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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[–] redbr64@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

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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[–] ThePancakeExperiment@feddit.org 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.)

[–] josteinsn@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (2 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.

[–] cute_noker@feddit.dk 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Pretty cool that you can say "please" in Danish since the word doesn't exist in the language.

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[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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

[–] Binette@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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)

[–] ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I can only speak three but I really used to try to learn some others but suck at it. I praise people who can learn grammatically challenging languages

[–] showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I’ve found that most people really appreciate even just the attempt at their own language. The fact that you’re trying goes a long way with most people.

Excepting Americans and sometimes the French. /s

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago

please two. thank you five.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week 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.

[–] Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 1 week 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.

[–] grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

English

German

Spanish

Arabic

Korean

[–] randombullet@programming.dev 1 points 1 week 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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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[–] SexDwarf@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week 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)
[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week 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.

[–] SexDwarf@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week 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

[–] yool_ooloo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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

[–] foliekatt@feddit.nu 1 points 1 week ago

Swede here. “Tillhör alla” means ”belongs to everyone”. There isn’t a precise word for “please” in Swedish, we say thanks instead. Or sometimes we use the phrase “could you be so kind to…”. I struggle to say please in English and I probably sound harsh and bad-mannered.

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[–] rhythmisaprancer@moist.catsweat.com 1 points 1 week 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 :)

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[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago
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