Wherever you go in the world it is likely a greeting will often to be the first thing you hear or say when you meet new people. ‘Hello’ should be the first word you learn in any foreign language, even before please, thank you and goodbye.
Learning a language can be challenging, especially for native English speakers when other languages can seem so different. But learning to even if just a few basic words and phrases like ‘hi’ can really open up a world of opportunities and make the whole experience of interacting, travelling and meeting new people more fun and rewarding.
Starting a conversation with someone and speaking in their language is not only polite, it shows you are really making an effort to communicate. Even if at first your pronunciation isn’t perfect, when foreign people hear you trying to make an effort they will really appreciate the gesture.
Do don’t be nervous and view our list of how to say ‘hello’ in 100+ of the most spoken languages in the world below, in alphabetical order by language name below. We have also included in brackets the pronunciation for some languages which without this, it might be impossible to guess correctly.
- Afrikaans: Hallo
- Albanian: Mirë dita
- Amharic: ታዲያስ (Tadiyas)
- Arabic: مرحبا (Marhaban or Marhabaa)
- Armenian: Barev dzez (bah-rev dez)
- Azerbaijani: Салам / سلام (salam)
- Basque: Kaixo
- Bengali: নমস্কার (Nomoshkaar or Namaskar)
- Bhojpuri: Prannam
- Bosnian: Zdravo
- Brazilian Portugese: Olá (Hi is Oi)
- Breton: Demat
- Bulgarian: Здравейте (Zdravey)
- Burmese: mingalarba (min-ga-la-ba) — hello
- Cambodian: Sous-dey
- Cantonese Chinese: néih hóu (nee how)
- Catalan: Hola
- Chamorro: Hafa adai
- Chichewa: Moni
- Corsican: Bonghjornu
- Croatian: Bok
- Czech: Ahoj
- Danish: Hej
- Dutch: Hallo
- English: Hello
- Espetanto: Saluton
- Estonian: Tere
- Farsi: سلام or درود بر تو or درود بر شما (Salaam or Dorood bar to or Dorood bar shoma)
- Fijian: Bula
- Filipino: Kamusta
- Finnish: Hei or Terve
- French: Bonjour
- Gaelic: Halò
- Georgian: მიესალმები (miesalmebi)
- German: Hallo
- Greek: Χαίρε (chai-ray) or Γεια σου (yiassoo)
- Gujarati: Namaste
- Hausa: Hello
- Hawaiian: Aloha
- Hebrew: שלום (Shalom)
- Hindi: नमस्ते (Namaste)
- Hungarian: Sziasztok
- Igbo: Kedu
- Indonesian: Halo or Hai
- Irish: Dia dhuit
- Italian: Ciao
- Japanese: こんにちは (Kon’nichiwa)
- Kannada: ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ (Namaskār)
- Khmer: ជំរាបសួរ (Cham reap sour)
- Korean: 안녕 (Annyeong)
- Lao: ສະບາຍດີ (sabaidi)
- Latin: Salve
- Latvian: Sveiki
- Limburgish: Hallau
- Lithuanian: Sveiki
- Macedonian: Добар ден (Dobar den)
- Maithili: Prannam
- Malaysian: Selamat tengahari
- Maltese: Ħelow
- Mandarin Chinese: 你好 (Nǐ hǎo)
- Maori: Kia ora
- Marathi: Hĕlō, namaskār
- Minnan hua: Lı́ hó
- Nepali: नमस्ते (Namaste)
- Norwegian: Hei
- Odia: ନମସ୍କାର (Namaskār)
- Oromo: Akkam
- Oriya: Namaskar
- Pashto: سلام (salam)
- Polish: Cześć or Hej
- Portugese: Olá
- Romanian: Buna
- Russian: Привет (Preevyet)
- Samoan: Talofa
- Scottish Gaelic: Haló
- Serbian: Здраво (Zdravo)
- Shanghainese: 侬好 (Noŋ hɔ)
- Shona: Mhoro
- Sindhi: Assalam o alaikum
- Slovak: Ahoj
- Slovenian: Zdravo
- Spanish: Hola
- Sundanese: Sampurasun
- Swabian: Grüss Gott
- Swahili: Hodi
- Swedish: Hej or Hallá
- Tamil: வனக்கம் (Vanakkam)
- Vietnamese: Xin chào (Krekt)
- Woiworung: Womenjeka
- Yiddish: שלום (Sholem)
- Tagalog: Kamusta
- Tamil: வணக்கம் (Vanakaam)
- Telugu: నమస్కారం (Namaskāram)
- Thai: (Female) สวัสดีค่ะ (Sawatdeekha) / (Male): สวัสดีครับ (Sawatdeekhrap)
- Turkish: Merhaba
- Uzbek: Salom
- Vietnamese: Chào bạn
- Welsh: Helo
- Yiddish: העלא (Hela)
- Yoruba: E nle o
- Zulu: Sawubona
‘Hello’ really is likely to be the first word you hear or say when abroad. Say it next time to someone in their native language, see their reaction and then get the urge to start learning more.
“Speak a new language so that the world will be a new world.” – Rumi
