How to say “service” in 38 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.
- servicio/seɾˈbiθjo/ Spanish
- خدمة/xid.ma/ Arabic
- υπηρεσία/i.pi.ɾeˈsi.a/ Greek
- সেবা/ʃeba/ Bengali
- சேவை/tʃeːʋɐɪ̯/ Tamil
- സേവനം/seːʋɐnɐm/ Malayalam
“service” in Spanish: servicio · Italian: servizio · Portuguese: serviço · Arabic: خدمة · Turkish: servis · Greek: υπηρεσία
It is commonest in Urdu, where خدمت is the 437th most used word.
Service in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans diens/dins/ #611
- Albanian shërbim/ʃəɾˈbim/ #1,466
- Arabic خدمة/xid.ma/ service, favour #654
- Basque zerbitzu/s̻erbit͡s̻u/ #866
- Bengali সেবা/ʃeba/ service, waiting upon #955
- Bosnian služba/slǔʒba/ #2,272
- Catalan servei[sərˈbɛj] #750
- Chinese 特工/tʰɤ⁵¹ kʊŋ⁵⁵/ secret service #586
- Croatian služba/slǔʒba/ #2,372
- Danish tjeneste[ˈtɕɛːnəsd̥ə] duty, service #695
- Dutch dienst/dinst/ #782
- English office/ˈɑ-/ A ceremonial duty or service, particularly #486
- Esperanto servo/ˈservo/ #1,197
- Finnish palveluksen/ˈpalveˌluksen/ #1,831
- Galician servizo/seɾˈbiθo/ #746
- Greek υπηρεσία/i.pi.ɾeˈsi.a/ #1,084
- Hebrew עבודה/ʕaboːˈdaː/ worship, service #217
- Hindi नौकरी/nɔːk.ɾiː/ job, employment, service #470
- Indonesian layanan/laˈjanan/ #1,769
- Italian servizio/serˈvit.t͡sjo/ service, serve #896
- Korean 근무[ˈkɯ(ː)nmu] work, duty, service #1,149
- Latvian dienesta/ˈdieːnæsta/ service, duty #1,837
- Macedonian служба[ˈsɫuʒba] #937
- Malay jabatan/d͡ʒaˈbatan/ office, service #971
- Malayalam സേവനം/seːʋɐnɐm/ #896
- Norwegian tjeneste/ˈtjeːnəstə/ #735
- Persian خدمت[xed̪.mǽt̪ʰ] #670
- Portuguese serviço/seʁˈvi.su/ #804
- Romanian slujbă/ˈsluʒ.bə/ divine service #998
- Serbian služba/slǔʒba/ #2,363
- Slovak služba/sluʒba/ #1,279
- Slovenian služba/slúːʒba/ #492
- Spanish servicio/seɾˈbiθjo/ #837
- Tamil சேவை/tʃeːʋɐɪ̯/ #460
- Telugu సేవ/seːʋa/ #551
- Turkish servis/sæɾˈvis/ #1,394
- Ukrainian служба[ˈsɫuʒbɐ] #2,380
- Urdu خدمت/xɪd̪.mət̪/ #437
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) 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.