How to say Thank you in several languages

What are the ten basic words you need to know or find easy to recognize because you hear them most often?

1 Thanks
2 Please
3 Hello
4 Goodbye
5 Yes
6 No
7 How much
8 Ok
9 Toilet
10 Restaurant

Not enough. You need another ten:
1 Exit
2 Entrance
3 Pull
4 Push
5 Water
6 Taxi
7 Food
8 Drink
9 Where?
10 Lost

Let's start with thanks.

Flag of UK

thank you / thanks - English


Flag of France.

1 merci - French
2 mersi - Romanian


German flag

3 danke - German
4 gracias - Spanish
5 grazie - Italian


6 obrigado (said by a male) / obrigada (said by a female) - Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese
7 terima kasih - Malay /Indonesian
8 spasibo / spasibuh - Russian


9 efkaristo - Greek


10 dankon - Esperanto

bedankt - thanks (like be thanked by the Dutch)
vielen dank
tak - Danish
takk - Norwegian
tack - Swedish
arigato - Japanese

I remember the Portuguese word obrigado with the memory aid, much obliged.
I remember the Malay terimah kasih with the memory aid, terribly grateful. thanks
Gracias, Spanish, sounds like grateful.
Danke sounds like thank ya/you

What is the easiest?

Esperanto Dankon

The hardest
Bulgarian - blagodarya
Tamil - nanri



Chinese flag

CHINESE 

simplified!

谢谢

Xièxiè

(Pronounced shay shay)

Quiz

Which languages are these?

danke
gracias
grazie
merci
mersi
shay-shay
shukran
spasibo
terima kasih
tak
tac
takk
todah robuh

Can you say thank you in these languages?
1 Arabic
2 French
3 Chinese (Mandarin)
4 German
5 Hebrew
6 Indonesian
7 Malay
8 Portuguese
9 Russian
10 Spanish

Useful Websites for Travellers
Free internet language learning
duolingo.com
Facebook polyglots page for those interested in learning and discussing languages
Polyglots (The Community)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/

Flashcards to view and make
https://www.cram.com/search?query=languages&submit=Search
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/8hvj9dyD/how-to-say-hello-in-20-languages

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Trainer for business in English and other languages. Please see my other blog posts and share links to your favourite posts with your friends and colleagues.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a trave writer and phtographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a langauge evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
Or quicker to type and easier to remember:  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

Ask For Drinks And Toilets in Malaysian or Indonesian Restaurants Or On The Plane

DRINKS - MINUM
ordering - memesan - ordering
I have translated whole sentences, also word by word because the word order is sometimes different.

ORDER
maaf - sorry
excuse me - permisi - (permit me)
sorry to interrupt - maaf menyela (think of men yelling)
sorry to trouble you - maaf merepotkanmu (Memory helper: 'mere'ly 'po'ssible 'can m'(e) 'you

I need a drink - saya butuh minum
I - saya
need - butuh
drink - minum

MENU
I need the menu - saya butuh menu
Do you have a menu? apakah Anda memiliki menu
apakah - is
anda - you
memiliki - have

PRICES
I want the price list - saya ingin daftar harganya
saya - I
ingin - want
daftar - list (Memory aid:  I want the list however daft the translation is)
harganya - price - which they might haggle over with you

Any wine by the glass? Anggur apa saja di dekat gelas?
glass - kaca
Anything cheaper? Ada yang lebih murah?
ada - there is
yang - that
lebih - more
murah - cheap
cheaper - lebih murah

Does that cost more?/ is it more expensive - Apakah itu biaya tamahan?

how much is it? - Berapa harganya?
Does that cost extra? - Apakah itu biaya tambahan?
biaya - cost (memory aid to the buyer)
itu - that
tambahan - additional
(not to be confused with tambaham which I typed, typo. meaning stock)
Is it free? - Ini gratis?
Is it included in the price?- Apakah sudah termasuk dalam harga
price - harga

ORDER
here it is - ini dia
this one - yang ini
I am ready to order - saya siap memesan
siap - ready
saya siap - I am ready
any problem - masalah apa saja?
what - apa
only - saja

what's the problem? - apa masalahnya?
is everything ok? - Apakah semua baik-baik saja?

PROBLEMS / CHANGES / REPEATS
problem - masalah
no - tidak
no problem - tidak masalah
too hot - terlalu panas
too cold - terlalu dingin
this one again / another one of these - yang ini lagi / yang lain lagi
that's mine - itu milikku
How long will it be? Berapa lama?
lama - long
Berapa - how many
too much (food) - terlalu banyak (makanan)
I want some more - saya mau lagi
saya - I
Mau - want
lagi - more
lebih - more
this - ini
please wrap it up (to go) tolong selesaikan (untuk pergi)
take away (said in UK) - bawa puland
take out (said in USA) - mangambil

PRAISE
That was wonderful
compliments to the chef
I want to speak to the manager
Wonderful
Wish you luck with your new business!

DRINKS
I would like a beer - saya mau bir (Malay has no words for a and the. I want beer.)
beer - bir
wine - anggur
I - saya
mau - want
I would like some wine - saya mau anggur (note the double g)
red wine - anggur merah (In Singapore Bukit Merah is Red Hill. Two different stations are named Bukit Merah and Redhill)

TYPES OF WINE
white wine - anggur putih
rose wine - anggur merah muda (Remember they murdered the red wine.)
sparkling wine - anggur soda
not gassy - Bukan mangandung gas
mengandung - contain
mengandun - nesting (I 'd nearly finished typing when the shorter word popped up. Bonus.
bukan - not

do you have (a / the) - apakah kamu punya
apakah - is
kamu - you
punya - have
local brand / national brand - merek lokal / merek nasional
merek - brand

HURRY?
Where are the drinks? - Di mana minmannya?
di - in
mana - where

We are in a hurry! - Kami sedang terburu- buru!
kami - we
sedang - medium (for in a bit of a hurry?)
terburu-buru - in a hurry

NO HURRY
No hurry - tidak perlu terburu-buru
No problem - tidak masalah
tidak - no
perlu - need

You are busy today - Kamu sibuk hari ini
Kama - you
sibuk - busy
hari - day
ini -this
hari raya - holiday
raya - highway
You are not busy today - Anda tidak sibuk hari ini
anda - you (My reminder - and you?)
tidak - no
sibuk - busy (My reminder: sibuk - so busy!)

WATER - 'AIR' (Not air in English but water in Indonesia, also spelled ayer as in Telok Ayer

The next confusion is soda. In English soda water.
UK carbonated water, fizzy water, soda water, Club Soda (brand name)
bottled water - air botol
still water - masih air
soda water - air soda
sparkling water

sparkling water - air soda
a glass of water - segalas air
segalas - a glass
air - water

cangkir - a cup
secangkir  teh -  a cup of tea
a cup of tea - secangkir teh
a cup of coffee - secangkir kopi

cold water - air dingin
iced water- air dingin
no ice - tanpa es
ice - es (same word in ice cream)
hot water - air panas (Memory aid - painfully hot)
boiling hot water - air panas mendidih
tepid water - air hangat

jug  (water jug) - kendi
jug of water - kendi air
I need a water glass - saya butuh gelas minum
cup of tea - secangkir teh
cup of coffee -secankir - kopi

PROBLEMS
sorry to trouble you - maaf merepotkanmu
no problem - tidak masalah

You are busy today - kamu sibuk hari ini
you - kamu
busy - sibuk (The English and Maly words both contain the letter pair bu and letter s)
today - hari ini (meaning day this)
You are not busy kamu tidak sibuk

juice - jus
apple - apel
apel - apple
fresh juice

USEFUL WORDS WHEN TRAVELLING

TOILET
Where is the toilet? - Dimana toiletnya?
Is it near? - Apaka sudah dekat?
Is it far? - Apaka itu jauh?
Upstairs / downstairs / at the back / over there - Lantai atas / bawah (b like in basement) belakang / sebela sana
ladies - Wanita
gents - WC pria
Which is the ladies toilet? Toilet wanita yang mana? (Toilet Wanita mana)
Which is the Gents toilet(s)? Toilet toilet yang mana. (Repeated word is plural, I rpesume aggreing with the plural noun Gents.)

Where can I wash my hands? - Di mana saya bisa mencuci tangan?
di - in

saya - I
bisa - can
mencuci - wash
tangan - hand
Thank you!

Jeruk - orange
apel - apple
campur aduk - mized together
sesuatu yang tidak biasa?
something unusual -  sesuatu yang tidak biasa
something - sesuatu
yang - that
tidak - no
biasa -ordinary
local - lokal?
Pada musim? - in season
jus segar - fresh juice

TOILET
In Malaysia and Indonesia and Singapore restaurants of Malay, Muslim and Indian management, often a washing area with sinks is before you reach the toilet cubicles or in a separate area.
Where can I wash my hands?
Dimana toiletnya? Where are the toilets?
Wanita - ladies
WC pria - toilet
Toilet wanita yang mana? - Where is the ladies?
Toilet toilet yang mana? (Literally toilet toilet which one. You repeat a word for a plural.
WC - toilet (WC are initials for water closet)

Malay / Indonesian - English
yang - that
mana - where?

Di mana saya bisa mencuci tangan saya?
Terima kasih! - Thanks.

untuk - for
ini - this
untuk - for
melatih - train

masyarakat - community
kota - city
di - in
lagi - again

rumah - home (think room)
satu - one
kanan - right
untuk - for

THANKS & GOODBYE
Thank you - terimah kasih
You're welcome - sama-sama
Goodbye - selamat tinggal
Safe journey - perjalanan yang aman

Useful Websites
visitsingapore.com
visit-malaysia.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher or English and other languages. Contact me if you need a lesson or workshop.