“Good Day”
In many languages, especially European languages, the standard way to greet someone formally is to wish them a good day. Here are some languages whose formal version of “Hello” translates as “Good day”:- Romanian: Bună ziua
- French: Bonjour
- German: Guten tag
- Yiddish: אַ גוטן טאָג (a gutn tog)
- Dutch: Goede dag
- Swedish: God dag
“Peace”
Wishing a person peace is a beautiful way to begin a conversation. Many Arabic-influenced languages (as well as others), use “Peace” or “Peace be with you” for “Hello”:- Arabic: السلام عليكم (al salaam aliykhum)
- Korean: 안녕하세요 (an-nyeong-ha-se-yo)
- Hebrew: שלום (shalom)
- Azeri (Azerbaijani): Salam
- Chechen: Ассаламу Iалайкум or Салам (assalamu aliykhum or salam)
- Hawaiian: Aloha (this is the word for “peace”, “affection”, “compassion”, or “mercy”)
“Good Health”
The historical reasons behind a “good health” greeting are obvious. In ancient times, disease and injury were a constant threat and were often difficult to treat. So it became standard practice in many languages for people to wish good health upon one another each time they met.- Russian: здравствуйте (zdrastvuytye; comes from здрава желаю meaning “I wish you health”)
- Maori: Kia ora (“Be healthy”)
- Lao: ສະບາຍດີ (sabǎai děe; “you well”, an abbreviation of “Are you well?”)
- Fijian: Bula (“Life” or “Alive”)
- Mandarin: 你好 (nǐ hǎo; “you well”, an abbreviation of ‘nǐ hǎo má’: “Are you well?”)
- Estonian: Tere or Tervist (derived from “terve”, meaning “healthy”)
“Blessings”
Language and religion are often bedfellows. Theravada Buddhist chants are usually conducted in the Pali language. Roman Catholic mass used to be spoken entirely in Latin. Muslims around the world, no matter what their first language, say their prayers in Arabic. No wonder, then, that this mingling led to religious expressions getting mixed into everyday speech, including, of course, in saying “hello”:- Irish: Dia dhuit (“God be with you”)
- Tibetan: བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས (tashi delek; often translated as “Blessings and good luck”)
- Burmese: မင်္ဂလာပါ။ (mingalaba; “It is a blessing”)
- Hindi (and several other Indian and South Asian dialects): नमस्ते (namaste; “I bow to you”)
“Happiness”
Goodness and happiness are most people’s goals in life, so of course, wishing such fortune upon one’s friends became the customary greeting in some languages.- Icelandic: Komdu sæll (“Come happy”)
- Thai: สวัสดี (sàwàtdee; from the Sanskrit word “swasti” - which you might recognise as the root of the Sanskrit word “swastika” - meaning “good” or “auspicious”)
“What’s New?”
In some languages, the conventional way to say “hi” is to get right down to business and ask “How are you doing?” or “What’s new?”. These days, however, greetings like this are more correctly interpreted as “hello” and not an actual request for detailed information.- Kiswahili: Habari yako? (“Your news?”)
- Ojibwe: Aaniin (this is the word for “what” or “how”, an abbreviation of “How are you?” or “What’s up?”)
- French: Ça va? (“It goes?”)
- British English: Alright?
Other Greetings
It’s a diverse world! Not all greetings fit into a neat category. Here are a few languages with more unusual ways to say “Hello”:- Sesotho: Lumela (this is the word for “believe” or “agree”)
- Georgian: გამარჯობა (gamarjoba; “Victory”)
- Zulu: Sawubona (“We see you”)
- Yapese: Mogethin (“Say a word”)
- Slovak and Czech: Ahoj! (ahoy; from the English phrase, “Ship ahoy!”, which is ironic since both of these countries are landlocked)
- English: Hello (Last but not least! “Hello” comes from the French words “ho” and “là”, meaning “oh!” (or “whoa!”) and “there”, respectively)
The post International Greetings: How to Say “Hello” in 29 Languages appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
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Sitting an exam requires a lot of study.[/caption] Sitting an exam requires a lot of study. If your goal is speaking a language, that time you spend reading, listening and writing to meet the exam requirements will be time you could have used to improve your speaking skills. In the past I’ve done exams for German, French and Italian as well as the HSK exam for Mandarin Chinese. In preparation for all these exams, I had to study materials that were completely unrelated to my end goals for the languages. So, if your language-learning goals do not align with the CEFR scale, and you don’t need a professional qualification, then you can safely ignore it.
A CEFR self-assessment.[/caption] For those looking for something a little more formal, you have the option of taking an official examination or a free online examination. It’s worth noting that CEFR levels cover a