Příspěvky: 37
Jazyk: English
erinja (Ukázat profil) 23. listopadu 2011 17:42:38
Donniedillon: As far as greetings and thanks is there a good translation for Namaste ?Oj!
Something so culturally specific as namaste is unlikely to have a good translation into any other language, let alone Esperanto. I can't think of any Esperanto term that would be appropriate for hello, goodbye, thank you, and you're welcome, all in one. But if you wanted to approximate a sort of "all-purpose" greeting, I think that "pacon" would be a good choice, and also very internationally recognizable as containing good wishes. It would be very similar to the use of "shalom" in Hebrew or "assalamu aleykum" in Arabic (or "sholem aleykhem" in Yiddish).
It would not really work well for a thank you or you're welcome, though.
cFlat7 (Ukázat profil) 23. listopadu 2011 19:15:33
erinja:Saluti means to show, with some kind of words or gestures, your appreciation, respect, and esteem for someone.There are very few folks, especially Esperantists, that I couldn't appreciate or respect (they are human, they have learned Esperanto). And in the rare "mala" (opposite) case I could use "Bonan tagon" as I hopefully should be able to at least offer good wishes to even an enemy.
In this case, before we tell someone "Saluton", we should think carefully about whether we really like and respect this person.
So I guess if we're going to follow the strict meaning of the words, you should never say "Saluton" to someone you don't like, because it would be fake. Maybe you should stare at them in a stony silence instead?
erinja (Ukázat profil) 23. listopadu 2011 19:43:15
And if you respect someone so little that you won't even tell them hello, why would you wish them a good day? If you dislike someone, wouldn't you hope that they should have a bad day?
I really find it shocking that you would even consider not saying "Saluton" to someone. I guess you take the root meanings of words far too seriously.
I suppose that you must avoid saying in English "to orient yourself" unless you literally mean that you are turning yourself toward the east? (the root meaning of the word). It must be a difficult life, to have to analyze each word to the extreme before deciding whether to use it or not.
mschmitt (Ukázat profil) 23. listopadu 2011 20:40:41
cFlat7 (Ukázat profil) 23. listopadu 2011 21:21:19
thread that seemed so irrelavent.
erinja (Ukázat profil) 23. listopadu 2011 21:44:43
mschmitt:This reminds me of my early days speaking english after I left school. People would greet me with "how are you?" and I would begin to elaborate ...My former roommate, who was Italian, did the exact same thing. She had an excellent command of American English, almost perfect accent, almost perfect use of idiomatic language. But one day she said to me that she noticed that many of her (American) friends tend to walk away after asking how you're doing, without even waiting for the answer! I explained to her that "How are you?" (or "How's it going?" or "What's up?") is only a greeting, and not an invitation to tell the person how you are feeling.
I told her that the usual accepted responses are "Fine", "Not bad", or a simple repetition of the question to the other person. You never answer "Bad". For me, if I really am feeling bad, the answer I give is "Hanging in there". The question isn't an invitation to talk about your problems. Your response needs to be brief and not make the person feel like they have to listen to your problems (even if you have many problems).
Lom (Ukázat profil) 1. prosince 2011 16:23:30
To stay on topic: I really like the suggestion of "Nedankende".
