How to say “speech” in 40 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.
- hablas/ˈablas/ Spanish
- речь[rʲet͡ɕ] Russian
- كلمة/ka.li.ma/ Arabic
- 말[ma̠(ː)ɭ] Korean
- נאום/ˈnum/ Hebrew
- ლაპარაკი[ɫäpʼäɾäkʼi] Georgian
“speech” in Spanish: hablas · French: parole · Italian: discorso · Portuguese: falas · Korean: 말 · Russian: речь · Arabic: كلمة
It is commonest in Korean, where 말 is the 76th most used word.
Speech in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans toespraak/ˈtu.sprɑːk/ a speech, an address #1,296
- Arabic كلمة/ka.li.ma/ speech, utterance, statement #291
- Armenian խոսք/χoskʰ/ #222
- Basque ixil/iˈʃil/ quiet, reserved in speech #2,294
- Bengali বক্তৃতা/bokt̪ɾit̪a/ lecture, a talk, a speech, an oration #1,779
- Bosnian govori/ˈɡovorɪ/ #384
- Bulgarian реч[rɛt͡ʃ] speech, address #2,000
- Catalan parles[ˈpar.ləs] #641
- Croatian govori/ˈɡovorɪ/ #380
- Czech řeč[ˈr̝ɛt͡ʃ] #1,633
- Danish tale/tsʰaːlə/ speech, talk, address, discourse #149
- English er/ɜɹ/ Said when hesitating in speech #1,100
- Esperanto parolo/paˈrolo/ #1,920
- Estonian kõne/ˈkɤne/ speech, speaking #686
- Finnish puheen/ˈpuheːn/ speech, speaking #2,198
- French parole/pa.ʁɔl/ speech, language #1,272
- Georgian ლაპარაკი[ɫäpʼäɾäkʼi] speech, talk #657
- Hebrew נאום/ˈnum/ speech, pitch, sermon #1,861
- Hindi भाषा/bʱɑː.ʂɑː/ language, speech #1,641
- Icelandic tala[ˈtʰaːla] a short address, a speech #78
- Indonesian nah/nah/ Used to conclude a speech or train of… #334
- Italian discorso/disˈkor.so/ speech, address, discourse #1,417
- Korean 말[ma̠(ː)ɭ] #76
- Latvian runa/ˈruna/ speech, speaking, talking #528
- Macedonian говор[ˈɡɔvɔr] #1,415
- Malay ucapan/uˈt͡ʃapan/ utterance, speech, greeting #1,195
- Malayalam സംസാരം/sɐmsäːɾɐm/ talk, speech, conversation #505
- Norwegian talt/ˈtɑlt/ to make a speech #966
- Persian صحبت[soɦ.bǽt̪ʰ] talk, speech #101
- Polish mowy/ˈmɔ.vɘ/ language, speech #1,170
- Portuguese falas/ˈfa.lɐs/ #1,430
- Russian речь[rʲet͡ɕ] speech, language #914
- Serbian govori/ˈɡovorɪ/ #389
- Slovak reč/ret͡ʃ/ #920
- Slovenian govor/ɡɔ́ːʋɔr/ #631
- Spanish hablas/ˈablas/ #764
- Tagalog talumpati/talumˈpatiʔ/ speech; public talk; oration #1,358
- Tamil பேச்சு/peːtʃtʃɯ/ conversation, speech, talk #385
- Turkish söz/søz/ word, statement, speech #228
- Urdu بین/bɛːn/ word, speech, utterance, saying #493
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 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.