When to say 谢谢 or not (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

When to say 谢谢 or not
Tags: Polite/Informal Forms \| Mandarin
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

10 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6051 days ago
669 posts - 1023 votes

2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

Message 9 of 10

13 July 2011 at 8:43am | IP Logged

seldnar wrote:

Funny. I live in Seattle and was surprised to hear people thank the
bus driver; my
first thought was that they only did that in Taiwan which is where I picked up the
custom (thinking it very strange at the time) Off topic, its also where I picked up
the habit of saying bye-bye. :-(

People are right about the possibility of too much 謝謝ing. At restaurants, unless I've
asked the waiter for some service above and beyond his regular job, I just save the
thank you for the end, same as I do in the States. However, having lived in both
Taiwan and Mainland China, I notice more xie xie-ing in Taiwan and actually missed
hearing 不客氣 when I lived on the Mainland. Everyone there (northeast region) would
just say 沒事. Same meaning, just different.

irrationale wrote:

Personally, I kind of agree with this. Here in Seattle, people say "thank you" to the
busdriver when getting off the bus. Is this really needed? This is somewhat off
topic,

Haha, well to be honest I live in the suburbs. So maybe it is different downtown.
People really do seem overly polite here, I'm sure you've heard the saying about
Seattle drivers stopping in the middle of the road to let a jaywalker cross.

Anyway, it's off topic. Feel free to ignore.
1 person has voted this message useful

dbag
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5023 days ago
605 posts - 1046 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 10 of 10

14 July 2011 at 12:40am | IP Logged

Again, maybe a little off topic, but I think being British, it can be very hard not to say please and thank you all the time. I think most of us got a thick ear for not doing so as children.
I have wondered if I say gracias too much when in Spain.

I get the feeling, although I may be wrong, that we are quite unique in this. I have learnt to forgive some Americans , and other nationalities I encounter, when they dont say please or thank you, and understand that they are not intentionally being rude, its just a cultural difference.

So perhaps we say please and thankyou too much in most languages?
1 person has voted this message useful

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