Thread: Спасибо in English

У меня один вопрос по тому, как сказать спасибо на английском языке
а точнее как можно выстроить иерархию ответов в ситуациях: от незначительного, игривого и необязательного до фразы вроде: "ОГРОМНОЕ Вам спасибо, Вы мне ТАК помогли!".

есть ли какая-то разница между thanks и thx? thx это как по-русски "пасиб" или "спасибки" или полноценный эквивалент thanks?
И сейчас уже никто не говорит "Thank you", да?

thx
thanks: used in emails and text messages
thx 4 the info
from macmillan dictionary

То есть русское "спс" или что-то такое. И хотя здесь это не указано, но надо думать это, как и русский эквивалент, жаргон то есть - informal.
Про различие между thank you, которое, конечно же употребляется, и thanks я думаю Вы знаете. Но это все имеет не совсем прямое отношение к Вашему вопросу. Степень признательности и другие эмоции выражаются, скорее, интонацией, как и в русском. Но я почти уверен, что в большинстве случаев интонации русские и английские не совпадают, и чтобы усвоить правильные интонации, нужно либо общение с нейтивами, либо просто слушание их речи.

А, да. Полно ведь и других выражений благодарности. Thank you so much, thank you very much, thanks you very much (поисковик выдает такое, но это безграмотно), thank you very very much, oh thank you so much, thanks a lot, I thank you и, наверное, еще немеренное количесто подобных. Форма благодарности, конечно, влияет, но важнее интонация.

Some ways of saying thanks, in order of "strength".

Thanks!
Thank you!
Thanks a lot!
Thank you very much!
Thank you so much!
Thanks a million (informal)
Thank you, that was really helpful! (OR that really helped me)
Thank you, I really appreciate it! (I am really grateful).
Thank you, you are so kind!
Thank you, I can't tell you how grateful I am!

It sounds a bit more serious and like you *really* mean it if you say "thank you" instead of "thanks". Just a minor nuance.

Here is my experience of the "thank you" phenomenon in English, ignore it at your peril!

In English (UK) it is EXTREMELY important to say thank you A LOT!
As soon as there is the slightest reason to thank someone, you must do it.

If you buy something in a shop, you might end up saying "thank you" three times as you pay, recieve the change back and perhaps they help with something like packing the goods.

As soon as you receive anything at all, you must say "thank you".

If you don't, people think you are a bit rude/cold.

English people do not realise that this is quite unique for the English language. Even though they are quite tolerant to mistakes by foreigners speaking English, this is something that they don't understand. They just think that you are a rude person if you don't say "Please" and "Thank You" all the time.

This is a difference between my language and English, so I had to make a huge effort to start this enormous "thank you" thing when I moved to England. I know that people in Russian speaking countries don't use "thank you" a great deal either. Not because they are rude, or because people don't help each other but it's a different way of speaking and behaving.
Russian people actually seem rude to English speakers because of this.

If you read an English speaking guide to Russia etc, it's full of advice about how not to be offended when people are "rude" etc. In reality, (at least in Ukraine and Belarus) people are both kind and helpful in most cases The customer service is not exactly fantastic in some places but it is not anywhere near as bad as the English speaking guide books make out. Sometimes you get much better help than any English person would bother giving. It's all due to misunderstandings on the part of the English people - language difficulties and a different attitude to when it is necessary to say "thanks" and when it is not

So if you are Russian and read this:
Be very careful to say Thank you when you speak English - a lot more than you normally would! As soon as anyone does anything at all to help you, or give you something. Even if it is their job etc.

If your English speaking boss sends you an email ending with "Thanks!" it's a way of saying "Thank you for doing what I say right away! (implicitly, do it now!)
Do not end emails with "Thanks!" to customers or people who are senior to you, it makes you sound a bit disrespectful.
Many foreigners make this mistake that's why I warn about it.

Originally Posted by kib

А, да. Полно ведь и других выражений благодарности. Thank you so much, thank you very much, thanks you very much (поисковик выдает такое, но это безграмотно), thank you very very much, oh thank you so much, thanks a lot, I thank you и, наверное, еще немеренное количесто подобных. Форма благодарности, конечно, влияет, но важнее интонация.

на самом деле проблема в том, что мне надо не говорить это, а писать... Так что нужны именно слова, а не интонация

Originally Posted by Hanna

Some ways of saying thanks, in order of "strength".

Thanks!
Thank you!
Thanks a lot!
Thank you very much!
Thank you so much!
Thanks a million (informal)
Thank you, that was really helpful! (OR that really helped me)
Thank you, I really appreciate it! (I am really grateful).
Thank you, you are so kind!
Thank you, I can't tell you how grateful I am!

WOW! GREAT!!!
I should to know this by heart.
A couple of times I used "Many thanks". Which place does it take?

Originally Posted by Hanna

This is a difference between my language and English, so I had to make a huge effort to start this enormous "thank you" thing when I moved to England. I know that people in Russian speaking countries don't use "thank you" a great deal either. Not because they are rude, or because people don't help each other but it's a different way of speaking and behaving.
Russian people actually seem rude to English speakers because of this.

I often use "thank you" (спасибо) in Russian. When I talk with somebody.. But in these cases I use other words and play with intonation.
For example = ООООО КЛАСС! Это правда мне? суууупер!
OR = ничего себе! здорово!
AND etc
But when I speak English I cannot use this things... I don't know more than cool! great! WOW!
And I don't like repeat...
This is reasons why I can don't use "thank you" a lot.

Ok. Now I understand this mistake.
THANK YOU A LOT!!

Not at all! (that's something you can say if somebody thanks you...)

Don't worry about using "thank you" too much. It's not possible in the English language!!

People will simply think that you are an extremely nice and polite person, which is a good thing.
They don't think that you are silly or anything like that.

It's true that you should vary it a bit though. Personally I don't thank people if the service was appalling, or there was some big problem that was essentially their fault. That is still extremely rude... Sometimes I just say "Allright, thanks" and leave.
That's probably to do with me being Swedish. Most English people would thank them anyway. Then they complain after they left...

If you are happy, you can say:

Thanks, that's great!
Perfect, thank you very much!

... and lots of variations of this.

Many thanks, is a way of ending an email.
It's slightly more polite than just "Thanks", but it's still in the tone of "Do it!" If you are asking somebody to help you, it's more polite (but not completely necessary...) to say "I would be very happy for your help with this" or "I hope you'll be able to help me" etc.
"Many thanks" is ok if you are typing something brief and you are in a hurry. I use it a lot in my work emails, when I am telling people what to do. For example:

"I would appreciate if you can make sure that this is finished before seven this evening; any delay beyond that would be create lots of problems. Please let me know if there is any problem with completing this by seven. Many thanks, Hanna"

For example, perhaps you want to ask the postman to remember to close the front door after he leaves. You could say

"Dear Postman, please remember to close the front door when you leave our building, as it gets very cold every time it is left open. Many thanks!"

You are being nice and polite, but you are still making it clear that he must close the door.

Hope that helped!

Hanna, we in the US don't make that distinction about "many thanks". In fact, we don't use it that much. I'd just sign the Postman letter "Thanks." or "Thank you."

And another thing to remember is when people thank you, you can say:

"Not at all"
"My pleasure"
"Don't mention it!"
"No, no, I am happy to help!"
"It's nothing"

I know there is another way to thank which is "Thank you very much indeed." I heard it on BBC TV. As soon as I understood it roughly means "Thank you very, very much." Am I right?

Thank you!
Now I know that Many thanks it is our "заранее спасибо". Great!

When you add "indeed" you are just sounding more British, formal and a bit more sophisticated (it's a more middle or upper class way of speaking).
You would not say that to somebody in your family or a good friend.

I don't say that a lot because I think it sounds a bit pretentios... but I might say it for example in an expensive shop, if the shop assistant was extremely helpful and very nice.

On the News they sometimes say it after they interview people, which is a good example of when it might be used.

No need to use this expression as a non-native speaker of English...

Oh, I get it. Thanks.

WOW! It is wonderful!!
Look what I found in www: [ http://dasign.chat.ru/etiket/7.html ]
WWW версия справочника Н.И. Формановской и С.В. Шевцова "Речевой этикет. Русско-английские соответствия: Справочник." Раздел благодарность.
Да, но книга 1990 года..

That book is very good, everything is absolutely right! I will use it "in reverse", to learn the Russian expressions.

(Apart from the "1st May greeting". This holiday is not celebrated in any English speaking countries.. Nobody would say that... )

1 мая = великий праздник СССР. А книга писалась в союзе как раз. Вышла в свет, когда еще РФ не существовало..
Издержки производства так сказать..

I like this: "Thank you for having me".

Originally Posted by alexsms

I like this: "Thank you for having me".

Note that this really means "Thank you for having me as a guest" -- thus it's equivalent to "Thank you for being a kind host."

Originally Posted by Hanna

That book is very good, everything is absolutely right! I will use it "in reverse", to learn the Russian expressions.

(Apart from the "1st May greeting". This holiday is not celebrated in any English speaking countries.. Nobody would say that... )

Whether or not the holiday is celebrated in English-speaking countries, I disagree with the English translations that the book gives for the Russian phrase С Первым мая!, namely:

Congratulations! (May Day greetings to you!)

"Happy May Day!" would be much, much more natural. "May Day greetings to you" sounds too formal, and English speakers generally don't say "Congratulations" on the occasions of annual holidays like Christmas, New Year, Easter, Mother's Day, 4th of July in America, etc. Instead, we say "Happy [name of holiday]!", unless it's Christmas and you're American, in which case "Happy" is changed to "Merry," for some reason.

The phrase "Congratulations" is used when someone gets married, has a baby, graduates from school, is promoted to a higher position at work, buys a new home, etc. -- but not for holidays.

We also sometimes say "Congratulations" for a person's birthday -- though more often for young children than for adults. So "Congratulations, you're six years old now!" is quite commonly heard, but "Congratulations, you're 37!" would be rather unusual!

Originally Posted by Hanna

When you add "indeed" you are just sounding more British, formal and a bit more sophisticated (it's a more middle or upper class way of speaking).
You would not say that to somebody in your family or a good friend.

No need to use ["indeed"] as a non-native speaker of English...

I have to say that I think Hanna's advice in this thread has been excellent, and I agree with her on almost every point (including this one).

But I wanted to add that if you're a non-native speaker who has reached a level where you can read P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" stories in the original, then you can certainly use "indeed" for comedy purposes, to do an impersonation of a very proper, erudite British speaker like Jeeves: "Oh, indeed, sir."

However, you should be aware that the word does tend to create a humorous tone of "mock-formality" (that is, subtly making fun of aristocrats, but in a hyper-polite way, as Jeeves often does with Bertie Wooster).

Anyway, I wanted to mention this because у меня четырехлетний племянник абсолютно ОБОЖАЕТ это слово, и он всё время говорит "Indeed!" с означением "да". (I've got a four-year-old nephew who absolutely adores this word, and he's always saying "Indeed!" to mean "yes.")

As far as I can tell, мальчик приобрел такую привычку со своего папы (the boy acquired this habit from his father).

My sister's husband is in some ways a stereotypical "I.T. guy" who plays online games like "World of Warcraft", has many friends involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism, and watches a lot of British comedies like Monty Python and Blackadder. So, мой зять (my brother-in-law) uses the expression "Indeed!" in his speech more often than most Americans do, and my little nephew copies his daddy. (Although he doesn't understand yet that the adults around him want to laugh when he says "Indeed!")