How to say “office” in 46 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.
- oficina/ofiˈθina/ Spanish
- офис[ˈofʲɪs] Russian
- وزارة/wi.zaː.ra/ Arabic
- 사무실[ˈsʰa̠(ː)muɕʰiɭ] Korean
- कार्यालय/kɑːɾ.jɑː.ləj/ Hindi
- գրասենյակ/ɡəɾɑseˈnjɑk/ Armenian
“office” in Spanish: oficina · German: büro · Italian: ufficio · Portuguese: escritório · Korean: 사무실 · Russian: офис · Arabic: وزارة · Hindi: कार्यालय
It is commonest in Tagalog, where opisina is the 490th most used word.
Office in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kantoor/kɐnˈtʊər/ #689
- Albanian zyra/zyɾa/ office, bureau #888
- Arabic وزارة/wi.zaː.ra/ the office, responsibility, or burden of a… #1,243
- Armenian գրասենյակ/ɡəɾɑseˈnjɑk/ #746
- Basque bulego/buleɡo/ #825
- Bengali অফিস/ɔfiʃ/ #735
- Bosnian ured/ˈurɛd/ #1,083
- Bulgarian офис[ˈɔfis] #1,450
- Catalan oficina[u.fiˈsi.nə] #685
- Croatian ured/ˈurɛd/ #725
- Czech kanceláře[ˈkant͡sɛlaːr̝ɛ] #1,175
- Danish kontor[kʰɔnˈtˢoɐ̯ˀ] #716
- Dutch kantoor/kɑnˈtoːr/ #572
- English official/əˈfɪʃəl/ Of or about an office or public trust #2,037
- Esperanto oficejo/ofiˈt͡sejo/ office, place of work #692
- Estonian kontor/ˈkontor/ #1,894
- French chez/ʃe/ to, at, in or into the home, office, etc. of #164
- Galician oficina/ʊfiˈθinɐ/ #707
- German büro/byˈroː/ #649
- Hebrew אצל/ˈe.t͡sel/ At or to the home or office of, or the like #589
- Hindi कार्यालय/kɑːɾ.jɑː.ləj/ office, workplace #610
- Hungarian irodában[ˈirodaːbɒn] #2,214
- Icelandic skrifstofa[ˈskrɪf.stɔːva] #1,759
- Indonesian pejabat/pəd͡ʒabat/ official, an office holder invested with… #2,222
- Italian ufficio/ufˈfi.t͡ʃo/ #520
- Korean 사무실[ˈsʰa̠(ː)muɕʰiɭ] #1,074
- Latvian birojs/ˈbirojs/ #1,388
- Lithuanian biuras[ˈbʲʊ̟rɐs] #1,651
- Macedonian канцеларија[kant͡sɛˈɫaɾi(j)a] #655
- Malay pejabat/pəd͡ʒabat/ #493
- Norwegian kontoret/kʊnˈtuːrə/ an office #753
- Persian اداره[ʔe.d̪ɒː.ɹé] #512
- Polish biura/ˈbju.ra/ office, agency #1,068
- Portuguese escritório/is.kɾiˈtɔ.ɾju/ #721
- Russian офис[ˈofʲɪs] #1,266
- Serbian ured/ˈurɛd/ #1,666
- Slovak úrad/uːrat/ office, bureau #1,148
- Slovenian pisarna/pisáːrna/ #812
- Spanish oficina/ofiˈθina/ #534
- Swedish kontor/kɔnˈtuːr/ office; building or room #902
- Tagalog opisina/ʔopiˈsina/ #490
- Tamil அலுவலகம்/ɐlʊʋɐlɐɡɐm/ office, place of work #624
- Turkish ofisi/ofiˈsi/ #2,353
- Ukrainian офіс[ˈɔfʲis] #2,134
- Urdu دفتر/d̪əf.t̪əɾ/ office, workplace #862
- Vietnamese chức[t͡ɕɨk̚˧˦] office; rank #664
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.