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One word, 26 languages

Hello in 26 languages

English speakers reach for “hello” in almost every situation – answering the phone, greeting a shopkeeper, opening an email. Several of the 26 languages below split that single job into different words instead. Korean keeps one greeting just for picking up the phone, Italian draws a clear line between formal and casual, and Low German gets by with one word, “Moin”, from breakfast until midnight. Below you can hear each version and check the sounds that trip up English speakers first.

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Spanish

hola

OH-lah

Hello

One word, 26 languages

One word for every “hello”? Not quite

Most of these words don't map neatly onto English “hello”. Korean “안녕하세요” is the polite, all-purpose greeting – but a different word altogether takes over on the phone. Italian draws a formal line too: “salve” is the polite choice for strangers and staff, kept apart from the greeting you'd use with close friends.

Formality points the other way in Russian, where “здравствуйте” is the safe, respectful choice for anyone you don't know well. Dutch “hallo” and German “Hallo”, meanwhile, need almost no adjustment for an English speaker – both look and sound close to the English word.

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Sounds your mouth hasn't made before

Two consonants catch English speakers out. Arabic “مرحبا” starts easily enough, but its middle sound, written ħ, is made by tightening the throat – further back than an English “h”. Greek “γεια σου” opens with a soft, breathy “y”-type sound (ʝ) rather than a hard “g”, so it lands closer to “ya soo” than “gya soo”.

Stress matters too: Turkish “merhaba” puts the emphasis on the first syllable, MER-ha-ba, not the last. Mandarin “你好” isn't about stress at all – it needs a rising pitch on “ni” followed by a dip-then-rise on “hao”, a shape English doesn't use.

Where English habits get in the way

The biggest slip is assuming one greeting fits every situation, the way “hello” does in English. Reaching for the everyday word on a Korean phone call instead of switching to the phone-specific one, or greeting a Russian shopkeeper too casually instead of using “здравствуйте”, both read as small missteps to a native ear.

The second is flattening unfamiliar vowels into the closest English one. French “salut” ends in a rounded vowel, not an English “oo” – round your lips as if for “oo”, then say “ee” instead. Swapping in the English vowel is the fastest way to sound unmistakably foreign.

Short everyday dialogues

Checking in at a hostel in Barcelona

  • Receptionist¡Hola! ¿Tiene una reserva?Hello! Do you have a reservation?
  • YouHola, sí, a nombre de Smith.Hello, yes, under the name Smith.

Meeting your host in Istanbul

  • HostMerhaba! Hoş geldiniz.Hello! Welcome.
  • YouMerhaba, teşekkür ederim.Hello, thank you.

Entering a small café in Kyoto

  • Staffこんにちは！何名様ですか？Hello! How many people?
  • Youこんにちは、一人です。Hello, just one, please.

Answering a phone call in Seoul

  • Caller여보세요, 김 선생님이세요?Hello, is this Mr. Kim?
  • You네, 저예요.Yes, speaking.
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Frequently asked questions

How do you say hello in Japanese?
“こんにちは” (kon'nichiwa) is the everyday greeting used from late morning through the afternoon.
How do you say hello in Korean?
“안녕하세요” [an.njʌŋ.ha.se.jo] has five syllables, and Korean has no word stress, so none of them is emphasized. On the phone, Koreans switch to a different word instead.
Is “Moin” only used in the morning?
No. In Low German, “Moin” works at any time of day, not just in the morning.

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