A language with no word for 'please'

2013-09-26T19:15:00.000+01:00

During my stay in England I occasionally felt rude or impolite when I acted the way I usually do in Finland. For example, I often forgot to use the word 'please'.

Eventually I told my English friend that I sometimes forget to use the word 'please', but I'm not trying to be rude - we just have no equivalent for 'please' in the Finnish language. My friend was really surprised - it had never occurred to him that there could be a language that does not have the word 'please'.

Ulla (female), Finland

"Have you eaten?"

2013-09-21T23:32:00.001+01:00

"When I first moved to Singapore I met a woman in the lobby of my apartment block who was naturally curious about a foreigner living near her so she genuinely tried to be friendly to me. Part way through the conversation she asked me if I'd eaten yet and I got scared that she was going to invite me over for lunch and start introducing me to her family etc. So I made up all sorts of excuses that I'd eaten, what I'd eaten and where. For the next few weeks I tried my best to avoid her every time I saw her.

Only later, I realised that the question "have you eaten?" is just the Singapore way of asking "how are you?" just like the British talk about the weather as a conversation starter. It turns out to be a completely harmless question."

Mark (male), United Kingdom

Culture Bumps - Examples of Cultural Differences

A language with no word for 'please'

"Have you eaten?"