How to say “listen” in 43 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.
- слушать[ˈsɫuʂətʲ] Russian
- सुनो/sʊ.noː/ Hindi
- سننا/sʊn.nɑː/ Urdu
“listen” in French: écoute · German: zuhören · Russian: слушать · Hindi: सुनो · Turkish: dinle
It is commonest in Afrikaans, where luister is the 173rd most used word.
Listen in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans luister/ˈlœistər/ to listen #173
- Arabic تسمع/ta.sam.ma.ʕa/ to give ear, to listen, to lend an ear #643
- Basque entzun/ent͡s̻un/ to hear, listen #63
- Bengali শোনো/ʃono/ to hear, to listen to #364
- Bosnian slušati/slûʃati/ to listen #1,379
- Bulgarian слушам[ˈsɫuʃɐm] to listen to #711
- Catalan escolta[əsˈkol.tə] to listen to, to pay attention to #233
- Croatian slušati/slûʃati/ to listen #957
- Czech poslouchej[ˈposlou̯xɛj] to listen #472
- Danish lytter/ˈlydɐ/ to listen #1,061
- Dutch luister/ˈlœy̯s.tər/ to listen #246
- Esperanto aŭskultu/aʊsˈkultu/ to listen #197
- Estonian kuula/ˈkuːlɑ/ to listen #314
- Finnish kuuntele/ˈkuːnteleˣ/ to listen #363
- French écoute/e.kut/ to listen #358
- Galician escoita/esˈkojta/ to listen, to pay attention #471
- Georgian მოუსმინე[mo̞usmine̞] to listen to something #857
- German zuhören/ˈt͡suːˌhøːʁən/ to listen #2,301
- Hindi सुनो/sʊ.noː/ to listen, hear #261
- Hungarian hallgatni[ˈhɒlɡɒtni] to listen to something #2,211
- Icelandic hlusta[ˈl̥ʏsta] to listen #361
- Indonesian dengarkan/dəˈŋarkan/ to listen, to hear carefully #376
- Italian ascolta/asˈkol.ta/ to listen to #452
- Latvian klausies/ˈklausies/ to listen in #437
- Lithuanian klausyti[klɒʊ¹ˈsʲiːtʲɪ] to listen; to hear #1,514
- Macedonian слуша[ˈsɫuʃa] to listen, hear #912
- Malay dengar/dəˈŋar/ to hear; to listen #96
- Norwegian lytter/ˈlʏtː.ər/ to listen; to make an effort to hear or… #1,919
- Polish słuchaj/ˈswu.xaj/ to listen #326
- Portuguese escute/isˈku.t͡ʃi/ to listen to; to hear #2,496
- Romanian asculta/as.kulˈta/ to listen #823
- Russian слушать[ˈsɫuʂətʲ] to listen, to listen to #1,365
- Serbian slušati/slûʃati/ to listen #1,715
- Slovak počúvať/pɔt͡ʃuːvac/ to listen #573
- Slovenian poslušati/pɔslùːʃati/ to listen #536
- Spanish escucha/esˈkut͡ʃa/ to listen to, to hear out #389
- Swedish lyssna/²lʏsna/ to listen #320
- Tagalog makinig/makiˈniɡ/ to listen #207
- Tamil கேள்/keːɭ/ to listen to, hear #201
- Turkish dinle/dinˈle/ to listen, hear #235
- Ukrainian слухати[ˈsɫuxɐte] to listen #1,371
- Urdu سننا/sʊn.nɑː/ to listen, to hear #946
- Vietnamese vâng[vəŋ˧˧] to obey; to listen to; to comply with #189
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.