20 Ways to Say Hello in Different Languages

You don't need to speak a language to open with one good word in it. A single hello in someone's own language tells them you noticed where they're from, and that's usually enough to change the mood of a chat. Here are twenty, grouped by region, with a rough guide to saying them out loud.

The pronunciations are approximations, written the way an English speaker would read them. Native speakers will forgive you. Most will be pleased you tried.

Europe

• Hola (Spanish): OH-lah. The "h" is silent. Works in Spain and all over Latin America.
• Bonjour (French): bohn-ZHOOR. It literally means "good day", and in France you're expected to say it before asking anything at all, even "do you have the time?"
• Hallo or Guten Tag (German): HAH-loh and GOO-ten TAHK. Hallo is what you'd say to a friend. Guten Tag is a little more formal.
• Ciao (Italian): CHOW. Casual, and it doubles as goodbye.
• Olá (Portuguese): oh-LAH. In Brazil, oi (oy) is just as common among friends.
• Cześć (Polish): roughly "cheshch". Informal, and it also means goodbye.
• Hej (Swedish): pronounced "hay". Danish spells it the same way, and Norwegians write hei.
• Γεια σου (Greek): YAH-soo. For one person you know. Use Γεια σας (YAH-sas) for a group or someone you'd address politely.
• Привет (Russian): pree-VYET. Informal. With someone you don't know well, Здравствуйте (ZDRAHST-vooy-tye) is the safer choice.

Asia

• こんにちは (Japanese, konnichiwa): kohn-nee-chee-wah. The standard daytime greeting.
• 안녕하세요 (Korean, annyeonghaseyo): ahn-nyung-hah-say-yo. The polite default, fine for almost anyone.
• 你好 (Mandarin, nǐ hǎo): nee how. Used wherever Mandarin is spoken.
• नमस्ते (Hindi, namaste): nuh-mus-TAY. Also common in Nepal. Traditionally said with your palms pressed together.
• Xin chào (Vietnamese): sin CHOW. Tones matter a lot in Vietnamese, but this one is easy to get across.
• สวัสดี (Thai, sawasdee): sah-wah-DEE. Politeness goes at the end: ครับ (khrap) if you're a man, ค่ะ (kha) if you're a woman.
• Kumusta (Filipino): koo-moos-TAH. It literally means "how are you", and it was borrowed from Spanish.

Middle East, Turkey and Africa

• مرحبا (Arabic, marhaba): MAR-ha-ba. Understood across the Arab world.
• Merhaba (Turkish): MEHR-hah-bah. It comes from the same Arabic word, which is why the two look so alike.
• שלום (Hebrew, shalom): shah-LOHM. It also means "peace", and it works as goodbye too.
• Jambo (Swahili): JAHM-boh. The one most people have heard. Among locals, habari (hah-BAH-ree), "what's the news?", is just as common.

How to actually use them

A greeting is a door, not a conversation. Say the hello, then ask something. "Hola! Where in Spain are you?" gets a real answer. "Hola" on its own gets "hola" back.

Another easy trick is to ask, "How do you say hello where you live?" People enjoy teaching this, and you'll often learn something the textbooks skip, like the casual version nobody writes down.

Don't spend energy on your accent. If you're unsure how formal to be, go with the polite form. Nobody has ever been offended by a greeting that was slightly too respectful.

And if they answer in their language and you're lost, just say so. "That's all the Japanese I know!" is a perfectly good second message, and it usually makes the other person laugh.

Want to practice saying them? Try the tool below.