In every country there is a different language and it is always hard to understand the basic words, like hello, and thank you. It always takes about a couple days to learn it.
I have learned a lot of the basic words in a couple different languages, but it took a long time. Here are some of the words I have learned on this trip:
Hello in Malay is simply ‘hello’ but, thank you is ‘terima kasih’.
In Indonesian hello is ‘helo’ (it’s a little bit different, but not much) and thank you is ‘terima kasih’, again.
In Australia and New Zealand, it’s the same as ours.
In Thailand hello is ‘sawasdee ka’ for female (and ‘sawasdee krub’ for male), and thank you is ‘khob khun kha’ for female (and ‘khob khun krab’ for male).
In Cambodia hello is ‘chom seab suor’ and thank you is ‘arkoun’.
In Vietnam hello is ‘xin chào’ while thank you is ‘cam on’.
People love it if you speak in their language, because they feel like your trying to understand their own language.
Hopefully that will come in useful.
Bye!
Owen
A Lotta Biota 