# Apology (I'm sorry)



## shaloo

Bonjour à tous !

I would like to know the way you apologise in your language and also how you would handle it if someone said sorry to you.

Like in Telugu :

_I'm sorry = Nannu Kshaminch*u*- informal_
_Nannu Kshaminch*andi- formal*_


_Its okay = Parvaa leydu _

And in French

_I'm sorry = Je suis désolée_

_Its okay = Ce n'est pas grave/ Pas grave/ Ca va_ 

Dhanyavaad !! (that means "thank you")


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## parakseno

In Romanian you would say

I'm sorry = Îmi pare rău! / Îmi cer scuze!
It's OK = Nu e nici o problemă! / E în regulă! / Nu-i nimic (less formal)


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## betulina

In Catalan, you could say (probably among others!):

*I'm sorry:* Ho sento / Perdona / Em sap greu (some slight difference of use, depending on the context)

*It's okay: *No passa res / Tranquil (male) - tranquil·la (female)


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## Sara Rodriguez

Hola, Shaloo.
En español se dice:
"Lo siento mucho", y se responde "no te preocupes" o "no pasa nada".


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## Necsus

Hi, Shaloo.
I had opened a thread for you about this topic in Italian-English Forum, but I'll answer to you here too.

To express apology ([I'm] sorry) in Italian we can use:
- scusa(mi)/(mi) scusi/scusate(mi)
- domando/chiedo scusa
- perdonami/mi perdoni/perdonatemi
- domando/chiedo perdono
- ti/la/vi prego di scusarmi/perdonarmi
- mi dispiace
- sono spiacente
- sono mortificato
- sono desolato


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## Krümelmonster

In Germany:

Sorry: Verzeihung/Entschuldigung/Tut mir leid.
It's ok: Macht nichts. (or "schon in Ordnung")


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## Bienvenidos

Afghan Persian (Farsi)

Sorry: Bubukhshí (single person, informal) 
         Bubukshín (mulitple people, formal, singular person, formal)
Literal Translation: You forgive [me]

It's okay: Hírus

*Bien*


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## robbie_SWE

betulina said:
			
		

> In Catalan, you could say (probably among others!):
> 
> Em sap greu


 
Strange! In Romanian *"greu"* means hard. 

Swedish: 

Sorry: "Förlåt (mig)!" *or* "Ursäkta mig!"
It's OK: "Det är OK" *or* "Det gör inget"


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## Etcetera

In Russian:
Sorry = Извини!/Извините! (Izvini!/Izvinite!) or Прости!/Простите! (Prosti/Prostite). The first forms in these pairs are used when you're saying that to your friend ar a child, they shouldn't be said to a stranger, your teacher, and so on. In general, the suffix -те in the imperative stands for polite forms.
You can also say, Прошу прощения! (Proschu proscheniya), but it sounds a bit more formal. 
It's OK = Ничего (Nichego), Все в порядке (Vsyo v poryadke).


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## linguist786

hmm.. i'm sure there's more than one way of saying it in *Hindi*, but here's one:

(Sorry) - Maaf karnaa (lit. "forgive (me)")
(It's OK) - Koi baat nai (lit. translation for that would be .. weird. Almost like "No talk" - meaning "don't talk about it" typa thing)


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## Brazilian dude

In Portuguese:
Sorry: Desculpe/Desculpa, Perdão
It's okay: Não foi nada, Não se preocupe/Não te preocupes.

Brazilian dude


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## AndREA22

Spanish:
Sorry: Disculpa, disculpe, disculpame, lo siento, perdón, perdoname.
It's ok: No hay problema, no te preocupes, no se preocupe, no hay cuidado.


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## panjabigator

Hindi:
Mujhe maaf karo.  Mujhe KShama karo.
मुझे माफ़ करो.  मुझे क्षमा करो  
The word KShama is Sanskritic and deritives of it are used in Telugu (see Shaluu's post above) and in Bangla.

Urdu:
Mujhe mu'aaf karo (you would never hear kshama)
مجھے محاف کرو

note: maaf and mu'aaf are pronounced the same way. Sometimes though, Urdu speakers may say it with a bit of a "u" sound though, but both ways are fine. The word, I believe comes from Arabic, and when transliterated, an appostrophe is used to denote the use of the arabic letter "ain."

Panjabi:
Menu muaaf karo. Menu khimma karo.
ਮੈਨੂੰ ਮੁਆਫ਼ ਕਰੋ.  ਮੈਨੂੰ ਖਿੱਮਾ ਕਰੋ.

Shaloo, what is it in Tamil and Kannada?


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## badgrammar

All I remember in Turkish is "üzgünüm" (I'm not even sure you need the umlauts) and "kusurma bakma" (which means "please do not see/look at my faults).  But I think there are lots of other ways to say it.

As always, I humbly await your corrections...


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## viereaty_blienmest

*In Vietnamese:*
*I'm sorry: Tôi xin lỗi *
*It's Ok: không sao đâu/ không có gì đâu 
*


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## vince

"Sorry":
In Cantonese you say "doei m zyu"
In Mandarin you say "dui bu qi"


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## Maja

In Serbian:

Sorry:
Izvini! (informal) (Cyrillic: Извини)
Izvinite! (formal)  (Извините)
Оprosti! (Oпрости)
Оprostite! (Опростите)

I'm sorry: Žao mi je (Жао ми је).

I apologize: Izvinjavam se (Извињавам се)

It's OK: 
U redu je (У реду је)
Nema veze (Нема везе)
Ma ništa (Ма ништа).


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## shaloo

Panjabigator said:

*Shaloo, what is it in Tamil and Kannada?*

In Kannada, it is :
_Forgive me* - Nanna Kshamasi*_
_Its alright*- Parvaagillaa*_

I'll find out about the Tamil translation and let you know soon.


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## shaloo

Muchas gracias Sara.
It was a nice attempt to reply in french.
A small correction, if u don't mind.

*En español se dice*:......

The actual sentence would be:

En espagnol, on dit: ........

Lo siento mucho(Hey! I just wanted to use it!!)
Adios,
Shalu


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## vince

je crois qu'elle parlait espagnol quand elle répondait...

les deux langues sont très semblable, c'est probablement pourquoi tu as pensé que c'était du français!


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## shaloo

Oh! Est-ce que c'est vrai?!

J'ai pensé que c'était français!

Maintenant je dis : Lo siento mucho, Sara!

Et, Merci beaucoup, Vince


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## Sara Rodriguez

No te preocupes, Shaloo    

pd.- That was in Spanish.


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## Lil_Star

In italian we say:
"Scusa/Scusami/Mi dispiace/sono spiacente!(we don't use it, though)"
And you can answer with:
"Non preoccuparti/Non fa niente"


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## Abbassupreme

Bienvenidos said:


> Afghan Persian (Farsi)
> 
> Sorry: Bubukhshí (single person, informal)
> Bubukshín (mulitple people, formal, singular person, formal)
> Literal Translation: You forgive [me]
> 
> It's okay: Hírus
> 
> *Bien*



In Iranian (colloquial) Persian:

Sorry:  Bebakhshid
Baa 'arz e ma'zerat/marzerat (not sure which spelling is correct, but I'm leaning in favor of the first spelling given that ma'zerat (?) is probably an Arabic loanword.)
Ma'zerat mikhaam.
'Ozr(?) mikhaam (could be 'ozv . . . very hard for me to distinguish which)
"Sharmandeh hastam" or simply "sharmandeh" (lit.  I'm embarrassed)

It's okay:  "Eyb nadaare" or, in written Persian, "eyb nadaarad".
"Eshkal nadaare"


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## OldAvatar

robbie_SWE said:


> Strange! In Romanian *"greu"* means hard.



It's not that strange. There are some other words which are identical or similar in both Catalonian and Romanian. 

A few examples:

joc - joc
nou - nou
tots - toţi
plural (-ats/-ăţi)

Best regards


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:


> Urdu:
> Mujhe mu'aaf karo (you would never hear kshama)
> مجھے محاف کرو


mu'aaf is spelt with an 'ayn, not a Haa. (مجهے معاف كرو not مجھے محاف کرو)


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## luckylittlelady

dutch:

het spijt me 
mijn verontschuldigingen
answer :
verontschuldiging aanvaard
het is niets
tis ok


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## jonquiliser

robbie_SWE said:


> Swedish:
> 
> Sorry: "Förlåt (mig)!" *or* "Ursäkta mig!"
> It's OK: "Det är OK" *or* "Det gör inget"



Just to specify: "förlåt" and "jag är ledsen" would be to say you are sorry,
"ursäkta (mig)" is sort of "excuse me" or sometimes, "I apologise"

An informal answer to say "no worries" is also "det är lugnt".


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## Chazzwozzer

*I apologize: *Özür dilerim
*I'm sorry: *Üzgünüm
*Pardon:* Pardon

*
That's OK: *Problem değil. / Sorun değil.


badgrammar said:


> All I remember in Turkish is "üzgünüm" (I'm not even sure you need the umlauts) and "kusur*u*ma bakma" (which means "please do not see/look at my faults).  But I think there are lots of other ways to say it.
> 
> As always, I humbly await your corrections...


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## Ilmo

*Finnish:*
Anteeksi! (=pardon me)
Anna anteeksi! / Antakaa anteeksi! (=forgive me/excuse me; the latter is polite form or when you are directing the apologies to several persons)
Pyydän anteeksi (=I ask your pardon)
Suo anteeksi /Suokaa anteeksi (=forgive me)
Olen pahoillani (I'm sorry; this is a very mild apology)


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## Mallavia

In basque it would be:

I'm sorry = barkatu
It's Ok = Lasai


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## karuna

Latvian:

I'm sorry = _Lūdzu, piedod! _(familiar); _Lūdzu, piedodiet! _(formal)
It's Ok = _Nekas, nekas__!__ (_nothing, nothing_)_ _Nav par ko! _(not for what, meaning: don't mention it.)


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## Pando

Ilmo said:


> *Finnish:*
> Anteeksi! (=pardon me)
> Anna anteeksi! / Antakaa anteeksi! (=forgive me/excuse me; the latter is polite form or when you are directing the apologies to several persons)
> Pyydän anteeksi (=I ask your pardon)
> Suo anteeksi /Suokaa anteeksi (=forgive me)
> Olen pahoillani (I'm sorry; this is a very mild apology)


You forgot the answer.

I think _Ei se mitään (=_it is nothing/it doesn't matter_) _would be the most common reply.


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## mimi2

In Vietnamese:
*I'm sorry =  Tôi xin lỗi

It's okay = Không sao đâu

*


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## gao_yixing

Chinese:
对不起(duì bù qĭ)
or 抱歉(bào qiàn)
or 不好意思(bù hăo yì si)


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## Ilmo

Pando said:


> You forgot the answer.
> 
> I think _Ei se mitään (=_it is nothing/it doesn't matter_) _would be the most common reply.


 
You are right, Pando.
Pyydän anteeksi!
Thanks for correcting.

I agree with you. Or if it is something more complicated, you could answer "Älä välitä. Vahinko voi sattua kelle vain" (=Never mind. A mishap may happen to anybody).


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## Thomas1

In Polish:
I'm sorry: _przepraszam_ (most comon), _przykro mi _(not used often)
It's ok: _(nic) nie szkodzi, nic się nie stało, w porządku, spoko_ (informal)

Tom


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## kaverison

Tamil
Sorry - mannikkavum.  (Also pardon me or forgive me). manniyungaL - you forgive me.


(naan) mannippu keetkireen. I ask for pardon. Eet sounds like ate and een as in crane.

It's ok - Paravaa illa. Paravaa From Hindi or sanskrit, illa < illai = no, not.
Athanaala enna (so what, but polite remark).

While I post this, I'm also thinking about the cultural background. The above words are modern words (with old roots). I wonder how or what they said in the olden days. I am sure they fealt apology, sorry. They were polire people. But, they might have expressed it in tone and context. 

Like when somebody is apologetic, they may say, "thappu paNNittenee" meaning, "I made a mistake". 
Similarly, to say "please" we use, "thayavu seythu", thayavu is clearly from sanskrit dhayaa. Again, more modern usage. Needcto research more....


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## 810senior

I hope Japanese apologies catch your attention.  (bold ones are the literal translation)

1.owabishimasuお詫びします。(formal) : *I'll apologize to you*; _rarely used in conversation._
2.moushiwake arimasen申し訳ありません。(formal) : *I have no excuses for you*
3.sumimasenすみません。(formal but less polite than above) : *My heart doesn't come clear*, (because I feel so sorry for you).
4.gomennasaiごめんなさい。 : Forgive me (_gomen _refers to forgiveness, apology)

Colloquial:
1.mengoめんご：verlan for _gomen_(sorry).
2.gomenごめん：colloquial for _gomennasai_
3.sumanaiすまない：colloquial for sumimasen
4.suimasenすいません:colloquial for sumimasen
5.sumanすまん：colloquial for sumimasen
6.waruiわるい：*I was bad*, it's similar to _it's my fault_ or _my bad_ in English.


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## ger4

kaverison said:


> While I post this, I'm also thinking about the cultural background. The above words are modern words (with old roots). I wonder how or what they said in the olden days. I am sure they fealt apology, sorry [...] they might have expressed it in tone and context.


These cultural differences are always interesting... People from English-speaking countries often seem to apologize in situations where in Germany an apology is (perhaps) implied but not necessarily expressed with words like 'sorry' or 'excuse me'. Often we say something like 'Oops - that wasn't my intention!' at least if the damage done isn't very serious. Sometimes this style of communication may come across as a bit rude... but apart from that:


Krümelmonster said:


> In Germany:
> 
> Sorry: Verzeihung/Entschuldigung/Tut mir leid.
> It's ok: Macht nichts. (or "schon in Ordnung")


Edit: More on the different ways to apologize in German here and here


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## apmoy70

Greek:

*«Ζητώ συγγνώμη»* [ziˈto siŋˈɣnomi] --> _to ask forbearance_ or simply *«συγγνώμη»* [siŋˈɣnomi] (fem.) --> _I am sorry, pardon_. 
Also *«συγχώρεσέ με»* [siŋˈxoɾeˌse me] («με» is enclitic) --> _forgive me_ (when we entreat a single person), *«συγχωρέσ(ε)τε με»* [siŋxoˈɾes(e)te me] --> _forgive me_ (more than one persons).
The usual response is *«δεν πειράζει»* [ðem͜ biˈɾazi] --> _(it's) no bother_

-MoGr fem. noun *«συγγνώμη»* [siŋˈɣnomi] < Classical fem. noun *«συγγνώμη» sŭngnṓmē* --> _fellow-feeling, forbearance, lenient judgement, allowance_ < compound; prefix and preposition *«σύν» sún* (Attic *«ξύν» k͡sún* --> _with, together_ (with obscure etymology) + Classical fem. noun *«γνώμη» gnṓmē* --> _thought, judgement_ (PIE *ǵneh₃- _to know_ cf Skt. जानाति (jānāti), _to know, perceive_; Lat. gnōscere; Proto-Germanic *knēaną; Proto-Slavic *znati).
-MoGr v. *«συγχωρώ»* [siŋxoˈɾo] --> _to forgive_ < Classical v. *«συγχωρέω/συγχωρῶ» sŭnkʰōréō* (uncontracted)/ *sŭnkʰōrô* (contracted) --> _to come together, meet, concede, give up, forgive, allow_ < compound; prefix and preposition *«σύν» sún* (Attic *«ξύν» k͡sún* --> _with, together_ (with obscure etymology) + Classical denominative v. *«χωρέω/χωρῶ» kʰōréō* (uncontracted)/ *kʰōrô* (contracted)--> _to make room, give way, recede, step, go forth, make progress, comprehend, contain, catch, find a place_ < Classical fem. noun *«χώρᾱ» kʰṓrā* --> _space, interspace, place, position, rank, location, region, estate, land, country_ (with uncertain etymology). Noun: *«συγχώρεση»* [siŋˈxoɾesi] (fem.) and *«συγχώρηση»* [siŋˈxoɾisi] (fem.) --> _forgiveness_ < Classical 3rd declension fem. noun *«συγχώρησις» sŭnkʰṓrēsis* --> _agreement, consent_.
-MoGr v. *«ζητώ»* [ziˈto] and *«ζητάω»* [ziˈta.o] --> _to inquire, investigate, ask, request_ < Classical v. *«ζητέω/ζητῶ» zētéō* (uncontracted)/ *zētô* (contracted) --> _to search, research, inquire, investigate_ (with unclear etymology). 
-MoGr v. *«πειράζω»* [piˈɾazo] --> _to tempt, tease, bother, annoy_ < Classical denominative v. *«πειράζω» peirázō* --> _to tempt, put to test, try_ < Classical fem. noun *«πεῖρᾰ» peîră* --> _test, research, experience_ (PIE *per- _to cross, pass_ cf Skt. पिपर्ति (piparti), _to bring over to_; Av. frā, _to cross_; Lat. portāre; Proto-Germanic *faraną, _to go, travel_).


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## kaverison

Holger2014 said:


> These cultural differences are always interesting... People from English-speaking countries often seem to apologize in situations where in Germany an apology is (perhaps) implied but not necessarily expressed with words like 'sorry' or 'excuse me'. Often we say something like 'Oops - that wasn't my intention!' at least if the damage done isn't very serious. Sometimes this style of communication may come across as a bit rude... but apart from that:


Thanks for your comments. Very well said; yes, that's exactly what I mean. If only everyone understands each other at this level, there won't be any war -at least not the war of words 

To expand on what I said, *athanaala enna* (so what), is actually delivered in many different ways - in an authoratative (angry?) tone, it could be like "whaddaya mean?". In a polite tone, it is "that's ok". I didn't realize it (because our language is phonetic, each letter supposedly representing only one sound), we do have accent variations.  

@810senior, I read in a travel book in Tamil, that Japanese use asothaskaa (pronunciation not right), to imply different meanings for different contexts with tonal variations. Is that true?


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## 810senior

@kaverison, as far as I know there is no such a phrase in Japanese, even the one where its pronunciation is similar. If you mean _sumimasen_, it implies many meaning according to different contexts: excuse me, thank you, I'm sorry, pardon?

So to speak it's a magical and omnipotent word.


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## kaverison

Sumimasen! There are overloaded words in Tamil like that too. For eg., vaNakkam means greetings, we use it to say hi and bye and every greeting in between (good morning etc)!

I went back to trusty friend, Google to look for that word. I wonder if he meant ahso desu ka? Does it mean anything? I found one page talking about this. Sumimasen!


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## 810senior

Great, vaNakkam to all! 

@kaverison Ahso itself doesn't mean anything but _ah soudesuka_ is fine, which means "Ah, *I see*".
You can also make other variation by omitting and adding the part after the _sou _like these: _sou-dane, sou-kana, sou-ne, sou-desune, sou-kamone, sou-da _etc.

Out of curiosity can I know the grammatical structure of the _vaNakkam_? It sounds interesting. (Google let me know that word also means _welcome _doesn't it?)


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## AmaryllisBunny

810senior said:


> 1.owabishimasuお詫びします。(formal) : *I'll apologize to you*; _rarely used in conversation._


Isn't it also possible to say "お詫び致します" ? Would this be more formal?


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## 810senior

Yes, that's right. 
You can also say: お詫び申し上げます(lit. I say apology to you)


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## AmaryllisBunny

Is one more formal than the other?

They're both 謙譲語.


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## kaverison

@810senior, வணக்கம் (vaNakkam)! You are right, it's like your sumimasen - an omnipotent word. It can mean, "welcome" as in welcome to our home or "hello", "nice to meet you", "Good Morning", "Good Bye", "worship", "respects", "salute" etc. Well it doesn't mean all those, but those meanings are implied. Every Tamil word is overloaded with multiple meanings and many words may mean the same thing as well.

As for the grammar behind the word vaNakkam, @aruniyan an will be able to explain this better (he has a site about Tamil etymology). But, let me try.
The root for this may be வளை (vaLai) - (v) meaning to bend, bow etc. > வண, வணை  + கு > வணங்கு (v) + அம் > வணக்கம்.

The ங்(ng) > the க் transformation (Germination?) happens per grammar rules to make the words flow smoothly - Tamil being agglutinative language, words are joined together with prefixes and suffixes to make expressions. (Sorry, I am ignorant on the Linguistics terms for this).

கு suffix - finite verbs in 1st (pers. sing. fut.). அம் suffix makes it a verbal noun.

(There are other words like this inakkam - coherenace, concordance, pinakkam - the opposite etc)

In a sense வணக்கம் refers to what Japanese do when they meet each other - bowing. At some point, I think we got lazy and settled on doing namaste with two hands

Note about the sounds and letters: Tamil has 2 l sounds - ல (la) as in color and ள (rla) like in girl. (actually, there is also ழ (zh) sort of like American R). Correspondingly, there are 3 N sounds too. 

ந (na) is the usual n sound in English. It always come at the beginning of a word like நடு (nadu) center or plant (a tree)  or நாடு (naadu) - country or seek. 

ன (lna) as in kiln. மன்னன் (mannan) - King; This is like merging sounds ல + ந.

ண (rlNA) - may be like the N in gurney or journey, as in our word வணக்கம். This is like merging, ள + ந.
_Sorry for the interlude. Now lets get back to apologies - மன்னிக்கவும்!_


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## 810senior

@kaverison, வணக்கம் again!  Thanks for enlightening me about the details!

@AmaryllisBunny, maybe it's too difficult and laborious to compare them but I guess they're in same polite level; any of them can be used under the almost same circumstance.


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## mataripis

Southern Tagalog: I am sorry- Paumanhin,   It is OK- Ayos lang.


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