How to say “help” in 52 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 Turkish, where yardım is the 89th most used word.
- Afrikaans help to help #117
- Albanian ndihmë #271
- Arabic مساعدة #386
- Armenian օգնել to help, to assist, to aid #355
- Basque lagundu to help #135
- Bengali সাহায্য #100
- Bosnian pomoći #248
- Bulgarian помогна to help, to assist, to aid, to give a hand #266
- Catalan ajuda to help, aid #300
- Chinese 幫助 to help; to aid; to assist #1,092
- Croatian pomoći #179
- Czech pomoc help, aid, assistance #362
- Danish hjælpe to help #175
- Dutch helpen to help #193
- English saved To help to survive, or rescue from harm #934
- Esperanto helpu to help #230
- Estonian aidata to assist, to help #270
- Finnish auttaa to help, assist, give assistance, lend a… #164
- French aider to help; to aid #213
- Galician axuda to help, aid #401
- German helfen to help; to assist; to aid #214
- Greek βοήθεια help, assistance, aid, succour #338
- Hebrew עזרה #471
- Hindi मदद help, assistance, aid, relief #163
- Hungarian segíteni to help #382
- Icelandic hjálpa to help #211
- Indonesian membantu to help, to assist, to aid #240
- Italian aiuto to help, assist #329
- Korean 도움 help; assistance; favour, favor #770
- Latvian palīdzēt to help, to help out, to aid, to assist #237
- Lithuanian padėti to help, assist #176
- Macedonian помош #178
- Malay membantu to help #270
- Malayalam സഹായം help, assistance #170
- Norwegian hjelpe to help; to assist; to aid #177
- Persian کمک help, aid, assistance #92
- Polish pomóc to help #218
- Portuguese ajudar to help, aid; to assist #280
- Romanian ajuta to help #330
- Russian помочь to help #209
- Serbian pomoći #261
- Slovak pomôcť to help #183
- Slovenian pomoč #164
- Spanish ayuda to help #312
- Swedish hjälpa to help; give aid or assistance to #184
- Tagalog tulong help; aid; assistance #196
- Tamil உதவி help, aid, assistance #143
- Telugu మద్దతు assistance, help, abetment #372
- Turkish yardım #89
- Ukrainian допомогти to help, to assist #295
- Urdu مدد help, assistance #92
- Vietnamese giúp to help; to aid #157
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.