How And When To Say "Thank You"

Almost universally, the first words our parents or guardians to teach us to say are “mama” or “papa.” Although some of us perhaps were quicker than others, sooner or later we made our parents proud when they heard we spoke the words they were trying to teach us. Shortly thereafter our parents attempted to grow our young and impressionable vocabularies, while making us polite children, by teaching us to say
“thank you” or some other words of appreciation.

Although our first “thank you” was likely for something given to us, we now realize that there are a lot of reasons to show our appreciation. We can say thanks for compliments, encouragement, friendship or a referral– we can even thank someone for
thanking us. In short, there is hardly an activity or event which does not provide us an opportunity to express our genuine and sincere appreciation.

Expressing gratitude is simply the polite thing to do, but knowing exactly how to say thank you can be a bit of a trick. It’s hard to know how to say thank you under different circumstances, how much is enough and when more than words might be necessary.

Should it be a real genuine emotional response, a sort of “attitude of gratitude” to those who have assisted us and made a difference in our lives or should it be an automatic response? An almost robotic sort of thing like what you find on some of your shopping receipts.

How to say "Thank You" in some country's language:

English (America, Australia, UK, New Zea.) Thank you
German (Zurich Switzerland) Merci
Hawaiian (Hawaii) Mahalo
Hmong Du (Vietnam) Ô chò
Japanese (Japan) Domo arigato
Ladino (Spain) Gracias
Tagalog (Philippines) Salamat po

('thank you" in 465 language at www.geocities.com)

The image shown is the sign language of the word "Thank You".

Knowing when to say "Thank You?

"...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. "1 Thessalonians 5:18 (TNIV)