Whenever you meet someone, the first word that you say to greet the person is a “hello”. Although different regions have different customs and languages to say “hello”, the basic essence of the greeting is the same. Nevertheless, what would you do if you were in a foreign land where people don’t speak your language, how will you greet a stranger for the first time? Although traveling with an interpreter can be a good option for you in a foreign country, however, learning a few basic words in the local language can prove to be pretty handy at times. One such most common word is “hello”. Whether you are a tourist, a business traveler, or just curious to learn how to say “hello” in different languages, here is a list that will serve your purpose. Just go through the list and keep it handy as it can be useful.
Saying Hello In Different Languages
- Afrikaans - haai (Pronounced Ha-I)
- Albanian - tungjatjeta (Pronounced Toon-jat-yeta)
- Arabic – marhaban (pronounced Mar-ha-ban)
- Armenian - barev or parev
- Azerbaijani - salam pronounced Sa-laam
- Bahamas – hello (for), hi or heyello (informal)
- Basque - kaixo (Pronounced kai-show)
- Bavarian and Austrian German - grüß Gott (Pronounced gruess gott),
- Bengali - 'aas salamu alaay kum' (In Bangladesh) 'namaskar (In West Bengal, India)
- Bulgarian - zdraveite, zdrasti (informal)
- Burmese - mingalarbar
- Congo - Mambo
- Czech - dobré ráno (until about 8 or 9 a.m.), dobrý den (formal), dobrý veèer (evening), ahoj (informal; pronounced ahoy)
- Dutch - hoi (very informal), hallo (informal)
- English - hello (formal), hi (informal), hey (informal,)
- Esperanto - saluton (formal), sal (informal)
- Estonian - tere'
- Fijian - bula uro
- Finnish - hyvää päivää (formal), moi or hei (informal)
- French - salut (informal; silent 't'), bonjour (formal, Pronounced Bonju; 'n' as a nasal vowel),
- German - hallo (informal), Guten Tag (formal; pronounced gootan taag), Tag (very informal;
- Greek - yia sou (pronounced yah-soo; informal), yia sas (formal)
- Hawaiian - aloha
- Hebrew - shalom (means "hello", "goodbye" and "peace"), hi (informal),
- Hindi and Nepali - namaste, namaskar (pronounced na-mus-tei),
- Hungarian, Magyar - jo napot (pronounced yoh naput; formal), szervusz (pronounced sairvoose; informal), szia (pronounced seeya; informal)
- Icelandic - góðan dag (formal; pronounced gothan dagg), hæ (informal)
- Indonesian - selamat pagi (morning), selamat siang (afternoon), selamat malam (evening)
- Italian - ciào (pronounced chow; informal; also means "goodbye"),
- Japanese - ohayou gozaimasu (pronounced o-ha-yo go-zai-mass; good morning), konnichi wa (pronounced ko-nee-chee-wa; afternoon), konbawa (pronounced gong-ban-wa; evening); moshi moshi (pronounced moh-shee moh-shee; when answering the phone); doumo (pronounced doh-moh; informal way of greeting
- Jamaican (slang) - Yow Wah gwaan (pronounced wa-gwaan)
- Kannada – namaskaara
- Kazakh - Salem
- Korean - ahn nyeong ha se yo (formal; pronouned ahn-yan-ha-say-yo), ahn nyeong (informal; can also be used to mean "goodbye")
- Lao - sabaidee (pronounced sa-bai-dee)
- Latvian - labdien, sveiki, chau (informal; pronounced chow)
- Lithuanian - laba diena (formal), labas, sveikas (informal; when speaking to a male), sveika (informal; when speaking to a female), sveiki (informal; when speaking to more than one person)
- Luxembourgish - moïen (pronounced MOY-en)
- Maori - kia ora (kia o ra), tena koe, ata marie, morena (good morning)
- Mexican - hola
- Norwegian - hei ("hi"), hallo ("hello")
- Persian - salaam or do-rood (see note above - salaam is an abbreviation, the full version being as-salaam-o-aleykum in all Islamic societies)
- Polish - dzieñ dobry (formal), witaj (hello) czeœæ (hi, pronounced, "cheshch")
- Portuguese - oi, boas, olá or alô (informal)
- Romanian - salut, buna dimineata (formal; morning) buna ziua (formal; daytime) buna searaformal; evening), buna (usually when speaking to a female pronounced boo-nhuh)
- Russian - pree-vyet (informal), zdravstvuyte (formal; pronounced ZDRA-stvooy-tyeh)
- Samoan - talofa (formal), malo (informal)
- Senegal - salamaleikum
- Serbian - zdravo (informal), dobro jutro (morning, pronounced dobro yutro), dobar dan (afternoon), dobro veèe (pronounced dobro vetchay evening), laku noæ (night)
- Sinhala - a`yubowan (pronounced ar-yu-bo-wan; meaning "long live")
- Slovak - dobrý deò (formal), ahoj (pronounced ahoy), èau (pronounced chow) and dobrý (informal abbreviation)
- Slovenian — živjo (informal; pronounced zhivyo), dobro jutro (morning), dober dan (afternoon), dober veèer (evening; pronounced doh-bear vetch-air)
- South African English - hoezit (pronounced howzit; informal)
- Spanish - hola (pronounced with a silent 'h': o-la)
- Swahili - jambo, Habari (hello)
- Swedish - tja (very informal; pronounced sha), hej (informal; pronounced hey), god dag (formal)
- Swiss German - grüzi (pronounced grew-tsi)
- Tahitian - ia orana
- Tamil - vanakkam
- Telugu- namaskaram
- Tetum (Timor - Leste) - bondia (morning), botarde (afternoon), bonite (evening)
- Thai - sawa dee-ka (said by a female), sawa dee-krap (said by a male)
- Tongan - malo e lelei
- Tsonga (South Africa) - minjhani (when greeting adults), kunjhani (when greeting your peer group or your juniors)
- Turkish - merhaba (formal), nevar? (Informal)
- Ukranian - dobriy ranok (formal; morning), dobriy den (formal; afternoon), dobriy vechir (formal; evening), pryvit (informal)
- Uzbek - Assalomu Alay