How to say “totally” in 32 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.
It is commonest in Korean, where 절대 is the 142nd most used word.
- Albanian fare totally, wholly, completely #212
- Armenian բոլորովին absolutely, quite, totally, utterly #758
- Bosnian totalno totally, completely #1,143
- Catalan totalment #1,055
- Chinese 絕對 absolutely; totally; unconditionally;… #1,556
- Croatian totalno totally, completely #1,273
- Czech naprosto absolutely, totally, entirely, completely #665
- Danish totalt #1,403
- Dutch totaal #1,316
- Finnish täysin totally, fully, completely #398
- French absolument absolutely; totally; completely #789
- Georgian სრულიად absolutely, totally, entirely, wholly,… #478
- German total totally, absolutely, completely, utterly #727
- Greek τελείως completely, totally #846
- Hebrew לגמרי totally, completely, entirely #283
- Hungarian teljesen completely, entirely, totally, wholly, fully #219
- Icelandic algjörlega totally, completely #726
- Italian assolutamente absolutely, completely, totally, dead #679
- Korean 절대 absolutely, totally, never #142
- Lithuanian visiškai absolutely, totally, utterly #226
- Macedonian тотално totally, utterly #1,455
- Persian حسابی totally, completely, really; an emphatic… #1,350
- Polish całkowicie completely, entirely, totally, altogether #865
- Portuguese completamente completely; fully; totally #737
- Russian совсем quite, entirely, totally #254
- Serbian totalno totally, completely #1,220
- Spanish totalmente #820
- Swedish sjukt incredibly, totally #1,945
- Tamil முழுவதும் wholly, totally, completely #204
- Ukrainian зовсім quite, entirely, totally #300
- Urdu سراسر totally, completely, entirely,… #1,641
- Vietnamese tiệt completely; totally; entirely #502
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.