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.

  • DeuxChevaux@lemmy.world
    6·
    14 days 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)

  • Mr Fish@lemmy.world
    5·
    14 days 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.

  • Onionguy@lemm.ee
    5·
    14 days 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

  • owatnext@lemmy.world
    5·
    14 days ago

    “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)

  • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
    4·
    14 days ago

    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.

  • PlaidBaron@lemmy.world
    4·
    12 days ago

    Please and thank you

    S’il vous plait et merci

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

  • RandomVideos@programming.dev
    3·
    13 days ago

    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

  • dave@hal9000@lemmy.world
    3·
    14 days ago

    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

      • dave@hal9000@lemmy.world
        3·
        14 days 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…

  • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
    3·
    14 days ago

    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 :)

    • showmeyourkizinti@startrek.websiteOP
      1·
      10 days ago

      That fascinating. I wonder if it’s a cultural thing or a grammar thing? Most Asian countries have a stereotype of being polite so I’d take a guess at the grammar of Asian languages making it harder to put a mood changing word in a question maybe,

      • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
        2·
        10 days ago

        Yeah I definitely don’t know enough to say. You can definitely translate please in translators for those languages, but for whatever reason I just haven’t been seeing it in language basics. Once I spend more time there I’ll learn more.

        For Thai specifically, you say “ka” (if you’re a woman) or “kraub”/“kaub”/“kaup” (if you’re a man) at the end of everything you say. Whenever you finish a sentence you say it. I saw a woman relating a phone number, and she would say “ka” after every number. It’s all about politeness.

  • Bieren@lemmy.world
    3·
    13 days ago
    1. Merican. Gods language and the best language. You know I speak better Merican that anyone ever did. The best. Everyone says it. One time I was talking to Elon. I call him fuck boy the cum dumpster. No one treats me like he does. But, he was telling me you speak the best Merican. No one can talk as good as you do. Everyone says it. Maybe I should write a book about how good my English is. It would be the most huge book ever.

    /s

  • josteinsn@lemmy.world
    2·
    13 days ago

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

  • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    14 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