How to say “photograph” in 30 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.
- 照片/ʈ͡ʂɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ pʰi̯ɛn⁵¹/ Chinese
- 사진[sʰa̠d͡ʑin] Korean
- תמונה/tmuˈna/ Hebrew
- புகைப்படம்/pʊɡɐɪ̯pːɐɖɐm/ Tamil
- ഫോട്ടോ/foːʈːoː/ Malayalam
- عکس[ʔækʰʲs] Persian
“photograph” in Chinese: 照片 · Korean: 사진
It is commonest in Chinese, where 照片 is the 141st most used word.
Photograph in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans foto/ˈfʊə̯.tʊə̯/ photo; photograph #606
- Basque argazki/arɡas̻ki/ photo, photograph #449
- Bosnian fotografija/fotoɡrǎfija/ a photograph, picture #2,496
- Bulgarian снимка[ˈsnimkɐ] photograph, snapshot #768
- Catalan fotos[ˈfo.tus] #1,010
- Chinese 照片/ʈ͡ʂɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ pʰi̯ɛn⁵¹/ photograph; picture #141
- Croatian fotografija/fotoɡrǎfija/ a photograph, picture #2,262
- Dutch foto/ˈfoː.toː/ photo, photograph #407
- English photo/ˈfəʊ̯.təʊ̯/ A photograph #1,490
- Estonian foto/ˈfoto/ photograph, photo #1,455
- Galician fotografía/fotoɡɾaˈfia/ #1,148
- German bild/bɪlt/ digital photograph #935
- Hebrew תמונה/tmuˈna/ photograph, photo, picture #721
- Indonesian foto/ˈfoto/ photograph; photo #660
- Korean 사진[sʰa̠d͡ʑin] photograph, picture #417
- Lithuanian nuotrauka[¹ˈnuɔtrɒʊkɐ] #951
- Macedonian фотографија[fɔtɔˈɡrafi(j)a] #2,119
- Malayalam ഫോട്ടോ/foːʈːoː/ #256
- Persian عکس[ʔækʰʲs] photograph, picture #349
- Polish zdjęcia/ˈzdjɛɲ.t͡ɕa/ photograph, picture #769
- Portuguese foto/ˈfɔ.tu/ photo; photograph #1,155
- Romanian poze/ˈpo.ze/ #1,399
- Russian фото[ˈfotə] photo, photograph #1,081
- Serbian fotografija/fotoɡrǎfija/ a photograph, picture #2,350
- Slovenian fotografija/fɔtɔɡrafíːja/ #1,169
- Spanish foto/ˈfoto/ photo, photograph #757
- Tagalog litrato/litˈɾato/ alternative form of retrato: photograph;… #395
- Tamil புகைப்படம்/pʊɡɐɪ̯pːɐɖɐm/ photograph, still #604
- Ukrainian фото[ˈfɔtɔ] photo, photograph #730
- Urdu تصویر/t̪əs.ʋiːɾ/ image, picture, photograph #408
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 Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.