How to say “help” in 52 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.
- ayuda/aˈʝuda/ Spanish
- помочь[pɐˈmot͡ɕ] Russian
- مساعدة/mu.saː.ʕa.da/ Arabic
- 幫助/pɑŋ⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂu⁵¹/ Chinese
- 도움[to̞um] Korean
- मदद/mə.d̪əd̪/ Hindi
“help” in Spanish: ayuda · French: aider · German: helfen · Italian: aiuto · Portuguese: ajudar · Chinese: 幫助 · Korean: 도움 · Russian: помочь
It is commonest in Turkish, where yardım is the 89th most used word.
Help in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans help/ˈɦɛlp/ to help #117
- Albanian ndihmë/ndihmə/ #271
- Arabic مساعدة/mu.saː.ʕa.da/ #386
- Armenian օգնել/okʰˈnel/ to help, to assist, to aid #355
- Basque lagundu/laɡundu/ to help #135
- Bengali সাহায্য/ʃahad͡ʒd͡ʒo/ #100
- Bosnian pomoći/pomǒt͡ɕi/ #248
- Bulgarian помогна[poˈmɔɡnɐ] to help, to assist, to aid, to give a hand #266
- Catalan ajuda[əˈʒu.ðə] to help, aid #300
- Chinese 幫助/pɑŋ⁵⁵ ʈ͡ʂu⁵¹/ to help; to aid; to assist #1,092
- Croatian pomoći/pomǒt͡ɕi/ #179
- Czech pomoc[ˈpomot͡s] help, aid, assistance #362
- Danish hjælpe[ˈjɛlb̥ə] to help #175
- Dutch helpen/ˈɦɛl.pə(n)/ to help #193
- English saved/seɪvd/ To help to survive, or rescue from harm #934
- Esperanto helpu/ˈhelpu/ to help #230
- Estonian aidata/ˈɑi̯d̥ɑtɑ/ to assist, to help #270
- Finnish auttaa/ˈɑu̯tːɑːˣ/ to help, assist, give assistance, lend a… #164
- French aider/ɛ.de/ to help; to aid #213
- Galician axuda[aˈʃuðɐ] to help, aid #401
- German helfen/ˈhɛlfn̩/ to help; to assist; to aid #214
- Greek βοήθεια/voˈiθça/ help, assistance, aid, succour #338
- Hebrew עזרה/(ʔ)ezˈʁa/ #471
- Hindi मदद/mə.d̪əd̪/ help, assistance, aid, relief #163
- Hungarian segíteni[ˈʃɛɡiːtɛni] to help #382
- Icelandic hjálpa[ˈçaul̥pa] to help #211
- Indonesian membantu[məmˈbant̪u] to help, to assist, to aid #240
- Italian aiuto/aˈju.to/ to help, assist #329
- Korean 도움[to̞um] help; assistance; favour, favor #770
- Latvian palīdzēt[palīːdzɛ̂ːt] to help, to help out, to aid, to assist #237
- Lithuanian padėti/pɐˈd̪ʲêː.t̪ʲɪ/ to help, assist #176
- Macedonian помош[ˈpɔmɔʃ] #178
- Malay membantu/məmˈbantu/ to help #270
- Malayalam സഹായം/sɐhaːjɐm/ help, assistance #170
- Norwegian hjelpe/ˈjɛlpə/ to help; to assist; to aid #177
- Persian کمک[kʰo.mǽkʰʲ] help, aid, assistance #92
- Polish pomóc/ˈpɔ.mut͡s/ to help #218
- Portuguese ajudar/a.ʒuˈda(ʁ)/ to help, aid; to assist #280
- Romanian ajuta/a.ʒuˈta/ to help #330
- Russian помочь[pɐˈmot͡ɕ] to help #209
- Serbian pomoći/pomǒt͡ɕi/ #261
- Slovak pomôcť/pɔmu̯ɔt͡sc/ to help #183
- Slovenian pomoč/pɔmóːt͡ʃ/ #164
- Spanish ayuda/aˈʝuda/ to help #312
- Swedish hjälpa/²jɛlːpa/ to help; give aid or assistance to #184
- Tagalog tulong/ˈtuloŋ/ help; aid; assistance #196
- Tamil உதவி/ʊd̪ɐʋiː/ help, aid, assistance #143
- Telugu మద్దతు/mad̪ːat̪u/ assistance, help, abetment #372
- Turkish yardım/jaɾˈdɯm/ #89
- Ukrainian допомогти[dɔpɔmɔɦˈtɪ] to help, to assist #295
- Urdu مدد/mə.d̪əd̪/ help, assistance #92
- Vietnamese giúp[zup̚˧˦] to help; to aid #157
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), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.