How to say “long” in 50 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.
- დიდხანს[d̥idχäns] Georgian
- দীর্ঘ/d̪iɾɡʱo/ Bengali
- நீண்ட/niːɳɖɐ/ Tamil
- دراز[d̪e.ɹɒ́ːz] Persian
“long” in German: lange
It is commonest in Malay, where lama is the 145th most used word.
Long in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans lank/ˈlɐŋk/ #153
- Albanian lutem/lutɛm/ to long for something to happen; to wish #80
- Arabic طويلة/tˤa.wiː.la/ a long rope attached to animals to graze #255
- Armenian նոր/noɾ/ just, just now; not long ago, recently #80
- Bengali দীর্ঘ/d̪iɾɡʱo/ #688
- Bosnian mene/mêne/ of me, long form #82
- Bulgarian докато[dokɐˈtɔ] while, as long as #144
- Catalan llarg[ˈʎark] #802
- Chinese 只要/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩²¹⁴⁻²¹ jɑʊ̯⁵¹/ as long as; provided; so long as #77
- Croatian mene/mêne/ of me, long form #85
- Czech dlouho[ˈdlou̯ɦo] long, a long time #238
- Danish længe[ˈlɛŋə] #213
- Dutch langer/ˈlɑŋər/ #712
- English board/bɔɹd/ A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any… #1,063
- Esperanto longa/ˈlonɡa/ #572
- Estonian kaua/kɑu̯ɑ̯/ for a long time #268
- Finnish kauan/ˈkɑu̯.ɑn/ a long time #289
- French longtemps/lɔ̃.tɑ̃/ for a long time; over a long period #334
- Galician longo[ˈloŋɡʊ] #649
- Georgian დიდხანს[d̥idχäns] #541
- German lange[ˈlaŋə] long, for a long time #220
- Greek πολύ/poˈli/ very, too, long #42
- Hebrew ישן/jaˈʃan/ old, having existed for a long time #649
- Hungarian amíg[ˈɒmiːɡ] as long as, while #193
- Icelandic lengi[ˈleiɲcɪ] #192
- Indonesian lama/ˈlama/ long: having great duration; seemingly… #164
- Italian finché/finˈke/ as long as, while #848
- Korean 얼마나[ʌ̹ɭma̠na̠] how long, how much, how many #97
- Latvian ilgi/ˈillɡi/ long; adverbial form of ilgs #247
- Lithuanian kol/koːl/ while, as long as; until #105
- Macedonian мене[ˈmɛnɛ] Long direct object form of јас #45
- Malay lama/ˈlamə/ #145
- Malayalam ഓടി/oːɖi/ a large, long and narrow seaboat, chiefly… #308
- Norwegian mer/ˈmeːr/ more; used in forming the comparative form of… #108
- Persian دراز[d̪e.ɹɒ́ːz] #1,018
- Polish długo/ˈdwu.ɡɔ/ #282
- Portuguese longe/ˈlõ.ʒi/ far, a long way #487
- Romanian lungă/ˈluŋɡə/ #1,031
- Russian долго[ˈdoɫɡə] a long time; for a long time #437
- Serbian mene/mêne/ of me, long form #84
- Slovak dlhý/dl̩ɦiː/ #710
- Slovenian dolg/dɔ́ːʋk/ #605
- Spanish basta/ˈbasta/ as long as; provided that; only if #569
- Swedish länge/ˈlɛŋˌɛ/ a long time, during a long time, long #198
- Tagalog matagal/mataˈɡal/ #274
- Tamil நீண்ட/niːɳɖɐ/ long, extended #149
- Telugu అంగీ/aŋɡiː/ man's long jacket #1,874
- Turkish çoktan/t͡ʃokˈtan/ a long time ago #677
- Ukrainian скоро[ˈskɔrɔ] soon, before long #260
- Vietnamese cuộc[kuək̚˧˨ʔ] a continuous and long enough event that… #166
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.