When a friend and I trekked in the Indian Himalayas a few years ago, the two words we most frequently uttered were thank you. Thank you, porters, for pitching our tent. Thank you for cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Thank you for helping us navigate the reed thin log crossing the raging Beas river. Thank you for serving us morning coffee in our tent. Thank you for waking us up early enough on a starry morning to watch the sun rise above one of the highest mountain peaks in the world. Thank you for carrying my backpack up and down a much less impressive mountain peak, and lending me your winter jacket because I was too stupid to pack appropriately for a high altitude trek. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
After three days of incessant thank yous, our guide, Anand, snapped, “At least learn how to say thank you in Hindi—Danyavaad.”
I lived in Bali, where I managed to pick up exactly two Balinese phrases: sama sama (same same) and matu suksama—thank you. Being able to express gratitude in the local language colored every interaction I had at Bali Buddha, the Ubud Library, the homestay where I lived. I butchered the pronunciation, but speaking well isn’t the point. Speaking gratefully is what matters.
During my second trip to the Indian Himalayas, as I was checking out of the Holiday Inn in Manali, I thanked the hotel clerks in Hindi, which made them giggle (their English was impeccable). So I continued thanking them in Urdu (shukriya), French (merci), Italian (grazi), Spanish (gracias), Portuguese (obrigada), German (danke), Japanese (arigato), Mandarin (xie xie) and Thai (kha).
“You speak many languages,” one hotel clerk said, clearly impressed.
“Nope, just English,” I replied. “The only word I know in any other language is Thanks.”
“Ah,” he nodded. “But it is the only word you need to know.”
Click here for a list of how to say thank you in over 400 languages.
Ta Lynn. (that’s Essex)
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beautiful.
dhanyavad.
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