How to say “nation” in 35 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.
- देश/d̪eːʃ/ Hindi
- ժողովուրդ/ʒoʁoˈvuɾtʰ/ Armenian
- জাতি/d͡ʒat̪i/ Bengali
- ملت[mel.lǽt̪ʰ] Persian
“nation” in Hindi: देश · Turkish: millet
It is commonest in Tagalog, where bansa is the 290th most used word.
Nation in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans land/lant/ country; nation #194
- Albanian kombi/kɔmbi/ nation, people, community, folk #2,192
- Armenian ժողովուրդ/ʒoʁoˈvuɾtʰ/ nation, people, folk #1,723
- Bengali জাতি/d͡ʒat̪i/ #1,248
- Bulgarian народ[nɐˈrɔt] nation, people #2,029
- Catalan societat[su.si.əˈtat] society; nation #1,651
- Chinese 國家/ku̯ɔ³⁵ t͡ɕi̯ä⁵⁵/ country; nation; state #1,411
- Dutch volk/vɔlk/ people, nation #1,102
- English country/ˈkʌntɹi/ The territory of a nation; a sovereign state… #531
- Esperanto lando/ˈlando/ country, land, nation #321
- Galician nación/naˈθjoŋ/ #1,088
- Georgian ერთ[eɾtʰ] country, nation #158
- German volk/fɔlk/ people, nation, folk, tribe, race #1,302
- Greek φυλή/fiˈli/ race, tribe, nation, breed #2,452
- Hebrew העם/haˈʔam/ singular definite form of עַם: the nation,… #1,676
- Hindi देश/d̪eːʃ/ nation, country #408
- Indonesian negara/nəˈɡara/ country, state, nation, polity #428
- Korean 나랑[na̠ɾa̠ŋ] country, nation, kingdom #214
- Latvian tautas/ˈtautas/ people, nation #1,815
- Lithuanian tauta[tɒʊˈtɐ] people, folk, nation #1,758
- Macedonian народ[ˈnaɾɔt] people, nation #842
- Malay negara/nəˈɡara/ country; nation; sovereign state #355
- Malayalam നാട്/n̪aːɖɨ/ state, country, nation, kingdom #649
- Norwegian folk/ˈfɔlk/ a people, nation #151
- Persian ملت[mel.lǽt̪ʰ] nation, people #1,383
- Portuguese país/paˈis/ country; nation #577
- Slovak národ/naːrɔt/ people, nation #1,469
- Slovenian narod/nàːrɔt/ #881
- Swedish staten/ˈstɑːtɛn/ A state; a nation #2,409
- Tagalog bansa/banˈsaʔ/ #290
- Tamil நாடு/nɑːɖɯ/ country, kingdom, nation #567
- Telugu అంతర్జాతీయ/ˈantarˌɟaːtiːja/ of or pertaining to more than one nation #1,026
- Turkish millet/milˈlet/ #556
- Urdu قوم/qɔːm/ #739
- Vietnamese tộc[təwk͡p̚˧˨ʔ] people; nation; ethnicity #997
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), 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.