How to say “captain” in 39 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.
- capitán/kapiˈtan/ Spanish
- капитан[kəpʲɪˈtan] Russian
- 대위[ˈtɛ(ː)ɥi] Korean
- कप्तान/kəp.t̪ɑːn/ Hindi
- সর্দার/ʃoɾd̪aɾ/ Bengali
- کپتان/kəp.t̪ɑːn/ Urdu
“captain” in Spanish: capitán · French: capitaine · German: kapitän · Italian: capitano · Portuguese: capitão · Korean: 대위 · Russian: капитан · Hindi: कप्तान
It is commonest in Catalan, where capità is the 326th most used word.
Captain in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kaptein/kɐpˈtɛɪn/ captain, both in the land and naval senses of… #426
- Albanian kapiten/kapiten/ captain, a third grade military rank, officer… #474
- Bengali সর্দার/ʃoɾd̪aɾ/ #1,882
- Bosnian kapetan/kapětaːn/ #813
- Bulgarian капитан[kɐpiˈtan] #707
- Catalan capità[kə.piˈta] #326
- Chinese 上校/ʂɑŋ⁵¹⁻⁵³ ɕi̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/ colonel; captain #450
- Croatian kapetan/kapětaːn/ #837
- Czech kapitán[ˈkapɪtaːn] #1,007
- Danish kaptajn/kɑbˈtɑjˀn/ #531
- Dutch kapitein/kaː.piˈtɛi̯n/ #622
- Esperanto kapitano/kapiˈtano/ #393
- Estonian kapten/ˈkɑpten/ #429
- Finnish kapteeni/ˈkɑpteːni/ #482
- French capitaine/ka.pi.tɛn/ captain, leader #475
- Galician capitán/kapiˈtaŋ/ #579
- German kapitän/kapiˈtɛːn/ #1,959
- Greek λοχαγέ/ˌloxaˈje/ the rank of captain in the British and US… #1,878
- Hindi कप्तान/kəp.t̪ɑːn/ captain, leader, head #655
- Hungarian kapitány[ˈkɒpitaːɲ] #474
- Icelandic kapteinn[ˈkʰafteitn̥] #1,106
- Italian capitano/ka.piˈta.no/ #565
- Korean 대위[ˈtɛ(ː)ɥi] #1,053
- Latvian kapteinis/ˈkapteiːnis/ #935
- Macedonian капетан[ˈkapɛtan] captain, commander, master, skipper #834
- Malayalam തലവൻ/t̪alaʋan/ chief; head; captain #1,916
- Norwegian kaptein/kapˈtæɪn/ captain; a military officer rank between… #443
- Polish kapitanie/ka.piˈta.ɲɛ/ #753
- Portuguese capitão/ka.piˈtɐ̃w̃/ #453
- Romanian căpitanul/ˌkəpiˈtanul/ #1,061
- Russian капитан[kəpʲɪˈtan] captain, commander, master, skipper, team… #522
- Serbian kapetan/kapětaːn/ #822
- Slovenian stotnik/stóːtnik/ #664
- Spanish capitán/kapiˈtan/ #476
- Swedish kapten/ˈkaptɛn/ a captain #566
- Tagalog kapitan/kapiˈtan/ #1,156
- Turkish kaptan/kapˈtan/ #572
- Ukrainian капітан[kɐpʲiˈtan] #862
- Urdu کپتان/kəp.t̪ɑːn/ #731
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.