Do you want to impress many, increase your iq or speak to more people?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, I believe learning another language or a word in a couple can help you. When you start a conversation the first word you would say is hello (to an unfamiliar person) or hi (to someone familiar). So the word for hello or hi or 'how are you?' would be good word to know in another language.
Key:
(r) = rolled r
(rh) = guttural r
˜ = nasal sound
How to say hello in common languages:
#1 Mandarin Chinese: 你好 (ni2 hao3) (pronounced 'knee' with a high rising tone and 'how' with a high falling then rising tone)
#2 Spanish: Hola (pronounced o-la)
#3 English: (I hope you would know that already)
#4 Hindi: Namaste (pronounced na-mahs-tay) or Namaskar (pronounced na-mahs-ka(r) )
#5 Arabic: مرحبا (pronounced ma(rh)-ha-ba) or السلام عليكم (pronounced al-sa-laahm a-lay-koom) meaning 'peace be with you' or 'peace upon you'
#6 Bengali: Nomaashkaar (pronounced no-maahsh-shkaah(r) (Hindu) or Asalaam Alaykum (Muslim)
#7 Portuguese: Olá (European) or Oi (Brazilian)
#8 Russian: привет (pronounced p(r)ee-vet) or Здравствуйте (pronounced zd(r)ahv-stvoo-ee-teh)
#9 Japanese: こんにちは (kon'nichiwa) (pronounced kon-nee-chee-wa)
German: Hallo
Vietnamese: Xin Cháo (pronounced shin chow or sin chow depending on the dialect)
French: Bonjour (pronounced bãn-zho(rh) )
Korean: 안녕하세요 (pronounced ahn-nyeong-ha-se-yo
or ahn-yông-ha-se-yo)
Cantonese: 你好 (pronounced lei with a high rising tone and hou with a high rising tone or nei with a high rising tone and hou with a high rising tone)
Turkish: Merhaba (pronounced ma(r)haba
Italian: Ciao (pronounced chow)
Polish: cześć (pronounced cheshch)
Indonesian: Selamat (pronounced se-lah-maht): Pagi (pronounced pah-ghee) (in the morning), Siang (pronounced see-ung) (in the early afternoon), Sore (pronounced so-(r)ay) (in the late afternoon) or Malam (pronounced mah-lahm) (at night) or Halo
Thai: สวัสดี (pronounced sa-wa-dee)
Tagalog: Kamusta (pronounced ka-moos-tah) or Halo
Romanian: Bună Ziua (pronounced boo-nuh zee-wah)
Dutch: Hallo
Khmer: Sok subai tei? (how are you?) (pronounced sock soo-bye tay)
Greek: γειά σου (pronounced geia sou)
Catalan: Hola (pronounced like Spanish)
Czech: Ahoj (pronounced a-hoy)
Swedish: Hallå (pronounced ha-looh)
Hebrew: שלום (pronounced shah-lom)
Finnish: Hei (pronounced hay)
Afrikaans: Hallo
Norwegian: Hallo
... and one more -
Esperanto: Saluton (pronounced sah-loo-ton)
Pop quiz:
1. What is significant about the first nine languages on the list?
2. Why is Dutch before Norwegian and Vietnamese before Italian?
Please write your answers in the comment section below. Answers revealed next post.