How to say “welcome” 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.
- bienvenido/bjembeˈnido/ Spanish
- 歡迎/xu̯än⁵⁵ iŋ³⁵/ Chinese
- स्वागत/sʋɑː.ɡət̪/ Hindi
- স্বাগতম/ʃaɡɔt̪om/ Bengali
- வரவேற்கிறேன்/ʋɐɾɐʋeːrkɪreːn/ Tamil
- സ്വാഗതം/sʋɐːɡɐd̪ɐm/ Malayalam
“welcome” in Spanish: bienvenido · French: bienvenue · German: willkommen · Italian: benvenuto · Portuguese: bem-vindo · Chinese: 歡迎 · Hindi: स्वागत
It is commonest in Malayalam, where സ്വാഗതം is the 176th most used word.
Welcome in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans welkom/ˈvælkɔm/ #321
- Albanian mirësevini/miɾəsɛvini/ #1,936
- Arabic مرحبا/mar.ħa.ban/ hello, welcome #101
- Basque ongietorri/onɡietori/ welcome, reception #1,445
- Bengali স্বাগতম/ʃaɡɔt̪om/ #325
- Bosnian dobrodošli/dobrodǒʃli/ #1,091
- Catalan benvingut[ˌbem.biŋˈɡut] #1,123
- Chinese 歡迎/xu̯än⁵⁵ iŋ³⁵/ to welcome #993
- Croatian dobrodošli/dobrodǒʃli/ #1,069
- Czech vítej[ˈviːtɛj] to welcome #1,390
- Danish velkommen/ˈvɛlˌkɔmˀən/ #427
- Dutch welkom/ˈʋɛlkɔm/ #579
- Esperanto bonvenon/bonˈvenon/ welcome! #608
- Finnish tervetuloa/ˈterʋeˣˌtuloɑ/ welcome; great to see you, nice you could come #534
- French bienvenue/bjɛ̃.v(ə).ny/ #751
- Galician benvida/benˈbida/ #1,569
- German willkommen/vɪlˈkɔmən/ #625
- Hindi स्वागत/sʋɑː.ɡət̪/ #461
- Icelandic velkomin/ˈvɛlkʰɔmɪn/ #491
- Italian benvenuto/ben.veˈnu.to/ #1,329
- Korean 천만에요[t͡ɕʰʌ̹nma̠ne̞jo] you're welcome! #1,013
- Macedonian добредојде[dɔbˈrɛdɔjdɛ] #848
- Malayalam സ്വാഗതം/sʋɐːɡɐd̪ɐm/ #176
- Norwegian velkommen/ˈvɛl.ko.mən/ #437
- Polish witam/ˈvi.tam/ #554
- Portuguese bem-vindo/ˌbẽj̃ˈvĩ.du/ #1,333
- Serbian dobrodošli/dobrodǒʃli/ #1,053
- Slovenian dobrodošel/dɔbrɔdɔ̀ːʃəʋ/ #533
- Spanish bienvenido/bjembeˈnido/ #1,230
- Swedish välkommen/²vɛːlˌkɔmːɛn/ #639
- Tamil வரவேற்கிறேன்/ʋɐɾɐʋeːrkɪreːn/ #696
- Telugu స్వాగతము/ˈsʋaːɡaˌtamu/ #1,913
- Ukrainian прийом[preˈjɔm] reception, greeting, welcome #1,221
- Urdu استقبال/ɪs.t̪ɪq.bɑːl/ welcome, hail, reception #1,062
- Vietnamese đón[ʔɗɔn˧˦] to be ready to receive; to welcome #882
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), 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.