How to say “speak” in 51 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.
- говорить[ɣəvaˈrʲitʲ] Russian
- تحدث/taħaddaθa/ Arabic
- बोलो/boː.loː/ Hindi
- μιλάς/miˈlas/ Greek
- דבר/daˈvaʁ/ Hebrew
- խոսել/χoˈsel/ Armenian
“speak” in French: parler · Portuguese: dizer · Russian: говорить · Arabic: تحدث · Hindi: बोलो · Turkish: konuşmak · Greek: μιλάς
It is commonest in Vietnamese, where nói is the 30th most used word.
Speak in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans praat/prɑːt/ to talk, to speak #88
- Albanian flas/flas/ to speak #223
- Arabic تحدث/taħaddaθa/ to speak, to talk #346
- Armenian խոսել/χoˈsel/ to speak #231
- Basque mintzatu/mint͡s̻atu/ to speak #924
- Bengali বলতে/bolt̪e/ to speak, say, state, tell #72
- Bosnian govoriti/ɡoʋǒriti/ to speak, talk, converse #869
- Bulgarian говоря[ɡoˈvɔrʲɐ] to speak, to talk #222
- Catalan parlar[pərˈla] to speak #145
- Chinese 沉默/ʈ͡ʂʰən³⁵ mu̯ɔ⁵¹/ to be silent; to not speak; to be reticent;… #1,374
- Croatian govoriti/ɡoʋǒriti/ to speak, talk, converse #622
- Czech mluvit[ˈmluvɪt] to speak #244
- Danish snakke/snakə/ to talk, speak #400
- Dutch spreken/ˈspreːkə(n)/ to speak #386
- English pretend/pɹəˈtɛnd/ To speak or behave so as to give a false or… #1,580
- Esperanto parolas/paˈrolas/ to speak, talk #190
- Estonian rääkida/ˈræːkid̥ɑ/ to talk, to speak #176
- Finnish puhua/ˈpuhuɑˣ/ to speak, talk #172
- French parler/paʁ.le/ to speak, talk #141
- Galician dicir/diˈθiɾ/ to say, speak #94
- Georgian ლაპარაკობ[ɫäpʼäɾäkʼo̞pʰ] to talk, to speak #842
- German reden/ˈʁeːdən/ to talk, to speak, to orate #183
- Greek μιλάς/miˈlas/ to speak; to talk #398
- Hebrew דבר/daˈvaʁ/ to speak #71
- Hindi बोलो/boː.loː/ to speak, say #932
- Hungarian beszélni[ˈbɛseːlni] to speak, talk #268
- Icelandic mæla[ˈmaiːla] to speak, to say, to talk #1,735
- Indonesian berbicara/bərbit͡ʃara/ to talk; to speak #236
- Italian parlare/parˈla.re/ to talk, to speak #186
- Latvian runā/ˈrunaː/ to speak, to talk #172
- Lithuanian kalbi[kɐlʲˈbʲɪ] to speak #271
- Macedonian зборуваш[ˈzbɔɾuvaʃ] to speak #206
- Malay cakap/ˈt͡ʃakap/ to talk; to speak #90
- Malayalam സംസാരിക്കുക/sɐmsaːɾikkjuɡɐ/ to speak, to talk, verbal communication #1,385
- Norwegian snakke/snɑkːɛ/ to speak #141
- Polish powiedzieć/pɔˈvjɛ.d͡ʑɛt͡ɕ/ to speak, to talk #121
- Portuguese dizer/d͡ʒiˈze(ʁ)/ to speak; to pronounce; to utter; to say #69
- Romanian vorbesc[vorˈbesk] to speak #228
- Russian говорить[ɣəvaˈrʲitʲ] to speak, to talk #252
- Serbian govoriti/ɡoʋǒriti/ to speak, talk, converse #1,112
- Slovak hovoriť/ɦɔvɔric/ to talk, to speak #173
- Slovenian govoriti/ɡɔʋɔrìːti/ to speak #193
- Spanish hablar/aˈblaɾ/ to talk; to speak; to communicate using words #154
- Swedish prata/ˈprɑːˌta/ to talk, to speak #140
- Tagalog magsalita/maɡsaliˈtaʔ/ to speak; to talk #272
- Tamil சொல்ல/tʃollɐ/ to say, speak, tell, utter, mention, express #319
- Telugu మాట్లాడు/maːʈlaːɖu/ to speak, talk #599
- Turkish konuşmak/ko.nuʃˈmak/ to speak, to talk, to use verbal language #355
- Ukrainian поговорити[pɔɦɔwɔˈrɪte] to talk, to speak, to have a word #359
- Urdu بولنا/boːl.nɑː/ to speak #1,175
- Vietnamese nói[nɔj˧˦] to speak, to talk, to say, to tell #30
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.