How to say “television” in 32 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.
- televisión/telebiˈsjon/ Spanish
- 電視/ti̯ɛn⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ Chinese
- τηλεόραση/tileˈoɾasi/ Greek
- טלוויזיה/teleˈvizja/ Hebrew
- টেলিভিশন/ʈelibʱiʃon/ Bengali
- தொலைக்காட்சி/t̪olɐɪ̯kːɑːʈtʃiː/ Tamil
“television” in Spanish: televisión · German: fernsehen · Italian: tv · Portuguese: televisão · Chinese: 電視 · Turkish: televizyon · Greek: τηλεόραση
It is commonest in Basque, where telebista is the 566th most used word.
Television in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian televizor/tɛlɛvizɔɾ/ #1,508
- Basque telebista/telebis̺ta/ #566
- Bengali টেলিভিশন/ʈelibʱiʃon/ #2,059
- Bulgarian телевизия[tɛlɛˈvizijɐ] #1,830
- Catalan televisió[tə.lə.βi.ziˈo] #1,942
- Chinese 電視/ti̯ɛn⁵¹⁻⁵³ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ television; TV; the small screen #2,131
- Czech televizi[ˈtɛlɛvɪzɪ] television, TV #1,202
- English tv/tivi/ Abbreviation of television #764
- Esperanto televido/teleˈvido/ #1,751
- Finnish tv/ˈteːˌʋeː/ TV, television #1,596
- French pub/pœb/ Television ad or advert #2,396
- Galician televisión/telebiˈsjoŋ/ #806
- German fernsehen/ˈfɛʁnˌzeː.ən/ #1,440
- Greek τηλεόραση/tileˈoɾasi/ #878
- Hebrew טלוויזיה/teleˈvizja/ #1,310
- Hindi टीवी/ʈiː.ʋiː/ TV, television #819
- Italian tv/tivˈvu/ #1,017
- Lithuanian televizorius[tʲɛlʲɛˈʋʲɪzɔrʲʊ̟s] #2,348
- Macedonian телевизија[tɛlɛˈvizi(j)a] #1,214
- Malay televisyen/ˌteleˈviʃən/ #2,098
- Malayalam ടെലിവിഷൻ/ʈeliʋiʂɐn/ #2,191
- Norwegian tv/ˈteːˌveː/ #817
- Persian تلویزیون[t̪ʰe.le.viːz.jón] #2,095
- Polish telewizji/tɛ.lɛˈvi.zji/ #1,771
- Portuguese televisão/te.le.viˈzɐ̃w̃/ television; television set #1,183
- Romanian televizor/ˌteleviˈzor/ a television set #1,530
- Russian телевизор[tʲɪlʲɪˈvʲizər] television set #2,458
- Slovak televízor/ˈteleviːzɔr/ #1,974
- Spanish televisión/telebiˈsjon/ #1,515
- Swedish tv/ˈteːˌveː/ #799
- Tamil தொலைக்காட்சி/t̪olɐɪ̯kːɑːʈtʃiː/ #2,157
- Turkish televizyon/te.le.vizˈjon/ #1,315
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) and Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.