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"Please" | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 1 of 30 26 February 2008 at 9:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Another fun "how do you say this" thread. I'd like a list of translations for the word "please" into as many languages as possible. It should be interesting to see which languages are capable of a straightforward word and which aren't. It might also make for a fun etymological treasure hunt, as the word exists in some languages while doesn't in others; even within in the same language family (compare, for example, German and Icelandic, the latter of which now borrows from English).
To begin, in English it's "please". :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6439 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 30 26 February 2008 at 9:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Italian: per favore.
Spanish: por favor. German: bitte Polish: proszę Persian: lotfan Esperanto: Bonvolu/mi petas Edit: fixed a typo - thank you, Gilgamesh, for pointing it out (and don't apologize for doing so!). Edited by Volte on 26 February 2008 at 9:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gilgamesh Tetraglot Senior Member England Joined 6242 days ago 452 posts - 468 votes 14 sounds Speaks: Dutch, English, German, French Studies: Polish | Message 3 of 30 26 February 2008 at 9:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Modern Greek: παρακαλώ (parakalo)
Dutch: alsjeblieft/alstublieft French: s'il te plaît/s'il vous plaît Turkish: lütfen (hope I wrote this one correctly) Bulgarian: molja Edited by Gilgamesh on 26 February 2008 at 9:57am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rob Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6165 days ago 287 posts - 288 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 4 of 30 26 February 2008 at 9:42am | IP Logged | ||
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Japanese: お願いします / ...ください (onegaishimasu / ..kudasai)
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| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6665 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 5 of 30 26 February 2008 at 9:52am | IP Logged | ||
Almost. It's "lütfen". Obviously, it comes from the Persian "lotfan". Edited by Marc Frisch on 26 February 2008 at 9:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gilgamesh Tetraglot Senior Member England Joined 6242 days ago 452 posts - 468 votes 14 sounds Speaks: Dutch, English, German, French Studies: Polish | Message 6 of 30 26 February 2008 at 9:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for pointing that out, Marc_Frisch.
Isn't the Arabic word for please also 'lütvan'? Where does this word originate from? Plus, just remembered: Kurdish: tikaja (I hope I at least wrote this one correctly. I think the 'i' might be silent or left out.) Edited by Gilgamesh on 26 February 2008 at 9:58am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7156 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 7 of 30 26 February 2008 at 10:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Czech, Slovak: prosím (literally "I ask" - similar to Polish "proszę". It can also be used to express "you're welcome", "hello" on the telephone, "yes?" when replying to someone calling your name, or "pardon me? / come again?" when you don't understand something.)
Ukrainian: будь ласка / прошу (bud' laska / proshu - literally "be [so] kind" and "I ask" respectively) Slovenian: prosim (similar to Czech and Slovak but I am not sure if it can be used as widely as "prosím") BCS / Serbo-Croatian: molim (literally "I ask" and can also be used to translate "you're welcome". It comes from the verb "moliti" and has the same form as the Bulgarian моля. The verb is cognate with Polish "modłić" and Czech "modlit" both of which mean "to pray". In Southern Slavonic languages, the original verb evolved to mean "to ask" while in Western Slavonic languages, the verb evolved to mean "to pray" (cf. also Slovak "modliť") Hungarian: - tessék (subjunctive form of "tetszeni" - "to please". It is used with an infinitive when saying for example "please come in!" - "tessék befaradni!" or without an infinitive to express a similar concept to "please have a look!" or "please take some!" or "here you are!" (In French "voilà!")) - kérem (present tense of "kérni" - literally translates as "I ask" or "I bid" - used when expressing "yes, please" or sometimes as "you're welcome" as in "kérem, nincs mit" ~ "you're welcome, don't mention it") - légy szíves (informal) / legyen szíves (formal) (they literally mean "be [so] kind" and are somewhat more polite when used in requests, such as "Az étlapot, legyen szíves!" - "[Could I have] the menu, please?") 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vanityx3 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6461 days ago 331 posts - 326 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 8 of 30 26 February 2008 at 11:23am | IP Logged | ||
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French: s'il vous plaît, literally meaning, if it pleases you.
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