'Hello!' in all languages of the world: Translations of the word

Say hello in all the languages of the world with the translation of the word

Are you going on a vacation to Barcelona and want to know how to say "hello" in Spanish? Or are you going to study Chinese in Beijing and want to learn how to say hello before you even arrive? Whatever your reason for going abroad, it is important to know a few words in the local language, especially for greeting and thank you. On this Sprachcaffe page we have listed ways to say hello in all languages to help you during your travels. Plus, in the last paragraph you can find pronunciations of greetings that are written in a different alphabet than ours, to learn them quickly and more easily.

 

The importance of a greeting in different languages

Greeting is a form of courtesy and politeness, whether in formal or informal settings. When you travel you often find yourself in contact with other people, in airports, stations, hotels, stores, restaurants and bars, but also on the street or inside public transportation. It is important to say "hello" in certain situations, either out of politeness or if you want to start any kind of conversation. This does not mean that you will necessarily have to memorize the word hello in every language in the world in order to travel, but that learning to say hello in the local language is a good way to enhance your experience abroad (and to broaden your linguistic and cultural background). Saying "hello" is often the first step in establishing a relationship with someone, asking for information, or making small talk with your seat neighbor on an airplane. Greetings are the basis of any conversation, which is why they are often mentioned among the first things to learn when studying a new language.

Saying hello in the most important languages

Not all languages are the same, and this applies both to the alphabet used and the sound of words, but also to the number of speakers. Some languages are more common because they are used by millions and millions of people, while others are in danger of disappearing within a few generations. Among the most widely spoken languages in the world are English and Mandarin Chinese, with over a billion speakers, followed by Hindi, Spanish, French, and Arabic. Next in the rankings are Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, and Urdu. The rankings of the various languages may vary depending on the importance of the language in the place you are considering, that is, whether it is a native language, a second language, or a studied language.

If you want to learn how to say hello in the world's most common languages, you can start by saying "hello" in English. You can say "hello" or "hi" in all countries where English is spoken, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. You can instead use "salut" or "bonjour" in France, but also in the Canadian province of Quebec, Belgium, Morocco and Tunisia, and with all those peoples who also communicate through French, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. Do you want to greet someone in Russian? You can use the word "privet."

In Spain and many Latin American countries, however, you can greet in Spanish with "hola." We are talking about Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Chile, and Colombia, as well as Panama, Paraguay, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and various other countries where Spanish is the native language. Portuguese, on the other hand, is spoken in Portugal and Brazil, but also in countries such as Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and East Timor. Here you can say "hello" using the word "oi" as well as "olá."

Mandarin Chinese is the official language in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, and of course in China. If you are in any of these countries, you can say "hello" with "Nǐ hǎo," or 你好. In Hindi, on the other hand, you can say "hello" using the word "namaste," which is also well known to us Westerners. Arabic, as we have seen, is also one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. In this case it is a language used in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in Tunisia, in Qatar, in Somalia, in Egypt, in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Oman, in Algeria, in Israel, Jordan, Sudan and other countries in Africa and Asia, where you can greet with "as-salāmu ʿalaykum" (i.e. ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ). Bengali is the language spoken in Bangladesh and India. According to various statistics, by 2022 Bengali is spoken by more than 270 million people. To greet in this language you have to say "Hyālō" (i.e. হ্যালো).

How to say hello in all the languages of the world

We saw above how to say "hello" in the world's most common languages, from Mandarin Chinese to Arabic, English to Spanish, Russian to Hindi. Below you will find ways to say hello in all the world's languages, from the most widely spoken to the less common.

Afrikaans - hallo

Albanese - përshëndetje

Amharic- ሃይ

Arabic- ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ

Armenian- Ողջու՜յն

Assamese - নমস্কাৰ

Aymara - Kamisaki

Azero - salam

Bambara - aw ni baara

Basco - kaixo

Bengali- হ্যালো

Bhojpuri - एहो

Belarusian- прывітанне

Burmese- ဟိုင်း

Bosnian- zdravo

Bulgarian- здрасти

Catalan- hola

Cebuano - kumusta

Czech- Ahoj

Chichewa - moni

Chirghiso - салам

Chinese(simplified) - 你好

Chinese(traditional) - 你好

Korean- 안녕하세요

Course- salute

Haitian Creole - alo

Croatian- bok

Kurdish (kurmanji) - merheba

Kurdish (sorani) - سڵاو

Danish- Hej

Dhivehi - އައްސަލާމް ޢަލައިކުމް

Dogri - नमस्ते

Hebrew- היי

Esperanto- saluton

Estonian- Tere

Ewe - Alekee

Filippino - helo

Finnish- Hei

French- salut

Friesian- hoi

Scottish Gaelic - halò

Galician- ola

Welsh- helo

Georgian - გამარჯობა

Japanese- やあ

Javanese- hi

Greek- γεια

Guarani - Mba'éichapa

Gujarati - હાય

Hausa - sannu

Hawaiian - hui

Hindi - नमस्ते

Hmong - nyob zoo

Igbo - ndewo

Ilocano - Hi

Indonesian - hai

English- hi

Irish- Haigh

Icelandic- hæ

Italian - ciao

Kannada - ನಮಸ್ತೆ

Kazakh- сәлем

Khmer - សួស្តី

Kinyarwanda - muraho

Konkani - हाय

Krio - kushɛ

Lao - ສະບາຍດີ

Latvian- Sveiki

Lingala - Mbote

Lithuanian- labas

Luganda - Nkulamusizza

Luxembourgish- Salut

Macedonian- здраво

Maithili - नमस्कार

Malayalam - ഹായ്

Malay- hai

Malagasy- salut

Maltese - Bonġu

Māori - kia ora

Marathi - हाय

Mizo - Chibai

Mongolian- сайн уу

Nepalese - नमस्ते

Norwegian - hei

Odia (oriya) - ନମସ୍କାର

Dutch- hoi

Oromo - Akkam

Pashto - سلام

Persian - سلام

Polish- cześć

Portuguese - Oi

Punjabi - ਹੈਲੋ

Quechua - Allinllachu

Romanian- Salut

Russian - Привет

Samoan - talofa

Sanskrit - नमस्कार

Sepedi - Thobela

Serbian - Здраво

Sesotho - dumela

Shona - mhoro

Sindhi - هاءِ

Singalese - හායි

Slovak- Ahoj

Slovenian- živjo

Somali - waan ku salaamay

Spanish- hola

Sundanese - Halo

Swedish- Hej

Swahili - habari

Tajik- салом

Tamil - வணக்கம்

Tataro - сәлам

German- hallo

Telugu - హాయ్

Thai - สวัสดี

Tigrinya- ሰላም

Tsonga - Xewani

Turkish- Merhaba

Turkman- salam

Ukrainian- Привіт

Uyghur- ياخشىمۇسىز

Hungarian- Szia

Urdu - ہیلو

Uzbek- salom

Vietnamese- Chào

Xhosa - mholweni

Yiddish - הי

Yoruba - Pẹlẹ o

Zulu - sawubona

How to pronounce hello in all the languages of the world

Sometimes what is spelled does not correspond to how it is pronounced, and this applies to both our alphabet and other alphabets used around the world. For us Italians, some words may be more difficult to pronounce than others, especially if we do not know the characters that make it up. This is the case in Japanese or Chinese, for example, but also in European languages such as Bulgarian, Greek and Russian. Below you can find the pronunciation of the word hello in all the languages that use a different alphabet from ours, so as to facilitate interactions with people from all over the globe.

Amharic- hayi

Arabic - as-salāmu ʿalaykum

Armenian - Voghju՜yn

Bengali - Hyālō

Belarusian- pryvitannie

Burmese- hine

Bulgarian- zdrasti

Chirghiso - salam

Chinese (simplified) - Nǐ hǎo

Chinese (traditional)- Nǐ hǎo

Korean- annyeonghaseyo

Dhivehi - assalaam 'alaikum

Georgian - gamarjoba

Japanese- Yā

Greek- geia

Gujarati - Hāya

Hindi - namaste

Kannada - Namaste

Kazakh- sälem

Khmer - suostei

Lao - sabaidi

Macedonian- zdravo

Malayalam - hāy

Marathi - Hāya

Mongolian - sain uu

Nepalese - Namastē

Punjabi - Hailō

Russian - Privet

Serbian - Zdravo

Singalese - hāyi

Tajik- salom

Tamil - Vaṇakkam

Telugu - Hāy

Thai - S̄wạs̄dī

Ukrainian- Pryvit

Yiddish - hi