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submitted 1 day ago by shads@lemy.lol to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Hi thanks for looking at my query. I recently as a joke changed some writing on the board of a friends EAL (English as an Additional Language) classroom from English to German. She liked the idea, but using Google Translate resulted in an overly formal phrasing that made it seem more a demand than a suggestion or polite request.

So my ask, if you speak (or I guess write) another language I would love to request you take a moment to translate "Please stack chairs at the end of the day" into whichever language you can help me with, it should be a polite request though.

I'm really not sure what the composition of her class is but she is a fan of languages as a whole so even if it's not a language that is represented in her class I am sure it will be a bit of fun and a talking point to figure it out.

If you have the time and the skills to help I really appreciate it, otherwise I appreciate you taking the time to read this post. Have a fantastic day.

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[-] migo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 21 hours ago

Por favor empilhar as cadeiras no fim do dia (passive voice) Por favor empilhe as cadeiras no fim do dia (imperative)

Portuguese

[-] shads@lemy.lol 1 points 20 hours ago
[-] roserose56@lemmy.zip 4 points 20 hours ago

Greek: Παρακαλώ στοιβαξτε της καρέκλες στο τέλος της ημέρας. And Albanian: Ju lutem vendosni karriget njëra mbi tjetrën në fund të ditës.

[-] shads@lemy.lol 2 points 20 hours ago

Σας ευχαριστώ

And

Faleminderit shumë

I really like that I am seeing common or similar words between languages.

[-] Smaagi@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

Finnish:

Pinoathan tuolit päivän päätteeksi, kiitos.

We don't have a word for please, so we usually add thank you for politeness.

[-] shads@lemy.lol 2 points 1 day ago

Kiitos

The lack of "Please" took me a moment to process, but I guess it's just a linguistic niche that the language didn't need to fill, and the use of "Thank You" made it redundant. Cool, thank you!

[-] Motorheadbanger@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

"Пожалуйста, составьте стулья в стопку в конце дня" -- Russian;

You can do either "Молим вас, сложите столице на краjу дана" or "Molim vas, složite stolice na kraju dana" for Serbian

[-] shads@lemy.lol 1 points 1 day ago

Спасибо Or хвала ти

Is Cyrillic or Latin more used in Serbia? I like the novelty of trying to write Cyrillic clearly enough to be read but want to make sure I am using the more common form.

[-] gil2455526@lemmy.eco.br 5 points 1 day ago

Portuguese: "Por favor empilhar as cadeiras ao final do dia"

[-] shads@lemy.lol 1 points 1 day ago

Obrigado.

I've always wondered, if you know, how difficult is it to be clearly understood between Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese?

I have family who speak with a strong enough Scottish accent that understanding is very difficult for some people, but also there are words they use that are just different than what people in other English speaking parts of the world use. Is it like that, or less, or more?

[-] gil2455526@lemmy.eco.br 3 points 1 day ago

I would say it is very similar to what you said. Different accent and some different meanings of more colloquial words. There are some common European Portuguese slangs that have sexual meaning in Brazilian Portuguese, so some Portuguese ads have gone viral in Brazil.

[-] shads@lemy.lol 2 points 1 day ago

Cool, thank you!

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago

🇰🇷 Korean: 일과를 마친 후 의자를 쌓아 주세요.

[-] shads@lemy.lol 2 points 1 day ago

감사합니다

I am shamed to admit that after 5 years of Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido as a kid, all I remember is hana, dul, ses and dollida.

[-] freeman@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Greek:

Παρακαλώ στοιβάχτε τις καρέκλες στο τέλος της ημέρας.

[-] shads@lemy.lol 2 points 1 day ago

Σας ευχαριστώ

Hope I can write that nice an clearly.

[-] freeman@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

100% correct on the greek part!

[-] shads@lemy.lol 2 points 23 hours ago

The Greek part was copied off the web. I meant that I hope I can correctly write the Greek characters on the whiteboard. Hope they are legible.

[-] olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

ωραίος φίλε.

[-] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

Italian: "Per favore, aiutateci ad impilare le sedie alla fine della giornata"

Direct translation aside from "aiutateci" which means "help us" to make it more of a friendly request than a command - the verb goes into the indefinite form so it's not "aimed" at anyone. I think "lezione" (lesson) would work more naturally than "giornata" (day) as that usually means either sunset or when you go to bed

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[-] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Hungarian: Kérlek szépen, pakoljátok egymásra a székeket a nap végén!

Note that the accents should be written perfectly vertically, not slanted

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[-] capuccino@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Spanish: "Por favor, apila las sillas al final del día." It can be more polite if you add a "Gracias" at the end to give thanks before hand: "Por favor, apila las sillas al final del día. Gracias."

Edit: you can change "apila" for "apile" to be even more polite. "Por favor, apile las sillas al final del día. Gracias."

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[-] NorthWestWind@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

走之前唔該疊翻好啲櫈

^Cantonese version. It means "Before you leave, please stack the chairs"

[-] racketlauncher831@lemmy.ml 1 points 21 hours ago

The translation also implies that the chairs were stacked in a tidy way before, while the original English version didn't say that.

In Cantonese I really don't think there's a way to say "at the end of the day". In English it can mean "before one leaves work or school", "before one goes to sleep", or just "sunset".

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[-] simonced@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

In Japanese I would say:

一日終わったら、椅子を重ねてください。

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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
48 points (96.2% liked)

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