What is up with that? I've never heard/seen it before Alex told me she though that was strange.

Any explanations?

I only say Thank God.... no "s".

Most of my friends whose first language is not English tend to say that actually. I never correct them.

Honestly, I can't understand why.

It's true, all my students in Brazil say that "thanks" and even my English teacher friends. I haven't noticed other nationalities doing...only Brazilians

Maybe becase all the phrases tend to be something like "Thanks be to God" so in English it gets the esl abbrievation Thanks God. I find it endearing and like using it myself

ETA: I've noticed it among another nationalities too.

I never said it. But then again, I usually don't say "Thank God" or "I'll pray..." etc..

That might be it...

Totally common among Mexicans speaking English as a second language . . .

Really Kit? I have to pay more attention then. Most of my students this year are Mexicans...

You can answer this question yourself... You are Brazilian

or "see you in Church"

my husband says thanks God too.

Not really... Like I said, I've never heard/noticed it before Alex pointed it out...

I haven't noticed it either. But then again I never do say that. Religion stuff is not my forte.

i say "thanks, god" for brazilians, primarily because of nessa

I don't remember ever saying it...haven't notice any of my brazilian friends say it either....

It is just an expression, I normally say a lot of "religious" expressions and I am atheist (like big time).

I'm an agnostic (tending to atheism) and sometimes I will say those in portuguese, but not when I'm speaking English, but I recall talking about something like that I remember saying Thank God, never Thanks God.

I have two friends in São Paulo and one of them is almost perfect in his English fluency. But he says "Thanks god," and of course it rubbed off on his girlfriend, who says it too now.

To me it sounds really funny.

Don't you say ''Graças a Deus" even thou you're not religious? It's the same thing, just in english. LOTS of brazilians say "Graças a Deus'' so it makes sense that when they speak english they'll say Thank God

You see, I really don't believe in God and don't think that organized religions are more then opiate to the people.

But I normally put one religious expression or two to add emphasis.

But the thread is asking why Brazilians say "Thanks God" or "Thanks, God".

Since translating that would be: "Obrigado, Deus" or even "Valeu ai, mermão"

ETC: "emphasis"

But "graças a Deus" = Thanks to god/Thank god

Thanks god = Obrigado, Deus

LAWL

The thing is most expressions are not translated word by word, so that's why I think brazilians say thanks God because they want to say Graças a Deus in english, but that's just my opinion.

But "graças a deus" translates perfectly into "Thank God"

yeah but ''thanks'' would be more like obrigada

But the phrase isn't "Obrigado(a) a Deus"...

And it is not "Thanks God" either...

Unless you are thanking Him for something He might have done.

Thank God = Graças a Deus

Thanks God = Obrigado Deus

But "Obrigado Deus" doesn't make any sense in both languages (when used instead of "Thank God").

I agree, especially since when saying a prayer one who wants to say thanks to God would say "Thank you God".

So, back to the topic, why people say "Thanks God".

That doesn't exist. Native speakers don't say that (in the place of Thank God), so why people say that?

'Cus they don't know English that well.

That's it - even Brazilians who speak English well still make mistakes.
I speak Portuguese pretty well but I still say funny things at times (I ask my fiance )

Now that is something you will NEVER hear coming out of my mouth! I'm afraid to try to get inside one and burst into flames

hahaha, I have so many things I could say about organized religions...I'll keep it to myself.
It controls the masses, right?

I just mentioned I'm an agnostic, right? Well, I studied high school in a catholic school (I did manage to run away from most masses, since I lived a block away I'd manage to sneak out of the gate and run home) and I was an exchange student in Arizona where I lived with mormons for 6 months, the strict kind, mind you, we went to the temple like 3 times a week, we prayed on our knees every morning and night, it was torture to me but I like to respect people's religions so I just went with it (had to lie about believing in God, but it's something I do often not to hurt people's feelings who otherwise would either freak out or try to give me a lecture).

I guess i am a minority, being a born again christian...but i totally respect other religions and i just hate when people (christians) get on people's case about religion...it is a choice, i made mine and that does not make me better or worse than anybody, i just hate extremists...But i do have to say that it is quite uncommon for me to say religious expressions to people other than my family...don't know why I guess i just don't want to get anybody irritated...i am a chicken

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiate_of_the_masses

It's funny that this topic was created. I just read a reply in another forum where a woman said "Thanks God" and she is Brazilian!

Hey Rey now that I think about it, I have said it too LOL English is my second language so I guess I was carring the "s" from "Gracias" to "Thanks" LOL... I dunno why but it's actually common in PR too!

It is? I don't think I've heard mi esposo saying it. All I hear here is "ay bendito" e "ache".

Hola Laura!

Yeah, the "Ay Bendito" is pretty much our trademark (people spot us right away in other countries LOL) and the "acho" sometimes is used as a shortcut from muchacho. I had an American boyfriend and he was the one that pointed me that some of us would say "Thanks God", he thought it was hilarious and of course, he corrected me too ...

I have heard people saying before it but didn't pay attention until he mentioned it. And when Rey put this thread I just remembered when I was on that crowd LOL.

I hear my husband saying "ache" or "acho" all the time as if it was like "wow". He failed to realize he did it and I still dunno how it'd be spelled.

Now I really need to pay more attention to my students (the majority are Mexican and Puerto Rican). I guess because we mostly speak English I don't listen to the 'ache' but I'll try it... ::

What about "mano"? Have you heard that one? Instead of hermano LOL...

"Manooooo"
"Acho, síiii"
"Achooo"

It's funny that now I think about those LOL...

Mano is actually also used in portuguese, with the same meaning. In Funk language we say mano for the guys and mina for the girls.

LOL@"Funk language"!!!

And here's to explain a bit about the mess I'm in when trying to speak spanish in Puerto Rico.

They call rug -carpeta , roof-rufo, parking-palkin, stress-estress, library- libreria instead of biblioteca, boiler-boila, sucker-soca, or to knock-noquiar. All cereal is called "con-flei". All brands of diapers are called "pampel" or "pampers".