How to say “wish” in 50 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.
- желание[ʐɨˈɫanʲɪje] Russian
- ցանկություն/t͡sʰɑnkuˈtʰjun/ Armenian
- కోరిక/koːɾika/ Telugu
- خواہش/xɑː.ɦɪʃ/ Urdu
“wish” in Italian: desiderio · Russian: желание
It is commonest in Esperanto, where volas is the 40th most used word.
Wish in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian lutem/lutɛm/ to long for something to happen; to wish #80
- Arabic مطلوب/matˤ.luːb/ desire, demand, wish #1,786
- Armenian ցանկություն/t͡sʰɑnkuˈtʰjun/ wish, desire #1,212
- Basque nahi/nahi/ will, wish #7
- Bengali ইচ্ছা/it͡ʃʰːa/ desire, wish, will #326
- Bosnian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #136
- Bulgarian искам[ˈiskɐm] to want, to wish, to would like #55
- Catalan desig[dəˈzit͡ʃ] desire, wish #1,374
- Chinese 希望/ɕi⁵⁵ wɑŋ⁵¹/ hope; wish #25
- Croatian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #122
- Czech aby[ˈabɪ] Denotes desire or wish; if only; had better #65
- Danish ønsker/ˈønsɡɐ/ #300
- Dutch hoop/ɦoːp/ to hope for, to wish for #307
- English want/wɑnt/ To wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #66
- Esperanto volas/ˈvolas/ to wish, to want #40
- Estonian soov/soːv/ wish, desire #1,434
- Finnish haluan/ˈhaluan/ to want, desire, wish, crave #78
- French veux/vø/ to want, wish, desire #66
- Galician desexo/ˌdeˈseʃo/ desire, wish #1,032
- Georgian სურვილები[suɾʷile̞bi] desire, wish #1,483
- German will/vɪl/ to want; to wish; to desire; to demand #79
- Greek μακάρι/maˈkari/ I wish, if only #725
- Hebrew הלוואי/(h)alˈvaj/ I wish, hope #580
- Hindi इच्छा/ɪt̪.t͡ʃʰɑː/ desire, will, wish #590
- Hungarian hátha[ˈhaːthɒ] wish, if only #1,279
- Indonesian ingin/ˈiŋin/ to wish for or desire; to feel a need or… #34
- Italian desiderio/de.ziˈdɛ.rjo/ wish, desire, longing #1,823
- Korean 희망[çima̠ŋ] hope, wish #1,845
- Lithuanian noras[¹ˈnoːrɐs] #1,337
- Macedonian желба[ˈʒɛɫba] wish, desire #889
- Malay kehendak/kəhənˈdak/ wish; desire; want; will #1,683
- Malayalam ആഗ്രഹം/aːɡɾɐhɐm/ eagerness, wish, desire #327
- Norwegian ønsker/ˈœnskər/ a wish #379
- Persian کاش[kʰɒːʃ] I wish, if only #702
- Polish zechcesz/ˈzɛ.xt͡sɛʂ/ to desire, to want, to wish #2,129
- Portuguese quero/ˈkɛ.ɾu/ to want; to wish; to desire #71
- Romanian dori/doˈri/ to want, to wish #622
- Russian желание[ʐɨˈɫanʲɪje] wish, desire #1,708
- Serbian neće/nêːt͡ɕeː/ to wish, want, desire #122
- Slovak želám/ʒelaːm/ to wish #1,040
- Slovenian želja/ʒɛ̀ːlja/ wish, desire #746
- Spanish deseo/deˈseo/ desire, wish #924
- Swedish önskar/ˈœnskar/ to wish #559
- Tagalog sana/ˈsana/ used to express hope or wish in something… #122
- Tamil விருப்பம்/ʋɪɾʊpːɐm/ desire, wish #1,500
- Telugu కోరిక/koːɾika/ a wish, desire, dream #666
- Turkish istiyorum/isˈtijoɾum/ to want, desire, wish #71
- Ukrainian бажання[bɐˈʒanʲːɐ] desire, wish #1,240
- Urdu خواہش/xɑː.ɦɪʃ/ #569
- Vietnamese giá[zaː˧˦] if; in case; supposing; if only; I wish #361
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.