Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 161 posts

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#51

Post by scotty79 »

ajuc wrote: post #26
andrey-p wrote: post #9

I live in the UK, and whenever I travel back to Bulgaria, I get told off for saying "sorry" and "thank you" all the time. In Bulgarian, the word for "thank you" is "благодаря" ("blagodarya") but people often fall back to a simple "мерси" ("merci" - the French word, yes) for transactional thank-yous. I'm not really sure whether that's because "благодаря" is reserved for sincere, heartfelt thanksgiving or because the w…

In Polish before 90s the French "pardon" was used for casual "I'm sorry" (for example when you bump into someone) as opposed to native (and more intense) "przepraszam" used when you really mean it. Since 90s (and all the American movies) most people switched to English "sorry" instead of the French "pardon" for casual "I'm sorry". The original "przepraszam" is still mostly used for more meaningful apologies. And "par…

Funny thing happened to me when I came back to Poland from prolong stay in Italy.

Italy seemed a lot denser to me so I bumped into people a lot. I quickly got habituated to say "scusi" which is Italian quick apology.

There isn't really good formal quick apology in Poland. Pardon or sorry sounds disrespectful if you are apologizing to older person. You need to go with full "przepraszam".

As a Pole you probably know where I'm going with all this...

When I came back to Poland and bumped into older lady in the shop I quickly said "sku..!...przepraszam"

In polish "sku.." is how some of the expletives start.

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#52

Post by jmadsen »

cactusface wrote: post #42
jmadsen wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may extend my own post for a moment, this is a common problem of trying to translate words & phrases directly. For example, most people know that "Arigato" is Japanese for "Thank you". Except that's really wrong. Arigato is inappropriate in most cases, and "Sumasen" or variations should be used. But if you tried to translate them via the dictionary, you'd be quite confused as arigato comes from "thank" and su(mi…

Wait a minute, sumimasen only means thank-you when it's a thanks plus a kind of apology for making someone go to some trouble. Some version of doumo arigato gozaimasu is really fine in most other situations! http://www.tofugu.com/2013/10/24/sorry-for-saying-thank-you-... http://www.livinglanguage.com/blog/2013/06/20/how-to-say-tha...

EDIT: after reading the post above, I'd like to add that there may even be regional differences with all of this, so let me state this is based on my own experience.

No, not really IMHO - much more complicated. The first article (I only skimmed) seemed pretty good, the second was prolly a Japanese person trying to codify it :-) Here's a foreigner's attempt to explain them, based on how I use them (and I'm focusing on "thank you", not all the other meanings):

"su(mi)masen" means literally "it isn't finished" - meaning, I feel the need to repay you. "Arigato" is more literally "thank you", but is more of a "ending, cutting off" feeling. Neither is more polite than the other, just used in different circumstances. Which makes it terribly nuanced.

On the street, in the shops, normal life: "sumasen", which ends up being a lot like "thanks" that we are originally discussing. Why not "arigato"? I think because it would sound really abrupt, cut off ("curt" often used in literature).

Family member passes the salt - "arigato". No need to make a fuss, just a "thanks"

Someone close to the family has given you a gift, done something special: "Arigato gozaimasu!" (with 20 or more little sumasens thrown in) - I couldn't possibly return such a special effort (even though I'll deliver a returning gift to your house tomorrow) so it would be insulting to imply I'm going to.

You get the idea of how nuanced and confusing it can be. You just have to learn it naturally, I think.

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#53

Post by jmadsen »

alienchow wrote: post #46
jmadsen wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may extend my own post for a moment, this is a common problem of trying to translate words & phrases directly. For example, most people know that "Arigato" is Japanese for "Thank you". Except that's really wrong. Arigato is inappropriate in most cases, and "Sumasen" or variations should be used. But if you tried to translate them via the dictionary, you'd be quite confused as arigato comes from "thank" and su(mi…

May I know your source for this? Arigatou pretty much just means "Thank you". Arigatou - "Thank you" Sumimasen - "Excuse me" or a milder version of "sorry" Gomennasai - "Sorry" If I help my Japanese roommate grab some stuff from the convenience store, he says arigatou. If he wants to really be polite he could add on "suman, meiwaku kaketa." (sorry for troubling you) I'm not arguing against the fact that we shouldn't…

My "source" is 13 years in Japan living with Japanese wife, children & extended family :-)

But I'm not going to argue - for example, it may just be that here in Kansai we use them differently. We would definitely say "sumasen" for the things you listed. Just shows how hard it is to get this down from textbooks.

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#54

Post by saiprashanth93 »

z02d wrote: post #50

I asked some friends from Indian (Jaipur, Pune, Delhi) and they do not confirm this.

It is not exactly a hard and fast rule, its more like a behavioral pattern where you don't thank the people you are really close to for little things. If you say it, you generally say it like you mean it and not for everyday things.

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#55

Post by icebraining »

learnstats2 wrote: post #48
icebraining wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's obvious that it's appreciated Not around here, it isn't. I tried that three times, giving up after getting a mix of disinterest and hostility. Which frankly confirms my instincts, I only tried because I've learned not to assume that my preferences match the general public's.

While I show you respect for your effort, you could try it 3 times per day. If you feel genuinely grateful, I recommend that you try more. Some people don't appreciate it; some people think you are being ungenuine; some people don't notice or care; some people find it uncomfortable that you're choosing to break the social code; some people are confused by that. Yes, you're right. So what? Are you giving thanks becaus…

So what? Are you giving thanks because you want a service worker to validate you, or because you are grateful to the other person?

Neither, if I give thanks it's to improve the other person's day. Giving thanks just because I'm grateful, regardless if the other person will appreciate or be annoyed, is just being selfish - making myself feel more virtuous without actually improving anyone's life.

I interact with many store clerks more than once

Ah, yes, I also have a friendly relationship with a couple of people, like the corner store owner, and I thank them habitually. I was speaking about people I only interact with once or rarely.

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#56

Post by saiprashanth93 »

nitred wrote: post #45

I'm from India and I completely get what the author is saying, but why is this article on 'Hacker News'?

Hacker News, in spite of the name which implies only content related to programming does have article does are appealing to sensible and curious souls.

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#59

Post by zhte415 »

darkroasted wrote: post #2

As an American, I've sometimes been bothered by the use of thank you. It is fine as a pleasantry at a restaurant. But it always felt odd coming from a boss or from the company CEO. I think to myself, "I didn't do this piece of work as a favor to you, I didn't because you are paying me and you told me to do it." It is interesting to read that this view is more common in other cultures. I also dislike putting "thank yo…

The single best compliment I had from a senior manager after emailing the findings of quite an arduous 2-month project early in my career was a one word email:

"Good."

Put me on cloud nine.

I think it depends on who's doing the talking. Saying thanks more bring inflation to the term, leading to making up more terms when we really mean thanks.

Re: “Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things

#60

Post by seraph787 »

littletimmy wrote: post #49

As a non-American, this was one of the biggest culture shocks I faced. On the surface, relationships in the US seem very transactional (not making the judgment that they are really transactional). For example, in the US a son would thank his parents for paying his college tuition. In my culture, this would be insulting because it would suggest being distant from family, in the sense that the son ought to believe his…

Better for what? If you mean family sure. If you mean for shared burden probably not.
Post reply on HN