How to say “job” in 41 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.
- empleo/emˈpleo/ Spanish
- مهمة/mahamma/ Arabic
- नौकरी/nɔːk.ɾiː/ Hindi
- სამუშაო[sämuʃäo̞] Georgian
- வேலை/ʋeːlɐɪ̯/ Tamil
- ജോലി/d͡ʒoːli/ Malayalam
“job” in Spanish: empleo · French: métier · German: job · Portuguese: emprego · Arabic: مهمة · Hindi: नौकरी
It is commonest in Tamil, where வேலை is the 52nd most used word.
Job in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian punë/ˈpunə/ work; labour; job #137
- Arabic مهمة/mahamma/ job, task, function, duty #490
- Bengali শাবাশ/ʃabaʃ/ good job! #966
- Bosnian posao/pǒsao/ #139
- Bulgarian задача[zɐˈdat͡ʃɐ] task, problem, job #1,520
- Catalan feina[ˈfɛj.nə] work, job #218
- Chinese 任務/ɻən⁵¹⁻⁵³ u⁵¹/ task; assignment; job; mission #1,889
- Croatian posao/pǒsao/ #139
- Czech pracovat[ˈprat͡sovat] to work, to have a job #641
- Dutch job/dʒɔp/ #1,970
- English work/wɝk/ Labour, occupation, job #150
- Esperanto laboro/laˈboro/ job, work #301
- Finnish homma/ˈhomːɑ/ job, work, errand #737
- French métier/me.tje/ job, profession, trade #1,892
- Galician emprego/emˈpɾɛɡo/ #1,582
- Georgian სამუშაო[sämuʃäo̞] #1,142
- German job/dʒɔp/ job, position, employment #446
- Greek δουλειά/ðuˈʎa/ employment, work, job #115
- Hebrew תפקיד/tafˈkid/ function, role, job #1,383
- Hindi नौकरी/nɔːk.ɾiː/ job, employment, service #470
- Hungarian munka[ˈmuŋkɒ] work, job #425
- Icelandic vinna[ˈvɪn(ː)a] a job, an occupation, an employment #169
- Indonesian kerja/kərˈd͡ʒa/ labour, occupation, job #362
- Korean 직장[t͡ɕik̚t͡ɕ͈a̠ŋ] workplace, job #1,263
- Latvian darbu/ˈdarbu/ work, job, business #253
- Lithuanian darbas[¹ˈdɑˑrbɐs] work, job #248
- Malay pekerjaan/pə.kər.d͡ʒa.an/ job; occupation; employment #528
- Malayalam ജോലി/d͡ʒoːli/ #60
- Norwegian jobber/ˈjɔbər/ job, work, employment #298
- Persian شغل[ʃoɢl̥] job, work, employment, occupation #657
- Polish zajęcia/zaˈjɛɲ.t͡ɕa/ engagement, job #2,180
- Portuguese emprego/ẽˈpɾe.ɡu/ #755
- Serbian posao/pǒsao/ #143
- Spanish empleo/emˈpleo/ job, employment #2,237
- Swedish jobb/jɔbː/ job; a task #282
- Tagalog trabaho/tɾaˈbaho/ work; job; labor #169
- Tamil வேலை/ʋeːlɐɪ̯/ job, work, occupation #52
- Turkish işle/iʃˈle/ with a/the job #2,445
- Ukrainian завдання[zɐu̯ˈdanʲːɐ] task, job, assignment #1,059
- Urdu نوکری/nɔːk.ɾiː/ job, employment, service #967
- Vietnamese việc[viək̚˧˨ʔ] job, work, business #74
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) 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.