Married to a Dane, I had to adjust with how Danish is spoken- “Please” is non existent in their language—in our mother tongue we add “Paki” to the verb for politeness- so in Danish, the tone and adding words like “venligst” or “venlige” - meaning kindly.. would be the closest- like, “Vent Venligst.”- or kindly wait. Or the word “bede” which is to pray or in this context, to request or ask- it would have to come in a sentence- like. “Må jeg bede om en kop kaffe??” - May I request/ask for a cup of coffee? - I recall my teacher telling me to stop directly forming sentences like I do in English— as some Danish sentences or expressions just don't make sense in English :-)- it did help! Looking forward tot more of your stories. 😍
I just learned that from my cousin married to a Swede: no Please in Swedish either! Now I'm wondering if we can do without "please" in English, like your "kindly" example. Or does it somehow still feel raw.
I was just in rome. My friend and I were waiting in a fast-moving gelato line. The Italian request resembles english "vorrei la stracciatella, per favore" (i would like stracciatella, please). My friend asked politely in english "i would like 2 scoops", and he got a smile. I tried to speak in italian, but with the stress of 100 people waiting behind me, the spanish habit of going direct came out, "vagnilia per me". I got a stare.
Thank you for the eye-opener, Ani...it only took nearly 50 years to realize this and that's thanks to you!
Love it!! Can relate 🤗
Married to a Dane, I had to adjust with how Danish is spoken- “Please” is non existent in their language—in our mother tongue we add “Paki” to the verb for politeness- so in Danish, the tone and adding words like “venligst” or “venlige” - meaning kindly.. would be the closest- like, “Vent Venligst.”- or kindly wait. Or the word “bede” which is to pray or in this context, to request or ask- it would have to come in a sentence- like. “Må jeg bede om en kop kaffe??” - May I request/ask for a cup of coffee? - I recall my teacher telling me to stop directly forming sentences like I do in English— as some Danish sentences or expressions just don't make sense in English :-)- it did help! Looking forward tot more of your stories. 😍
I just learned that from my cousin married to a Swede: no Please in Swedish either! Now I'm wondering if we can do without "please" in English, like your "kindly" example. Or does it somehow still feel raw.
I was just in rome. My friend and I were waiting in a fast-moving gelato line. The Italian request resembles english "vorrei la stracciatella, per favore" (i would like stracciatella, please). My friend asked politely in english "i would like 2 scoops", and he got a smile. I tried to speak in italian, but with the stress of 100 people waiting behind me, the spanish habit of going direct came out, "vagnilia per me". I got a stare.