hello, good-bye, and thank you.

[Imparcticle]

I am trying to learn ways of saying "hello", "good-bye" and "thank you". in as many languages as possible. So far this is what I've got:

1.) English: Hello
Good-bye
Thank you

2.) Amharic: Selam
Ciao
Amesegenalow (meaning, I thank you)

3.) Spanish: Hola
Adios
gracias

4.) Arabic: Selam
A'asalaama
Shukran

5.) French: ?
?
Merci


If anyone knows how to say anything in another language that are/is synonymous to "hello", "good-bye", and "thank you" then please tell me.

Thanks. :tongue2:

[jimmy p]

6.) German: Hallo
Auf Viedersehen (sp)
Danke

French is ... hello = Bonjour
goodbye: Au revoir

7.) Italian: Ciao (???)
Arrivederci
Grazie

8.) Russian: Strasvoitche (phonetic i think for all the russian...)
Do Svidanye
I think it is Spacibo or Spaciba.... or that could be "please"... its been a while..

[jimmy p]

9.) Cantonese: Whey
?
?

[Evo]

What's fun is learning the way people answer the phone.

US - hello

Italy - pronto

Japan - mushi mushi

France - allo

Mexico - bueno

[jimmy p]

I usually answer the phone by saying "word" or "what do you want?" or "mad house, chief looney speaking"... sometimes it's "yo yo!"

[TALewis]

Mr. Burns: Ahoy hoy!

[faust9]

6b) German also:

Tag (Guten tag)
Auf Wiedersehen**
bitte (general purpose for please/thank you)

10) Hawaiian:

Aloha
Aloha
Mahalo

[Shahil]

Afrikaans

Hello - hallo (as english I think!)
Tot Siens
Dankie

[Janus]

Finnish:

Hello - hei
good-bye - hyvästi
Thank you - kiitos

[Polly]

9.) Cantonese: Whey
? goodbye - Joy Keen
? thank you - Door Jer

:biggrin: Yan Can Cook accent guaranteed.

[iansmith]

French is ... hello = Bonjour
goodbye: Au revoir


Hello is also Allo depending on the sense and region used.

Indonesian
hello = salam
goodbye = selamat jalan; selamat tinggal
thank you = terima-kasih

[Janitor]

The Gomer Pyle dialect of English:

* Hey thar!

* All the best to you an' yers.

* Gaaaaawwwwlly!

[Evo]

The Gomer Pyle dialect of English:

* Hey thar!

* All the best to you an' yers.

* Gaaaaawwwwlly!You forgot "awww, shucks".

[Janitor]

You forgot "awww, shucks" - Evo

Aww, 'tweren't nothin.' I do that all the time, ma'am.

[Pattielli]

9.) Cantonese: Whey
?
?
Wei=Hello
Ni hao=Hello
Zai Jian=Goodboy

[Math Is Hard]

In Swahili, Jambo means hello.

Here's some Texan:

Hello = Howdy
Goodbye= Y'all take care, now
Thank you = Much obliged

[Polly]

Wei=Hello
Ni hao=Hello
Zai Jian=Goodboy

:devil: This is mandarin, not cantonese :tongue2: .

[Pattielli]

Didnt read it carefulee :tongue2:
Wei, the same
Lei h(a)u=Hello
Mu koi=Bye bye

[Polly]

:eek: Hey, seriously, how do you know that?

[Pattielli]

:eek: Hey, seriously, how do you know that?
how about you? how can you speak English ? How can you speak Chinese ? huh ? :shy:

[Polly]

Well said :wink: .

[The_Professional]

Hello = Kamusta
Goodbye = Paalam
Thank you = Maraming Salamat

[Pattielli]

What kind of language is that ?

[The_Professional]

I will give a goat and two pigs to anybody who can guess that

[Pattielli]

No, if I guess right, give me a rabit!
Is that tha language spoken by Malaysian ? Hmm?
Send me the rabit!

[faust9]

I will give a goat and two pigs to anybody who can guess that

Tagalog? I seem to remember hearing Kamusta once while Olongapo.

[The_Professional]

Tagalog? I seem to remember hearing Kamusta once while Olongapo.

CORRECT!

yep

[faust9]

You can forego the critters. I had to say the word a couple of times before it rang a distant bell. It finally dawned when I elongated the Ka to more of a Kooo or Ku sound.

[kuengb]

Reto-Romanian:

Hello - Bun di (Hello Al! - Al bun di! hahaha very funny.)
Good bye - A revair
Thank you - Grazia

[arildno]

Norwegian
Hello-Hallo/Hei
Good bye-Ha det
Thank you-Takk skal du ha/Tusen takk/Takk

[Monique]

I am trying to learn ways of saying "hello", "good-bye" and "thank you". in as many languages as possible.

Dutch:
Hello - hoi / dag / hallo
Goodbye - hoi / dag / doei / doeg
Thank you - dank je

:tongue2: :biggrin:

[Pattielli]

I never thought that there is such a language...:tongue2:
I also have to admit that tongue2 is the most beutiful icon and a mostly used one!

[Math Is Hard]

I never thought that there is such a language...:tongue2:
I also have to admit that tongue2 is the most beutiful icon and a mostly used one!

I agree. Tongue2 recently won our "Most Beautiful PF Smiley" contest.

[Pattielli]

I agree. Tongue2 recently won our "Most Beautiful PF Smiley" contest.
I was not joking at all, you can look at the image icons right next to your "reply to thread" 's edit box, you will see all are with strange ugly eyes, the yellow one smily and dark red cool can be 3th and 2nd rank respectively, the shy one will get the fourth position prize....Here they are, ready for receiving prizes from Nina-exectutive manager, marketting manager and also as a famous !lawyer!
:tongue2: :cool: :smile: :shy:

Oh forgot to say, here, the last position, also has a prize but will be delivered Robert Lovelace...Here it is. :wink:

[meteor]

Catalan:
Hola
Adeu
Gràcies

Catalan is spoken by 11 million of persons. It's the eight language in number of speakers inside the 25 countries of the European Union

It's a mixture of Spanish and French

[Pattielli]

Honestly, this is the first time I hear of Catalan.
True, it is also just like a a couple of years ago, I met a girl who is now one of my best friends, you know she told she is from Tonga. and that made me stuned for a while since I hadnot heard of it before...I have to admit that i am really bad at geography and my common sense about different places of the world is really not good...

But do all the Spaniards know/can they speak Catalan ?

[meteor]

No, in fact I would say that catalan is hated in the zones where is not spoken; it comes from a long history... Catalonia was an independent (and powerful) nation until was annexed by Spain. So we are a bit like the "strangers" for the rest of Spain. But there are other minor languages talked in Spain: Euskera in the Basque country, and galego in Galicia. Galego is very similar to portuguese, and euskera is very peculiar because, contrarily to most west-european tongues is not of romanic origin. It probably shares the same origin as the Berber talked in the north of Africa

Catalan is spoken in the zones indicated in this map
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/catnet/Ppccnou1.jpg

the box in right inferior corner shows the city of Alghero in the italian island of Sardinia. Catalan is still spoken in that city, a reminder of the times when the whole island of Sardinia was a catalan possession

[Pattielli]

Thanks for your explanation...(:smile)

In Japan, people usually use "Kon nichi wa" as Hello and it is also used as "Good afternoon"(though its truest meaning must be "around noon" (smile))
On the phone people will say:
申し申し-Moshi Moshi = Hello
こんにちは(今日は)-Kon ni chi wa = Hello (people use OhayoGozaimasu(Goodmorning), Konchiwa(Good afternoon), Konbanwa(Good evening) more often than only Konnichiwa because they are correct about time and sound more *friendlier*)
さよなら -Sa yo nara= Bye Bye (young Japanese use *Bye* more than this Sayonara...(smile))
有難うございました- Ari gato go zai ma shi ta = Thanks (Sometimes some will say only Arigato gozaimasu which is not as formal as the previous one and sound a little *not good but not bad*, it is just not formal and oftenly used among friends or people who are in the same class or rank or the same age, though)

People in some other parts of the country have different pronunciations and different uses of words especially those in Osaka...

[kuengb]

Kon nichi wa -check!
Moshi moshi -check!
Ari gato -check!

If someone can now tell me what "domo" means, my Kill Bill vocabulary will be complete.

[Pattielli]

Domo has a lot of different meanings and it is up to each situation where the speaker uses it, listener will then figure out itstrue meaning, you speak out something that uses Domo, I will try to let you know its meaning...And please remember that when you already know how to put it in your own statements, you actually already know it boforehand.
Sounds like aloof but unfortunately it is adoof!

[Muzza]

Swedish:

Hello: hej/hallå/tjänare
Good bye: hej då/vi ses
Thanks: tack

[baffledMatt]

Southern Californian:
Hello: Hey dude
goodbye: Later dude
Thanks: Thanks dude

Norwegian (in my experience :tongue2: ):
Hello: snakker du engelsk?
goodbye: nei? Oh well, nevermind.
thanks: Ta anyway.

[Pattielli]

My language:

hello shashe
goodbye sheaya
thankyou tushuya

[jimmy p]

Southern Californian:
Hello: Hey dude
goodbye: Later dude
Thanks: Thanks dude



Dude, seriously? :tongue2: :biggrin:

[baffledMatt]

Well, that's how my flatmate speaks, although he has a slight western LA dialect so tends to say "waddup" instead of "hey dude".

[jimmy p]

totally :biggrin:

(actually this hardly even WARRANTS a post...)

[meteor]

are you japanese Pattielli? Why then this italian-like nick?

[Math Is Hard]

yeah - what language was that, Patielli?

[Gokul43201]

My language:

hello shashe
goodbye sheaya
thankyou tushuya

This must be some kind of Japanese. Toshiya is a common Japanese name ...and toshuya is close to that.

Shashe (or something close to that) is the name of a God in some religion - I'm fairly certain it's Oriental or thereabouts.

[Imparcticle]

"Shashe" is a name of a river around Botswana, South Africa or Zimbabwe.

Well, thanks for all your replies.
And in my language, I will repeat this sentence:
Ena benay cwonqua indegna elalow ehaynen calat.

Let's see who can guess what language that's in? :biggrin:

[Monique]

It must be some local dialect of Salamander? :wink:

[Pattielli]

My language:

hello shashe
goodbye sheaya
thankyou tushuya

That is not Japanese, that is my language...(smile)
I amnot a Westerner, not an Easterner either! but i know East roots in me deeper than West does...honestly, I am proud of it and find myself really lucky too, I was born to be like that, I would be able to say billions of Thanks to my parents without even a stop because they gave birth to a child like me...I would surely do something to make them much happier, that is my big big ambition. I will make it!
I dont see any problem to be an Easterner though,

[Pattielli]

Three years ago, I met some students who were coming from America, yes, they were/are studying there, it was weird to me at first that both are Chinese but never spoke to each other in Chinese, they used only English, I guessed they would like to say it was "international", I came close and asked how long they had been living in the US, one said two years and the other said three years, whereas I had thought to myself that they should have been living there for 10 years or so...

[jono]

Welsh:

Hello: Bore da
Goodbye: Hwyl fawr
Thank you: Diolch

[Imparcticle]

It must be some local dialect of Salamander? :wink:

No, amharic.

[BoulderHead]

My language:

hello shashe
goodbye sheaya
thankyou tushuya

In keeping with this spirit;

Hello: dio'os (pronounced; dios, but slow)
Goodbye: pa'te in ba'al (pronounced; pate in bail)
To say thanks: bo'tic (pronounced; bow tick)

[Moonbear]

Here ya go, a site with please, thank you, hello and goodbye, and a few other phrases in 270 different languages!

http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/please.htm

I've been learning far more useless phrases (I don't know how to spell a single one of them, but I like trying new foods, so it works for me to learn to say them), like bon apetit, buen provecho, ech schmaklik (sorry Monique, I probably mutilated it because I've never seen it spelled, so am sort of going by phonetics there), guten apetit (I think...that's supposed to be German). I also know the dutch word for folding chair...can't forget it, but also can't spell it...I remember it because it sounds like clap stool. So, I pretty much can offer someone a chair and wish for them to enjoy their food.

[Monique]

ech schmaklik (sorry Monique, I probably mutilated it because I've never seen it spelled, so am sort of going by phonetics there)
:eek: eet smakelijk, very good :smile:

I also know the dutch word for folding chair...can't forget it, but also can't spell it...I remember it because it sounds like clap stool. So, I pretty much can offer someone a chair and wish for them to enjoy their food.
It's klap stoel :) I wonder where this word came up in a discussion, lol.

[Moonbear]

:eek: eet smakelijk, very good :smile:

It's probably better that I hadn't seen it spelled before learning to pronounce it, I'd have probably gotten it very very wrong.


It's klap stoel :) I wonder where this word came up in a discussion, lol.

:biggrin: One of my friends is Dutch, and we also have had several visiting Dutch students, so I pick up strange words here and there. I'm amazed I even remembered that word since it came up very late during a party and seemed like the most hilarious thing to discuss at the time. Strangely, it seems I retain foreign languages better when I'm drinking, maybe because by then I'm not overly inhibited about sounding stupid as I try to repeat the word many many many times until I get the pronunciation right. Or maybe slurred speech makes speaking Dutch easier :tongue2:

[The Bob]

Love languages.

German:
Hello = Hallo, Große Gott (in southern germany), Gutentag, Guten Abend(evening)
Please = bitte
Goodbye = Aufweidersehen (in person) or Aufweiderhören (if you are on the telephone).

If you answer the phone in germany you say your name first and then the other person says 'hello this is.......' So it would be (for me):
(I pick up the phone): The Bob
Other person: Hallo. Dude hier.
And the conversation starts.

Strange for me but normal in other countries (I assume). :biggrin:

The Bob (2004 ©)

[Monique]

If you answer the phone in germany you say your name first and then the other person says 'hello this is.......' So it would be (for me):
(I pick up the phone): The Bob
Other person: Hallo. Dude hier.
And the conversation starts.

Strange for me but normal in other countries (I assume). :biggrin:

The Bob (2004 ©)
Same here, you pick up with:
"This is *name*" and the other follows with
"This is *name*"
and the conversation starts :) It would be very inpolite to not say your name when picking up :)

[Moonbear]

That sounds like business etiquette here, you answer the phone, "Hello, *name* *company*" Then the other person identifies themself and why they are calling to start the conversation. When answering the phone at home, you don't identify yourself until the caller identifies themself, just say "hello." That's probably because we have annoying telemarketers who should be kept in the dark about who they are speaking to since it's clearly rude to call someone's house about business when you don't know them and they haven't asked for you to call them there.

[Monique]

Yeah, you have to state your name every time you answer the phone and if you don't they'll ask who's speaking before saying their own name. It's more polite and courteous that way.

Urghm.. when I worked in a lab in the US I used to pick up the phone like that.. to the inspiration of my boss.. not a good thing :tongue2:, he demanded that any time he picked up the phone stating his name, the person on the other side also stated their name before asking to be connected to someone else in the lab. You'd think that is a simple demand to be met.. :uhh: not quite.. he'd spend minutes arguing before handing over the phone and I had to train my friends that before asking for me when calling they should first quickly say their own name if they didn't want to be torn to threads :biggrin:

[The Bob]

Yeah, you have to state your name every time you answer the phone and if you don't they'll ask who's speaking before saying their own name. It's more polite and courteous that way.

Urghm.. when I worked in a lab in the US I used to pick up the phone like that.. to the inspiration of my boss.. not a good thing :tongue2:, he demanded that any time he picked up the phone stating his name, the person on the other side also stated their name before asking to be connected to someone else in the lab. You'd think that is a simple demand to be met.. :uhh: not quite.. he'd spend minutes arguing before handing over the phone and I had to train my friends that before asking for me when calling they should first quickly say their own name if they didn't want to be torn to threads :biggrin:

Hehe. Well in England that is just funny and my german teacher (the legend he is) spend 10 minutes going round the class and doing this. The results were hilarious. Not to insult your country but it was funny (as we are not used to it). :biggrin:

The Bob (2004 ©)

[plover]

Russian: (Cyrillic / transliteration / pronunciation / [translation])

Hello -
Привет / privyet / pree-vyet
Здравствуйте / zdravstvuytye / zdrast-voy-tyeh
Good bye -
До свидания / do svidaniya / duh svee-dan-ya / until (another) meeting
Пока / poka / puh-ka / for now
Thank you -
Спасибо / spasibo / spa-see-buh

Answering the phone, Russians will use -
Алло / allo
Слушаю / slushayu / sloo-sha-yoo / I'm listening

[The Bob]

Russian: (Cyrillic / transliteration / pronunciation / [translation])

Hello -
Привет / privyet / pree-vyet
Здравствуйте / zdravstvuytye / zdrast-voy-tyeh
Good bye -
До свидания / do svidaniya / duh svee-dan-ya / until (another) meeting
Пока / poka / puh-ka / for now
Thank you -
Спасибо / spasibo / spa-see-buh

Answering the phone, Russians will use -
Алло / allo
Слушаю / slushayu / sloo-sha-yoo / I'm listening

Oh yer. My favourite language. :biggrin:

The Bob (2004 ©)

[Janus]

Klingon:

nuqneH - Hello
qapla' - Good-bye
qatlho' - Thank you

[kuengb]

Hello = Hallo, Große Gott (in southern germany), Gutentag, Guten Abend(evening)

The Bob (2004 ©)
Wow, you even managed to type the double-s, not even I know how to do this with my keyboard :rolleyes:

But it's rather "Grüss' Gott" than the other, except you're some religious freak...:biggrin:

[plover]

Wow, you even managed to type the double-s, not even I know how to do this with my keyboard

You can insert a ß into a post with the sequence ß

For pretty much any character there is some sequence &#xxx; where xxx is a number. I think the number corresponds to the Unicode encoding (http://www.unicode.org/charts/) of the character.

E.g. א is א (the character should be a Hebrew aleph)

I don't know what determines whether people's browsers will show other alphabets effectively though.

You could also install a German keyboard driver and poke at it until you find the right key. :smile: (That's how I figured out how to type in Russian.)

Most systems have some kind "Character map" utility that you can cut and paste from too.

[The Bob]

Wow, you even managed to type the double-s, not even I know how to do this with my keyboard :rolleyes:

But it's rather "Grüss' Gott" than the other, except you're some religious freak...:biggrin:

The ß is done by holding ALT and typing 0223 on your numberpad.

I don't get your point about the Grüß Gott. Is that what it should be because the one I wrote was what I have been taught. What does it have to do with me being a christian? And are you german then?

The Bob (2004 ©)

[kuengb]

No big deal, it's just that "große(r) Gott" means "great god", and even in catholic southern Germany people may wonder about you if you tell them all the time how good god is... :)
Grüssen=to greet
Gross=great, big

[The Bob]

No big deal, it's just that "große(r) Gott" means "great god", and even in catholic southern Germany people may wonder about you if you tell them all the time how good god is... :)
Grüssen=to greet
Gross=great, big

Oh rite I get it. Sorry mate.

The Bob (2004 ©)

[devious_]

4.) Arabic: Selam
A'asalaama
Shukran


Just a minor correction... In Arabic, good-bye is Ma'asalama, not A'asalamaa. Ma'asalama means "(depart) with well-being".

Here are a couple of variations to the word:
Wada'an (good-bye)
Elal Liqa' (until we meat again... or simply 'later')

[ElectroPhysics]

In Urdu...
Hello: Keya hall hey
Goodbye:Khuda Hafiz
ThankYou:Shukria

[balkan]

more mandarin:
Goodbye as in See you later: YìíHòu Jiàn (Yi is a falling then rising tone, hou and jian is a falling tone)
Goodbye as in Godspeed or travel carefully: Màn Zòóu
Good evening: Wàánsháng hàáo (shang is rising)
Good morning: ZàáoChén hàáo
and if you're thanking someone for a service they're supposed to be doing, just say: hàáo

lemme just check that unicode crap for pinyin... that ^ is annoying...

edit: pinyin code lies in &£0300 and up, but how do i display it? alt doesn't work, maybe since it won't accept a starting 0 or something... ?

[plus]

Southern Californian:
Hello: Hey dude
goodbye: Later dude
Thanks: Thanks dude


South Californian:

Hola
Adios
gracias

[jimmy p]

Turkish: Machamba is hello.. and I did know the others.....I'll get back to you on that

[Mistress Lilith]

Turkish-
hello- merhaba
goodbye- hoscakal (hosh-cha-kal)
thankyou- tesekkur ederim (te-she-koor-- e-deh-rim)

this is pretty formal though i guess, we don't say that at home, we've just adopted to the "hello" "bye" and "thanks"

[jimmy p]

lol, where we went they had this crazy accent that made it sound different to what the phrasebook said. I remember what Thank you is now, but I didnt know goodbye obviously.