Thread: Different ways to say "Cheers" in russian

"Cheers" as the word you say "Good Job" or "Thanks for helping me out"

Typically a word you say to end a converstation

Once on this forum I heard that Счастливо could be used. Do you any other that fill well as well?

Cheers all

Mordan

Cheers never means goodbye.

It means "thanks" or when you drink you say "Cheers!".

Or of course when it is used in it's original meaning as the plural of cheer. Three cheers!

I never say "Cheers" for "Good job" or "Thanks for helping me out" .
Must be a British thing.

Originally Posted by Mordan

Typically a word you say to end a converstation
Once on this forum I heard that Cчастливо could be used. Do you any other that fill well as well?

Yes, cчастливо is used very often like that. Удачи is sometimes used as an informal goodbye. I'm ignoring the obvious пока. How about: до встречи , до завтра, or just silly things like ну, всё, давай But these are all goodbyes, with equivalents in your (native?) French that are easy for you to understand. If I had to translate cheers in a goodbye context (which is controversial, see below...), I'd choose cчастливо although my Russian is obviously not good enough to know the very best term.

The modern British teenager might choose the horrible "laters" instead of cheers

Originally Posted by kwatts59

Must be a British thing.

да, безусловно.

Originally Posted by TATY

Cheers never means goodbye.

Hmm. It's very, very often used in that way at the end of emails. And yes, it's sometimes used as an informal goodbye in speech. I agree that this usage is somewhat strange and doubtless comes from a confusion with the meaning "thank you", but I'd say you're wrong to state that it's never used like that. (Again, for those who aren't clear about this, we're talking about informal British English)

I'd've thought that 'cheers' meaning 'goodbye' is more likely a contraction or variant of 'cheerio' (wherever the hell that came from), rather than a missplaced 'thank you'.

But yes, to say that it is never used as 'goodbye' is just silly. Of course it is.

When you use Cheers to sign off, it's more like "Thanks in Advance", which implies I have requested something during the leter, e-mail.


Dear John,

How are you? Can you remember to bring the CD tomorrow please.

Cheers

Melvin

Cheerio does not = Cheers. Cheerio does = Goodbye, but don't use it, cos you'll sound like a nonce.


Cheers = thanks, in this example. It is used as a farewell but not in the sense of Goodbye.

You can't say Cheers to mean Bye unless you are thanking them for something.

E.g. this doesn't work:

Vladimir: Hey, what's up
John: Nothing much, what about you?
V: Meh, same.
J: I've got to go and meet Shirley now, I'll see you later
V: Cheers
J: Cheers?....... Why are you saying Cheers, that doesn't make sense.
V: Mordan said I could.
J: Mordan? Have you been seeing another guy for English advice beinhd my back?
V: It's not how it looks!
J: I don't wanna hear your excuses, it's over. I'm never gonna help you with English again.

And that, Mordan, is why you don't say Cheers to mean goodbye.

I'm sorry Mr Tatu, but you are quite simply wrong. I would happily use (and have used, countless times) 'cheers' to mean an informal 'goodbye', with nary a hint of 'thanks' involved.

Used it myself, heard it used by others.

Good English? Probably not, no.

Common usage? I should flippin' coco.

Originally Posted by scotcher

I'm sorry Mr Tatu, but you are quite simply wrong. I would happily use (and have used, countless times) 'cheers' to mean an informal 'goodbye', with nary a hint of 'thanks' involved.

Used it myself, heard it used by others.

Good English? Probably not, no.

Common usage? I should flippin' coco.

Maybe among your circles you do. Or they people you say it to are like "who was that weird guy".

Do you really say Cheers to mean bye? It sounds very odd to me.

Mordan, who would you rather sound like, a young student for the south of England, or a drunken Scot?

My circles are quite wide, I'll have you know

In all seriousness, I haven't noticed much difference in usage no matter where I've lived, though I'd never really had much cause to think about it before now.

As far as I'm aware, 'cheers' has always been a really informal/ lazy way to say 'bye'. Yes, it does seem more natural when it contains an element of 'thanks', as per your examples, but that's only when I analyze it. The example you used to illustrate wrongness:

Vladimir: Hey, what's up
John: Nothing much, what about you?
V: Meh, same.
J: I've got to go and meet Shirley now, I'll see you later
V: Cheers

seems perfectly fine to me.

By "perfectly fine", I mean "fairly common". Strictly speaking "cheers" should no more be used to mean "thanks" than "goodbye".

You've got me on the drunken scot comment though.

TATY

Well I can ASSURE you 100% that the Englishmen and the Australian I work with often say Cheers when we separate after a discussion. I never said Cheers strictly meant "Good bye". Cheers means more in my opinion "See you with a thanks in it"

English is not my native language, but I'm not that dumb to tell when I'm in a parting situation or not heh.

Originally Posted by Mordan

TATY

Well I can ASSURE you 100% that the Englishmen and the Australian I work with often say Cheers when we separate after a discussion. I never said Cheers strictly meant "Good bye". Cheers means more in my opinion "See you with a thanks in it"

English is not my native language, but I'm not that dumb to tell when I'm in a parting situation or not heh.

Yes, Cheers is like "Bye+Thanks"

Scotcher, saying cheers like in my second example really doesn't sound at all right to me, and I have never heard it used like that.

It is very common as a farewell when it means thanks + bye.

Good, that's better Tatu.

"Doesn't sound right to me"

is a lot better than

"Cheers never means goodbye."

The former makes a comment on your personal experience, wheras the latter makes a factually incorrect general statement.

Originally Posted by scotcher

Good, that's better Tatu.

"Doesn't sound right to me"

is a lot better than

"Cheers never means goodbye."

The former makes a comment on your personal experience, wheras the latter makes a factually incorrect general statement.

I checked with my friends today, and they all said the second example was wrong, that you don't use it like that.

Wow! Really? Well, you've convinced me now. I guess I must just have been plain wrong, all along. Evidently I haven't used it myself or heard it used by others, on countless occassions, afterall.

Thanks for helping clear that up.

Tit.

cheers, mate! must be the expression i've heard the most when meeting english folks.

To me, saying Cheers to mean "goodbye" without any impliment of "thanks", sounds as odd as saying 'hello' to mean bye.

Cheerio is fine. Cheers.... no.

Made an account just to post this hahaha

In Australia we say cheers as thanks and would only ever use it as a goodbye in the context of an email, even then it is more of a thank you

Dear Tom,

Could you please do that thing for me?

Cheers,
James.


On the phone it may be used as part of a farewell such as 'Cheers mate, bye' which means 'Thank you friend, goodbye.'

Thats all I have to say on that

i agree with scotcher on this one;

i have heard people leaving with 'ok, cheers, on my way now' as in 'ok, goodbye - going now' many of times in a lot of different places.

It's British/Australian usage, mainly. Men say "cheers" a lot more than women. If a woman says it, it comes across as a bit masculine. I almost never say "cheers".

When non-native speakers use it, it's a sign that they lived in the UK for a while, or spend a lot of times with Brits / Australians / Kiwis.

It's also informal, not "RP" speech. Prince Charles wouldn't say it (but William and Harry might). Number one users of "cheers" are pub landlords, black cab drivers etc. Blue collar workers.

I.e. highly educated / posh people don't use it.
They'd say "much obliged" or "I really appreciate it, thanks a lot" or something like that.

Usually the expression is "Cheers mate!" in speech.

You use it to PEERS (friends, co-workers at the same level), absolutely not to your boss, elderly people you respect etc. Usually between men.