How to say “teacher” in 44 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.
- учитель[ʊˈt͡ɕitʲɪlʲ] Russian
- 老師/lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩⁵⁵/ Chinese
- 선생님[sʰʌ̹nsʰɛŋnim] Korean
- शिक्षक/ʃɪk.ʂək/ Hindi
- מורה/moˈʁe/ Hebrew
- ஆசிரியர்/ɑːtʃɪɾɪjɐɾ/ Tamil
“teacher” in French: professeur · Italian: maestro · Portuguese: professor · Chinese: 老師 · Korean: 선생님 · Russian: учитель · Hindi: शिक्षक · Turkish: öğretmen
It is commonest in Korean, where 선생님 is the 180th most used word.
Teacher in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans onderwyser/ˌɔnərˈvɛɪsər/ #530
- Albanian mësues/məˈsues/ teacher, instructor #1,360
- Basque irakasle/iɾakas̺le/ #574
- Bengali মাস্টার/ˈmastaɾ/ master, teacher #466
- Bosnian učitelj/ǔt͡ʃiteʎ/ #2,076
- Bulgarian учител[oˈt͡ʃitɛɫ] male teacher #1,388
- Catalan professor[pɾu.fəˈso] #743
- Chinese 老師/lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩⁵⁵/ #1,247
- Croatian učitelj/ǔt͡ʃiteʎ/ #1,996
- Czech učitel[ˈut͡ʃɪtɛl] #1,994
- Dutch leraar/ˈleː.raːr/ a teacher, a person who gives lessons #2,031
- Esperanto instruisto/instruˈisto/ #705
- Estonian õpetaja/ˈɤpetɑjɑ/ #914
- Finnish opettaja/ˈopetːɑjɑ/ #2,166
- French professeur/pʁɔ.fɛ.sœʁ/ #896
- Galician profesor/pɾofeˈsoɾ/ #1,052
- German lehrer/ˈleːrər/ to teach; to be a teacher #1,666
- Greek καθηγητής/ˌkaθijiˈtis/ professor, university teacher, lecturer #1,764
- Hebrew מורה/moˈʁe/ teacher, instructor, educator #1,151
- Hindi शिक्षक/ʃɪk.ʂək/ teacher, educator #2,020
- Hungarian tanár[ˈtɒnaːr] #1,854
- Icelandic kennari[ˈcʰɛn(ː)arɪ] a teacher #1,260
- Indonesian guru/ˈɡuru/ teacher: a person who teaches, especially one… #468
- Italian maestro/maˈɛs.tro/ #1,327
- Korean 선생님[sʰʌ̹nsʰɛŋnim] #180
- Latvian skolotājs/ˈskuoluotaːjs/ #2,082
- Lithuanian mokytojas[¹ˈmoːkʲiːtoːjɛs] #1,023
- Macedonian учител[ˈut͡ʃitɛɫ] #1,721
- Malay guru/ˈɡuru/ educator, teacher, instructor #530
- Malayalam മാഷ്/mäːʂɨ̆/ #2,105
- Persian معلم[mo.ʔæl.lem] #945
- Portuguese professor/pɾo.feˈsoʁ/ #847
- Russian учитель[ʊˈt͡ɕitʲɪlʲ] teacher, instructor #1,601
- Serbian učitelj/ǔt͡ʃiteʎ/ #2,078
- Slovak učiteľ/ut͡ʃiceʎ/ #856
- Slovenian učitelj/ut͡ʃíːtɛl/ #626
- Swedish lärare/²lɛːrarɛ/ a teacher #1,442
- Tagalog guro/ˈɡuɾoʔ/ teacher; educator; instructor #705
- Tamil ஆசிரியர்/ɑːtʃɪɾɪjɐɾ/ #617
- Telugu గురువు/ˈɡuruʋu/ teacher, preceptor, master, superior, learned… #712
- Turkish öğretmen/øːɾetˈmɛn/ #1,723
- Ukrainian учитель[ʊˈt͡ʃɪtelʲ] teacher, instructor #1,867
- Urdu استاد/ʊs.t̪ɑːd̪/ professor; teacher, tutor #573
- Vietnamese thầy[tʰəj˨˩] I/me, your male teacher #618
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.