Saying Thank You … Globally
I just returned from a family vacation to the Dominican Republic. There, I was forced to reach back into the recesses of my dusty brain and extract what was left of my Spanish vocabulary. Communication wasn’t great — I said “cerveza” (beer) in response to almost every question asked of me — but, what did impress me, is how quickly all my kids, including the 2 year olds, learned “gracias” (thank you). In most cases, it was the only word they needed. In the spirit of the gratitude and global thinking, the following is a list of how to say “Thank You” in ten different languages.
Dutch …. dank u (easy one)
English …. thank you (lest we forget)
French …. Merci
Gaelic …. go raibh maith agat
German … danke
Italian …. grazie
Japanese …. arigato
Polish …. dziękuję — sounds like, dzhehnkooyeh
Russian …. спасибо (spasibo)
Swedish …. tack