Chapter 3.6: Culture Note
Saying নমস্কার, with or without folded hands in front of chest or under chin (as in the picture above), is a common greeting for both Hindus and Muslims. It can be used in both situations: to greet when meeting someone and to say goodbye.
Bengali native speakers do not use “thank you” and “please” as much as English speaking people do. “Thank you” is ধন্যবাদ in Bangla. This gratitude is generally expressed through smile most of the time.
The literal Bangla translation for “please” is দয়া করে, which Bengali native speakers hardly use. Politeness is expressed by the word একটু and sometimes with a future tense marker with a verb. For example, উদাহরণঃ একটু আবার বলুন “Please say again”, আপনি তাঁর ঠিকানাটা আমাকে বলবেন? “Will you please tell me their address?”, or একটু by itself means “a little bit.”
Bengalis use kinship terms, not only to address their kin but also for a person who is not related to them. The most common address for a Hindu male is দাদা meaning “older brother” and Hindu female দিদি meaning “older sister”. The corresponding title for a Muslim male is ভাই and Muslim female is আপা. Apart from addressing one’s own kin, these titles are used for people in the public sphere who are one’s peer or older than the person speaking, but not for people of one’s parents’ generation. If the speaker knows the person’s name, then দাদা becomes দা after the first name for male or দিদি becomes দি following the first name for female, e.g., তরুণদা, প্রতিমাদি.
