How People Around the World Say "Thank You!"
Back in college, I had Dr. Renford Reese, an amazing Political Science professor, that founded the Colorful Flags program. He had an idea that if people of different cultural backgrounds were able to communicate in each other's languages, it would create connections between them. He believed that language shouldn't be a barrier between human beings. With that idea, he made "flags" which were colorful cards each representing one language from the world with translations of "Hello", "Thank you", and other commonly used phrases.
In the beginning of the quarter, he gave us each one card that we had to learn throughout the quarter on top of our regular school work. Another student and I got Hindi. I still remember to this day how to pronounce, "Hi, how are you?" (Namaste. Kya haal hai?)
Since it's the season of giving thanks (and gratitude is always in season), here are many ways of saying, "Thank you!" Try one, two, or all sixty nine.
Afrikaans: Dankie!
Albanian: Falemnderit!
Arabic: شكرا لك!
Armenian: Շնորհակալություն:
Azerbaijani: Təşəkkür edirik!
Basque: Eskerrik asko!
Belarusian: Дзякуй!
Bengali: আপনাকে ধন্যবাদ!
Bosnian: Hvala vam!
Bulgarian: Благодарим ви!
Catalan: Gràcies!
Chinese (traditional): 謝謝你！
Croatian: Hvala vam!
Czech: Děkuji vám!
Danish: Tak!
Dutch: Dank je wel!
Esperanto: Dankon!
Estonian: Täname!
Finnish: Kiitos!
French: Je vous remercie!
Galician: Grazas!
Georgian: დიდი მადლობა!
German: Danke!
Greek: Σας ευχαριστούμε!
Gujarati: આપનો આભાર!
Haitian Creole: Mèsi!
Hebrew: תודה לך!
Hindi: धन्यवाद!
Hmong: Ua tsaug!
Hungarian: Köszönjük!
Icelandic: Þakka þér!
Indonesian: Terima kasih!
Irish: Go raibh maith agat!
Italian: Grazie!
Japanese: ありがとうございました！
Javanese: Matur nuwun!
Kannada: ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು!
Khmer: សូមអរគុណ!
Korean: 감사합니다!
Lao: ຂໍຂອບໃຈທ່ານ!
Latin: Gratias tibi!
Latvian: Paldies!
Lithuanian: Ačiū!
Macedonian: Ви благодариме!
Malay: Terima kasih!
Maltese: Grazzi!
Marathi: धन्यवाद!
Norwegian: Takk!
Persian: با تشکر از شما!
Polish: Dziękujemy!
Portuguese: Obrigado!
Romanian: Vă mulțumim!
Russian: Спасибо!
Serbian: Хвала!
Slovak: Ďakujem vám!
Slovenian: Hvala za razumevanje!
Spanish: ¡Gracias!
Swahili: Asante!
Swedish: Tack!
Tagalog: Salamat!
Tamil: நன்றி!
Telugu: ధన్యవాదాలు!
Thai: ขอบคุณ!
Turkish: Teşekkür ederim!
Ukrainian: Спасибо!
Urdu: آپ کا شکریہ!
Vietnamese: Cảm ơn bạn!
Welsh: Diolch yn fawr!
Yiddish: דאנק איר!
Source: Google Translate
Roderick Conwi writes about personal and professional development at Nourishment Notes. He is also the author of The Procrastinator's Quick Guide To Getting It Done. To get powerful insights to enhance your day, join his FREE newsletter.
