Saying“thankyou”isprobablythefirstthingmostofuslearntodoinaforeignlanguage.Afterallwe’rebroughtuptobepoliteanditisimportanttomakeagoodimpressionuponotherpeople—especiallyacrossnationaldivides.
Sowhatexactlyareyousupposedtosaywhen“thankyou”isonlythe20thmostpopularwaytoexpressgratitude?Accordingtoarecentsurvey19otherwaysofexpressingappreciationfinishedaheadof“thankyou”inapollof3000people.
Pollsters(民测调查员)foundalmosthalfofthoseaskedpreferredthemoreinformal“cheers”whileotherslikedtousesuchexpressionsas“ta”“great”and“niceone”.
Sojustwhatistheappropriateformofwordstoexpressyourthanks?
Fortunatelytheclueisinthelanguageitself.“Cheers”despiteitspopularityisconsideredaninformalwaytosaythankyou—andthisisadefiniteclueastowhenyoucanbestuseit.
Forinstancewhengoingforadrinkwithfriendsasmileanda“cheers”bywayofthanksisnotonlyappropriatetothesituationitisalsoculturallyaccurate.
“Ta”originatedfromtheDanishword“tak”wasthesecond-mostpopularexpressionofthanksandisalsocommonlyusedininformalsituationsalongwithphrasessuchas“niceone”and“brilliant”.Interestinglyonewordthatdidn’tmakeitintothetop20was“thanks”Thankyouisshortermoreinformalcousin.
“Thanks”canbeusefulasitisabletobridgethedividebetweentheformalityof“thankyou”andthedownrightrelaxed“cheers”.
Certainwordscandoubleasanexpressionofthanksaswellasdelight.Againthewordsthemselvesoffertheclueastowhenbesttousethem.
Forexamplewordslike“awesome”“brilliant”and“youstar”featuredhighlyinthenewpollandtheycanhintatbothyourpleasureatsomeone’sactionaswellasservingtoexpressyourthanks.Ifyouareonthereceivingendofa“new”thankyouyoucanrespondwithasimple“noproblem”or“sure”.
Ofcourseincertaincircumstancesasimplewavenodorsmilemaybeappropriate.Forinstanceifacardriverslowsdowntoletyoucrosstheroadsimplyraisingyourhandinacknowledgementisenoughtoshowthatyouappreciatethedriver’sconsideration.
Sometimesformalityisnecessaryand“thankyou”isstillthebestchoiceinsuchsituat