How to say “trouble” in 35 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.
- مأزق/maʔ.ziq/ Arabic
- μπελάδες/beˈlaðes/ Greek
- தொந்தரவு/t̪ond̪ɐɾɐʋɯ/ Tamil
- కలత/kalat̪a/ Telugu
“trouble” in Arabic: مأزق · Greek: μπελάδες
It is commonest in Hungarian, where baj is the 147th most used word.
Trouble in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian bela/bɛla/ #1,568
- Arabic مأزق/maʔ.ziq/ trouble, crisis, dilemma, stalemate, imbroglio #2,297
- Basque asaldatu/as̺aldatu/ to disturb, trouble, upset #1,966
- Bengali সমস্যা/ʃɔmoʃːa/ problem, difficulty, trouble #143
- Bosnian nevolja/něʋoʎa/ trouble, misfortune #2,247
- Bulgarian грижа[ˈɡriʒɐ] trouble, bother, fuss, cumbrance #635
- Chinese 打擾/tä²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ɻɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ to disturb; to trouble; to bother; to… #1,992
- Croatian nevolja/něʋoʎa/ trouble, misfortune #2,294
- Czech trápí[ˈtraːpiː] to trouble, to worry #2,272
- Danish generer/sjeneːˀrər/ to bother, trouble, disturb, annoy #2,349
- Esperanto problemo/proˈblemo/ problem, trouble #422
- Estonian häda/ˈhæd̥ɑ/ #1,112
- Finnish ongelma/ˈoŋːelmɑ/ problem, trouble, issue #541
- Galician traballos/tɾaˈbaʎos/ travail, trouble, hardship, hard times,… #1,475
- Georgian ბალა[b̥äɫä] misfortune, trouble #293
- Greek μπελάδες/beˈlaðes/ trouble, bother #1,684
- Hebrew רע/raʕ/ An evil, trouble; something bad #248
- Hungarian baj[ˈbɒj] trouble, matter, problem #147
- Icelandic vesen[ˈvɛːsɛn] #2,006
- Indonesian ganggu[ˈɡaŋ.ɡu] to disturb; to trouble; to bother #2,038
- Italian preoccupare/pre.ok.kuˈpa.re/ to worry, to trouble, to bother #1,442
- Korean 수고[ˈsʰu(ː)ɡo̞] effort, trouble #1,820
- Macedonian несреќа[ˈnɛsrɛca] misfortune, trouble, disaster, mischief #747
- Malayalam കുഴപ്പം/kuɻɐppɐm/ problem, trouble #205
- Norwegian bryr/ˈbryːr/ to bother, trouble #439
- Persian زحمت[zæh.mæt̪ʰ] inconvenience, trouble #1,074
- Polish kłopoty/kwɔˈpɔ.tɘ/ #834
- Romanian necazuri/ˌnekaˈzurʲ/ trouble, distress #1,651
- Serbian nevolja/něʋoʎa/ trouble, misfortune #2,097
- Spanish preocupes/ˌpɾeoˈkupes/ to worry, to concern, to trouble, to be… #530
- Tagalog problema/pɾoˈblema/ problem; trouble #172
- Tamil தொந்தரவு/t̪ond̪ɐɾɐʋɯ/ trouble, inconvenience, difficulty,… #893
- Telugu కలత/kalat̪a/ trouble, perplexity #767
- Turkish bela/be.laː/ affliction, trouble #1,743
- Urdu مصیبت/mʊ.siː.bət̪/ trouble, distress #648
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 Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.