this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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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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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days 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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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

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)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Ah yes the classic Aussie Thank you - Ta, ya cunt!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Three. English, Spanish, and German.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

They're all pretty nice, thanks/danke/gracias.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Off the top or my head: English, Spanish, German, Russian (assuming I remember from 35 years ago). On a good day I can remember Thai, but not today.

Spanish and German are well documented here.

So I dated a girl who took Russian in high school. I learned the alphabet. Sometimes I think I can still recite it, other times I stumble.

Phonetically (and likely butchered): speSEEba / paZHAlista

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

English : Please, thank you

French: S'il te plait, merci

Spanish: Por favor, gracias

Japanese: お願い、ありがとう(oh neh gah i, arigatoo)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Danke dahnk uh

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Mostly thanks because that's the only word I learned when I'm visiting.

obrigado, obrigada - Portuguese Bitte/Danke - Deutsch dack - Dutch Gratzi - Italian Por favor/Gracias - Spanish Takk - norge Merci - French 不好意思。/ 謝謝 - Chinese ありがとう - Japanese Oi cunt / thank ye cunt

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Please & cheers.

S'il vois plait & merci (beaucoup)

Terog & multzumesc/multzumeme (singular vs. plural thank you)

Bitter & danke

-- & spaseba

-- & tak

Qîng & xìexìe

-- & diàhdiah

Had more, but forgot them. Have forgotten at the Turkish and a Miao language phrases.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

English: Please : Thank you

French: Aujourd'hui : Merci

Spanish: Por Favor : Gracias

German: Regenbogen : Danke

Swedish: tillhör alla : tack

EDIT: This was just a small play at poetry as I wish I knew all of these languages but do not

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Please (English)

  • kiitos (Finnish)
  • chōdai / kudasai (Japanese)
  • s’il vous plaît (French)
  • por favor (Spanish)
  • bitte (German)

Thank you (English)

  • kiitos (Finnish)
  • arigatō (gozaimas) / dōmo (Japanese)
  • gracias (Spanish)
  • merci (French)
  • grazie (Italian)
  • kamsahamnida (Korean)
  • xiexie (Chinese)
  • tänan (Estonian)
  • danke (German)
  • spasiba (Russian)
  • tack (Svedish)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I love the fact that Finnish doesn't have a way of saying please, so you just thank the person instead. The first time I was in Finland I learned to say "excuse me, I don't speak Finnish, do you speak English?", and because that was the only thing I learned I wanted to learn to pronounce it correctly, so I took the time and effort to learn how to pronounce it. The problem when I do this, is that most people don't learn basic niceties, and even the ones that do tent to mangle pronunciation, so native people think I'm kidding because it sounds like some native saying they don't speak the language. Also because the majority of interactions with people are simple "hello", "thanks", "bye" I like to pick up on those by listening to people, but not by studying it or anything.

All of that setup for this stupid story: One day I go to a supermarket and the lady tells me "Moi" (hi) and with the same cheerful tone of voice I've seen people use I replied with "Moi Moi" (bye bye). I had seen people use both Moi and Moi Moi, but hadn't noticed that one was hi and the other was bye, so I was accidentally cheerfully rude, and I still feel bad about it. If you're out there, I'm so sorry supermarket lady in Helsinki, I'm just a dumb tourist trying to be nice.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I'm Finnish and I've had so many similar "awkward" situations. I often use "tänks" (or thanks) and a few time the cashier thought I'm speaking English :D

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I am unsure how to best do the pronouncing, but en Español: por favor (last part of favor is more pronounced) gracias (first part is more pronounced) In English: please thank you (pronounce more the part that makes sense for the situation)

What about you :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I’m rusty in a bunch. My favourites are the Scandinavian languages just because how the people lit up whenever you tried. It was like “Bless your heart, you poor English speaker.” Like they were watching a puppy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

please two. thank you five.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Please + thank you

Sil vous plait et Merci

Bitte + Danke

Por favor + Gracias

Shukran thanks in Arabic but I don't know how to say please.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

English

German

Spanish

Arabic

Korean

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago
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