How to say “noise” in 35 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 Vietnamese, where thanh is the 525th most used word.
- Albanian zhurmë #920
- Armenian աղմուկ #610
- Basque zarata #602
- Bosnian šumu #2,231
- Bulgarian шум noise, sound, noisiness #1,474
- Catalan soroll #1,592
- Chinese 聲音 sound; noise; voice #1,417
- Croatian šumu #2,253
- English larry A confused noise; an uproar; a hubbub #1,825
- Esperanto bruas to make noise #1,652
- Estonian müra loud noise, unpleasant noise #1,976
- Finnish ääni sound; noise #1,387
- French bruit a noise #1,109
- Galician ruído #1,192
- Georgian ხმაური #600
- Greek φασαρία noise, racket #2,142
- Hebrew רעש noise, noisiness #1,480
- Hindi शोर noise, din, clamor #1,621
- Italian rumore noise, sound #1,464
- Latvian klusē To not make noise vocally either through… #1,963
- Lithuanian triukšmas noise, racket #1,778
- Malayalam ഒച്ച sound, noise, voice #717
- Norwegian bråk loud noise, racket #1,550
- Portuguese barulho #1,539
- Romanian zgomot #1,920
- Russian шум noise, radio static #2,483
- Serbian šumu #2,077
- Slovak hluk #1,212
- Slovenian hrup #954
- Spanish ruido noise, racket, rattle, clatter, sound #1,482
- Tagalog ingay #924
- Turkish gürültü #2,230
- Ukrainian шум #1,829
- Urdu شور #1,014
- Vietnamese thanh sound; tone; noise #525
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.