How to say “direction” in 45 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.
It is commonest in Galician, where a is the 2nd most used word.
- Afrikaans adres address, direction #588
- Albanian drejtim #985
- Arabic نحو towards, in the direction of, after, in… #354
- Armenian դեպի toward, to, in the direction of #141
- Bengali আদেশ command, order; direction #451
- Bosnian kuda which way, in what direction #798
- Bulgarian нататък that way, in that direction #1,065
- Catalan enrere back, backwards; in the direction opposite to… #581
- Chinese 方向 direction; orientation #411
- Croatian kamo where, in which direction, whither #506
- Czech směrem #1,349
- Danish retning #1,596
- Dutch richting in the direction of #1,215
- English off In a direction away from the speaker or other… #128
- Estonian tagasi In the opposite direction #54
- Finnish suuntaan #1,425
- Galician a to, toward; indicating direction of motion #2
- Georgian მხარეს side; direction #1,247
- German hin there, thither; denotes direction towards a… #248
- Greek διεύθυνση management, direction, directorate,… #1,091
- Hebrew כלפי To, toward: proceeding toward, in the… #1,021
- Hindi ओर side, face, direction #255
- Hungarian ki out, not inside, from the inside, in an… #27
- Icelandic átt #120
- Indonesian terus of a direction relative to the subject,… #218
- Italian verso in the direction of #521
- Korean 일로 over in this direction, hither #474
- Macedonian правец #1,335
- Malay di Used to indicate location or direction; in,… #8
- Malayalam സംവിധാനം direction in cinema, drama or an art form #519
- Norwegian retning #2,060
- Persian ور side, way, direction #973
- Polish kierunku #1,781
- Romanian încoace hither, here, this way, in my direction #1,108
- Serbian kuda which way, in what direction #708
- Slovak smerom #606
- Slovenian smer #427
- Spanish dirección #828
- Swedish ner down; in a direction downwards #126
- Tagalog papunta heading towards a direction #392
- Tamil திசை direction, cardinal points #888
- Telugu పక్క a side, quarter, or direction #304
- Ukrainian по in the direction of #51
- Urdu جانب direction, side #678
- Vietnamese phía side, way, direction #402
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.