How to say “recently” 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.
- últimamente/ˌultimaˈmente/ Spanish
- недавно[nʲɪˈdavnə] Russian
- 最近/t͡su̯eɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡ɕin⁵¹/ Chinese
- վերջերս/veɾˈt͡ʃʰeɾəs/ Armenian
- അടുത്തിടെ/ɐɖut̪t̪iɖe/ Malayalam
“recently” in Spanish: últimamente · French: récemment · German: neulich · Chinese: 最近 · Russian: недавно
It is commonest in Chinese, where 最近 is the 153rd most used word.
Recently in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kortliks/ˈkɔrt.ləks/ #1,737
- Armenian վերջերս/veɾˈt͡ʃʰeɾəs/ recently, lately, in the last few days #1,121
- Bengali ইদানীং/id̪aniŋ/ lately, recently #1,616
- Bosnian nedavno/nêdaːʋno/ #1,354
- Bulgarian скоро[ˈskɔro] #265
- Catalan últimament[ˌul.ti.məˈmen] lately, recently #2,176
- Chinese 最近/t͡su̯eɪ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡ɕin⁵¹/ recently; lately; of late #153
- Croatian nedavno/nêdaːʋno/ #1,198
- Czech nedávno[ˈnɛdaːvno] #1,447
- Danish lige[ˈliːə] just, recently #60
- Dutch pas/pɑs/ just, recently #363
- English fresh/fɹɛʃ/ Recently; just recently; most recently #1,264
- Esperanto lastatempe/lastaˈtempe/ #2,128
- Estonian äsja/ˈæsjɑ/ just now, just, recently #952
- French récemment/ʁe.sa.mɑ̃/ #1,914
- German neulich/ˈnɔɪ̯lɪç/ #1,888
- Greek τελευταία/teleˈftea/ lately, recently #279
- Hebrew חדש/χaˈdaʃ/ new, recently made #322
- Hungarian nemrég[ˈnɛmreːɡ] recently, not long ago #1,618
- Italian ultimamente/ul.ti.maˈmen.te/ lately, recently, of late #1,610
- Korean 요즘[jod͡ʑɯm] recent times; recently #361
- Lithuanian neseniai[nʲɛsʲɛ²ˈnʲɛɪˑ] #740
- Macedonian неодамна[nɛˈɔdamna] #1,853
- Malay baru/ˈbaru/ just, recently, a few moments ago #112
- Malayalam അടുത്തിടെ/ɐɖut̪t̪iɖe/ #1,867
- Norwegian nylig/ˈnyːlɪ/ #1,540
- Polish ostatnio/ɔˈstat.ɲɔ/ lately, recently, the other day #593
- Portuguese novo/ˈno.vu/ recently made or created #231
- Russian недавно[nʲɪˈdavnə] recently, not long ago, lately #1,091
- Serbian nedavno/nêdaːʋno/ #1,401
- Spanish últimamente/ˌultimaˈmente/ recently, lately #1,718
- Swedish nyss/nʏs/ just, quite recently #1,089
- Tagalog kanina/kaˈnina/ #332
- Ukrainian недавно[neˈdau̯nɔ] recently, not long ago, newly, lately #937
- Vietnamese vừa[vɨə˨˩] just, recently, at this moment #266
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) 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.