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Most useful phrase in every language


RoseGoesToYale

Most useful phrase  

135 members have voted

  1. 1. What is the most important phrase someone should learn in any language?

    • Where is the bathroom?
      29
    • Do you speak -insert native language-?
      35
    • I love you
      2
    • What is your name?
      0
    • What restaurant would you recommend?
      2
    • Curse word(s)
      7
    • I don't understand
      21
    • HELP!
      28
    • Other (put below)
      11

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I'm going to say "Thank you". In my experience, saying anything along the lines of "I don't speak your language" in said language can be interpreted as "I obviously speak your language, please tell me everything ever in your language because I understand it perfectly" or something. Or maybe Paris and Lisbon are just weird.

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My first thought was "thank you" as well, because I think that it's important to be polite. But when I saw the poll, I decided that if you're traveling, being able to ask people if they speak your language is probably the most useful, if you can only learn one phrase -- and it's useful if you have passing knowledge of the country's language but not totally fluent so may occasionally need to speak in your native language. If you're not traveling, I still think it's "thank you," though.

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scarletlatitude
On 6/1/2019 at 12:58 AM, daveb said:

My hovercraft is full of eels.

Essential right there. Can't tell you how many times I have had to say that in a language other than English. :P

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  • 3 months later...

I've found most places understand the "I don't speak ~" but if I say "English" enough, they'll either recognize it or not, and that will tell me if they speak my language. "Bathroom" is important, but universal design is making it very convenient to find places like this using symbols.

 

I was torn between "I don't understand" and "help" though. If learning the language and in every day life, "I don't understand" is a lot more helpful than "Help". But if you have no intention of learning the language and are only visiting for a vacation or something, "Help" would obviously be more useful since you would need it in an emergency. 

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On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 3:28 PM, lazypanda said:

For me, it would be " Is this vegetarian ?"

Late reply, I know, just wanted to comment and explain.

 

This is important for me too, like asking "does this have meat in it?" but they will still not understand. I've explained to countless people that I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan, and I don't eat meat for fish. Because "vegetarian" does not always code to "does not eat meat or fish" but sometimes just "does not eat meat", and gets confused with "does not eat animal products" which is vegan, and even then I'll have people not really acknowledging what I mean.

 

For example, I explained to my neighbors (basically my host family) that I don't eat meat or fish. They have since asked me if I ate ham, crab, shrimp, etc. Also, no one here pays attention to the toppings or added stuff like baon or fish flakes they just throw on stuff. There's also meat-based broths everywhere, so unless I know a restaurant's menu inside and out, it is not good for a strict vegetarian where I live to eat. Most of the time it requires eating around the meat-based products or picking them out. I ordered what was literally called "tomato pizza" and it was a normal cheese pizza but with bacon on it! Like, what? 

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Twisted Tempest

I don't speak *insert language*

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3rdkyuproblems

I always learn and use "please" and "thank you", when travelling, although "I don't speak [insert native language]" is a close second! It feels a little less polite, sometimes, but no less useful.

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  • 7 months later...

@RoseGoesToYale

 

This poll is being locked and moved to the read only Census archive for it's respective year. As part of ongoing Census organisation, and in an attempt to keep the demographics of the polls current with the active user base at the time, the polls will last for one year from now on. However, members are allowed and even encouraged to restart new polls similar to the archived ones if they like them.

  

iff, Census Forum Moderator

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