "gracías". Spanish/español.

    (Pour fah vour ee gras ee AHS)

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    German Bitte, Danke

    English U KNOW

    French S'il vous plâit, merci

    Spanish Por favor, graçias

    Italian Per favore, grazie

    Czech Prossim, djekuju

    ...6 ig :D

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    For me: English, Irish, french, German, Indonesian, Malaysian (same as Indonesian), japanese I've thank you in Turkish, Thai,

    For Irish Please is: le do thoil (é). Translates as; by your will (it). Pronounce : le duh hull ay.

    For thank you: Go raibh (míle) maith agat. Translates as may (a thousand) good things be/fall upon you. Pronounce : guh rev mee-la moh a-gut

    For pronunciation, I'm using Munster dialect. It can be quite different for other dialects.

    Other languages seem to be covered by others, so I thought I'd add the Irish in more detail.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Please and thank you

    S'il vous plait et merci

    And in ASL but that dont translate to text too well.

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    [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    In the order I learned them:

    • 🇷🇴 Romanian: Vă rog / Mulțumesc (native)

    • 🇨🇵 French: S'il-vous-plaît / Merci

    • 🇬🇧 English: Please / Thank you

    • 🇪🇦 Spanish: Por favor / Gracias

    • 🇯🇵 Japanese: Onegai / Arigato

    • 🇨🇳 Mandarin: Qing / Xiè xie

    • 🇮🇹 Italian: Per favore / Grazie

    • 🇩🇪 German: Bitte / Danke

    • 🇷🇺 Russian: Pozhalusta / Spasiba

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    In order of fluency (for languages spoken, although German was only studied and any fluency has rusted out):

    Portuguese: Por Favor/Obrigado

    English: Please/Thank you

    Spanish: Por Favor/Gracias

    Farsi: Lotfan/Merci (plus many more elaborate ways of thanking)

    German: Bitte/Danke

    For languages I don't speak at all, but only know because of friends who are native speakers:

    French: s'il vous plait/merci

    Romanian: Va rog/multumesc

    Italian: Per favore/Grazie

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Oh I like the Romanian please. That sound fun to say.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Yeah, Romanian is so weird to me as a native Portuguese speaker - there are so many cognates. I am good friends with a Romanian family and when they talk all sorts of words are completely understandable coming from Portuguese....

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Hmm.

    German, French, English, Japanese (seriously, I never realized how much language I took away from martial arts classes! And in my post about counting, a significant percent of other people did, too), Spanish, Esperanto. I think that's it - 6.

    I can say "blindingly drunk" in Russian, which seems useful. Also, "trust, but verify," - thanks, Raegan. Two phrases, neither of which are "please or thank you," but matching the cardinality of your question so I should get a half-point.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Three. English, Spanish, and German.

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    [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Interesting, I seem to know "thank you" in a few languages, but not "please". I wonder what that indicates...

    Spanish: por favor, gracias

    French: sil vous plait, merci

    Indonesian: ?, terima kasih

    Mandarin: ?, xie xie

    Japanese: ?, arigato

    German: ?, danke

    Italian: ?, grazie

    Aussie: oi, cheers/ta (/s)

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    So, this is an odd one because I travel a lot and try to learn basic words in local languages, usually hello, please, thank you, sorry/excuse me, and numbers are my basic go to. For some reason, in a number of languages "please" isn't something you get by default. I've found this particularly in southeast Asia.

    I can say please and thank you (and generally converse and read) in French and Spanish. In Spanish I find myself using "por favor" a lot. "You're welcome" takes different forms in Spanish depending where your are, and what's polite in one place can be confusing or even rude in another.

    I can say hello, please, and thank you in German, Italian, and Greek. I mostly said hello and thank you in Greece and Italy, rarely please. I've never actually used German in situ, I just know it from pop culture I think.

    I can say hello and thank you (and various other things) in Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay, Thai, Lao, Khmer, and Vietnamese. I might need to think hard for a minute or get a quick refresher so that I don't mix some of them up sometimes, especially when I'm moving from one country to the next... I don't think I ever learned please specifically in any of these, though I think it's kind of built into the other things you say in a lot of them (especially Thai).

    So, please and thank you, 6 for sure. But if the goal is to talk about language basics for getting around as a visitor, I would say 13 :)

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    [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Estonian: Palun / Aitäh

    English: Please / Thank you

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Swedish, German, English, Spanish,

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Please and thank you

    Te rog si multumesc

    Bitte und danke

    I dont know how to explain how to say a word to someone if they dont speak romanian

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    [+] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)
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    [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    i can say thank you in more languages than i can say please in.

    perhaps that says something about me

    Obligado

    Dankeschön

    Merci Beaucop

    Thank you

    Gracias

    Domo Arigato (only in latin type, i have no chance of reading/spelling anything in Kanji)

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    [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    2 English and German

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  • [+] 2 points 1 year ago
    [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    I know some, I guess, hope I do not butcher them:

    German(native): Bitte/ Danke (sehr) or Vielen Dank,

    English: please/ thank you (very much),

    Japanese: どうぞ or おねがいします or ください/ (どうも)ありがとう(ございます) (Which is douzo (when you offer someone something, I think, onegaishimasu/kudasai (if you want something or someone to do something, which is following the request.)/ (domo)arigatou(gozaimasu),

    Norwegian: vær så snill / (tusen) takk,
    (Which is like "Sei so gut/lieb"/ "Tausend Dank" in German.),

    Romanian: vă rog or te rog (formal/informal)/ mulțumesc ((foarte) mult) or mersi (mult) (ă is a short a, I guess and ț is like the ts from "its", or a German z)

    French: s'il vous plait (that one I had to look up on how to write)/ merci

    Polish: proszę (bardzo)/ dzięki or dziękuję (bardzo) (Like proshe/ djenki/djenkuje)(ę is nasalized)

    Portuguese: faz favor or por favor/ obrigado or obrigada (male/female) (o is spoken like an u) (I do not know much Portuguese (like French and Polish), in my book (European Portuguese faz favor and por favor are used, but I do not know the differences.)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    English, Spanish, Japanese.

    Please, and thank you.

    Por favor y gracias. (Pour fah-vore ee grassy ahs)

    Kudasai, arigato. (Or if you wanna be extra polite: onegaishimasu, arigato gozaimasu) (Ku-dah sigh, are-ee gato/own ee guy mosh, are-ee gato go sigh moss)

    I know "please" in German, but not thank you. Bitte.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    English and Japanese (I don't speak much Japanese at all but I know these specific word!)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Define language… Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, English, French, German, BHS (Bosnian Croatian, Serbian), Esperanto, Czech, Russian, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish… i think that’s it.

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