How to say “beginning” in 47 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- начало[nɐˈt͡ɕaɫə] Russian
- بداية/bi.daː.ja/ Arabic
- शुरू/ʃʊ.ɾuː(ʔ)/ Hindi
- ראשונה/ʁiʃoˈna/ Hebrew
- սկիզբ/skizb/ Armenian
- തുടക്കം/t̪uɖɐkːɐm/ Malayalam
“beginning” in Portuguese: início · Russian: начало · Arabic: بداية · Hindi: शुरू
It is commonest in Telugu, where మొదటి is the 93rd most used word.
Beginning in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian fillim[fɪˈɫim] start, beginning #468
- Arabic بداية/bi.daː.ja/ beginning, start #614
- Armenian սկիզբ/skizb/ beginning, start; commencement #669
- Bengali শুরু/ʃuɾu/ start, beginning #110
- Bosnian početak/pot͡ʃěːtak/ #1,042
- Bulgarian начало[nɐˈt͡ʃa̟ɫo] beginning, start #922
- Catalan principi[pɾinˈsi.pi] beginning, start #1,102
- Chinese 見面/t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵¹⁻⁵³ mi̯ɛn⁵¹/ at first; in the beginning; initially #2,084
- Croatian početak/pot͡ʃěːtak/ #899
- Czech začátek[ˈzat͡ʃaːtɛk] #1,276
- Danish begyndelsen/beˈɡønˀəlsən/ beginning, start, commencement #1,697
- Dutch vanmorgen/vɑnˈmɔr.ɣə(n)/ this morning, the morning at the beginning of… #1,093
- English start/stɑɹt/ The beginning of an activity #303
- Esperanto komenco/koˈment͡so/ beginning, start, commencement #804
- Estonian alguses/ˈɑlɡ̊uses/ #999
- Finnish alusta/ˈɑlustɑ/ start, beginning, inception, incipience #1,079
- French début/de.by/ start, beginning #700
- Georgian თავიდან[tʰävidän] from the beginning #260
- German ab/ap/ beginning at that time or location; from #179
- Greek αρχή/arˈçi/ origin, beginning #541
- Hebrew ראשונה/ʁiʃoˈna/ #791
- Hindi शुरू/ʃʊ.ɾuː(ʔ)/ #187
- Hungarian indulás[ˈindulaːʃ] start, beginning, launch #1,409
- Icelandic byrjun[ˈpɪrjʏn] beginning, outset, start #1,117
- Indonesian awal/ˈawal/ beginning, start #491
- Korean 시작[ˈɕʰi(ː)d͡ʑa̠k̚] start, beginning #588
- Latvian sākumā/ˈsaːːkumaː/ beginning, starting point *in time or space #785
- Lithuanian pradžia[prɐˈd͡ʒʲɛ] #912
- Macedonian почеток[ˈpɔt͡ʃɛtɔk] #616
- Malay semula/səˈmula/ from the beginning #261
- Malayalam തുടക്കം/t̪uɖɐkːɐm/ #474
- Norwegian begynnelsen/bəˈjʏnl̩sn̩/ #1,262
- Persian شروع[ʃo.ɹuːʔ] beginning, commencement, onset, opening #106
- Polish początku/pɔˈt͡ʂɔnt.ku/ #819
- Portuguese início/iˈni.sju/ #1,181
- Romanian începutul/ˌɨntʃeˈputul/ beginning, start #1,564
- Russian начало[nɐˈt͡ɕaɫə] beginning, commencement, onset, start #1,672
- Serbian početak/pot͡ʃěːtak/ #916
- Slovak začiatok/zat͡ʃɪ̯atɔk/ beginning, start #681
- Slovenian začetek/zat͡ʃéːtək/ #436
- Swedish början[²bœ̞rːˌjan] beginning, start #737
- Tagalog simula/simuˈlaʔ/ start; beginning #480
- Tamil கொண்டு/koɳɖɯ/ from, beginning with #353
- Telugu మొదటి/mod̪aʈi/ beginning, origin, source #93
- Turkish baştan/baʃˈtan/ from scratch, from the beginning #911
- Ukrainian початок[pɔˈt͡ʃatɔk] beginning, start #1,684
- Urdu شروع/ʃʊɾuː/ #147
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.