If you wanted to say hello to everyone on the planet, you'd probably need to learn around 7,000 languages. Fortunately, however, there's a better way to greet as many people on the globe as possible. By learning how to say "hello" in the world's 50 most spoken languages, you would be able to say hello to approximately 80% of the world's population. That's right, you could greet nearly 5.7 billion people!

Before we take a look at how to say hello in some of the world's most spoken languages, it's important to clarify that discovering exactly which languages are the most spoken is no easy task. Despite all of the information available, no sources seem to agree upon the total number of speakers since this information isn't readily available for many languages. Many sources offer information about the total number of native speakers by country, and don't take into account non-native language learners. That's why I opted for the information provided by SIL International's Ethnologue, an online publication  dedicated to researching the world's languages. The information included the approximate number of native speakers, and, as always, is an educated estimate.
Are you ready to learn how to say hi in the 50 most spoken languages in the world?

Let's take a trip around the world and learn how to greet 80% of the world's population:

	Language	Countries with the Most speakers	# Native Speakers	"Hello"
1.	Mandarin Chinese	China	1.3 billion	你好 [nǐ hǎo] (informal) 您好 [nín hǎo] (formal)
2.	Spanish	Mexico, South America, Spain (31 total)	427 million	Hola
3.	English	North America, Great Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (106 total)	339 million	Hello/hi
4.	Arabic	Saudi Arabia, Egypt (58 total)	267 million	[as-salām 'alaykum] السلام عليكم (response) [wa 'alaykum as-salām] و عليكم السلام (informal) [marḥaban] مرحبا
5.	Hindi	India	260 million	नमस्ते [namaste] नमस्कार [namaskār]
6.	Portuguese	Brazil, Portugal (12 total)	202 million	Brazil: Oi Portugal: Olá
7.	Bengali	Bangladesh	189 million	হ্যালো [hyālō]
8.	Russian	Russian Federation (17 total)	171 million	Здравствуйте [Zdravstvujte] (formal) Привет [Privet] (informal)
9.	Japanese	Japan	128 million	今日は [konnichiwa] おっす [ossu] (used between close male friends)
10.	Lahnda/Punjabi	Pakistan, India	117 million	ਸਤਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ। / ست سِری اَکال [sat srī akāl] ਨਮਸਕਾਰ / نمسکار [namaskar]
11.	Javanese	Indonesia	85 million	Halo
12.	Korean	South Korea, North Korea	77 million	안녕하십니까 [annyeong-hasimnikka] (formal) 안녕하세요 [annyeonghaseyo] (informal) 안녕 [annyeong] (informal)
13.	Wu Chinese (Shanghainese)	China	77 million	侬好 [nóng hō] 大家好[dâka hō] (hello everybody)
14.	German	Germany, Austria, Switzerland, (26 total)	77 million	Hallo Guten Tag Servus (used in Austria & Bavaria)
15.	French	Europe, Africa, Caribbean, Canada (53 total)	76 million	Bonjour (formal) Salut (informal)
16.	Telugu	India	74  million	నమస్కారం [namaskārām]
17.	Marathi	India	72 million	नमस्कार [namaskār]
18.	Turkish	Turkey (8 total)	71 million	Merhaba
19.	Urdu	Pakistan, India	69 million	[āssālam 'alaykum] السلام علیکم (reply) [wālaikum assalām] وعليكم السلام (informal) [salām] سلام
20.	Vietnamese	Vietnam	68 million	chào bạn (informal) Chào anh (addressing a male, formal) Chào chị (addressing a female, formal) chào em (younger male or female)
21.	Tamil	India (7 total)	68 million	வணக்கம் [vaṇakkam] (male, formal) வணக்க0 [vaṇakkã] (formal)
22.	Cantonese Chinese	China	66 million	你好 [néih hóu]
23.	Italian	Italy (13 total)	63 million	Ciao [chow]
24.	Persian (Farsi)	Afghanistan, Iran (6 total)	61 million	[dorood] درود [salâm] سلام
25.	Malay	Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand (16 total)	61 million	Selamat pagi (good morning) Selamat petang (good afternoon) Selamat malam (good night) Assalamualaikum (used by Muslims)
26.	Thai	Thailand	60 million	สวัสดี [sà-wàt-dee]
27.	Min Nan Chinese	China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines (7 total)	49 million	食飽未 [Chia̍h pá boeh?] (literally: Eaten full yet?)
28.	Polish	Poland	46 million	Cześć (informal) Dzień dobry (formal)
29.	Gujarati	India, Pakistan, Uganda, Zimbabwe (8 total)	46 million	નમસ્તે [namaste]
30.	Burmese	Myanmar	42 million	မဂႆလာပၝ [min-ga-la-ba]
31.	Ukrainian	Ukraine	39 million	Вітаю [Vitayu] (formal) Агов [Ahov] (informal)
32.	Malayalam	India	34 million	നമസ്തെ [namaste] നമസ്കാരം [namaskaram]
33.	Hakka Chinese	China, Indonesia, Malaysia (9 total)	34 million	你好 [ngi2 ho3]
34.	Kannada	India	34 million	ನಮಸ್ತೆ [namaste] ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ [namaskāra]
35.	Oromo	Ethiopia, Kenya	34 million	akkam
36.	Oriya	India	31 million	ନମସ୍କାର [namascara]
37.	Pashto	Afghanistan, Pakistan, India	31 million	[khe chare] ښې چارې [salaam) سلام [as-salaamu' alaykum] السلام عايك
38.	Berber	Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Nigeria	31 million	[Salam] مرحبا
39.	Kurdish	Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria	30 million	Silaw/Silav (informal) Roj baş (formal)
40.	Amharic	Ethiopia and Israel	28 million	ሰላም። [sälam] (informal)  ታዲያስ። [tadyass] (informal) ጤና ይስጥልኝ። [ṭenaisṭəlləň] (formal)
41.	Sundanese	Indonesia	27 million	Halo (borrowed from Indonesian)
42.	Nepali	Nepal, India, Bhutan	26 million	नमस्ते [namaste]
43.	Romanian	Romania, Moldova (7 total)	26 million	Salut Bună ziua (more formal)
44.	Bhojpuri	India, Mauritius, Nepal	25 million	प्रणाम [prannam]
45.	Tagalog	The Phillippines	25 million	Musta (informal) Kumusta (formal) ("hello" and "hi" are also used)
46.	Azeri	Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey	24 million	Salam Salam əleyküm Əleyküm salam (reply)
47.	Maithili	India, Nepal	24 million	Pranam
48.	Hausa	Cameroon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan (8 total)	24 million	Sannu Salama alaikum -or- A gaishai ka. (reply) Amin. Alaikum salam
49.	Yoruba	Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Sierra Leon	23 million	Ẹ n lẹ
50.	Serbo-Croatian	Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia (7 total)	21 million	Здраво [Zdravo]

 

No Easy Greeting

A quick scan through all of the different ways to say "hello" reveals that a simple greeting is often more complicated than we English speakers imagine. Whether or not the greeting is formal or informal, masculine or feminine, and even the age or religion of the speakers involved can play a role in determining which greeting to use.

Languages reflect cultures and history, and we English speakers are a relatively informal, straightforward group of people. In many cultures, language reflects complex social hierarchies, norms and gender roles, and the best way to learn these languages is to respect and embrace these rules. It may not be easy, but learning a language and how to communicate with its native speakers provides countless benefits and helps you to understand a whole new way of seeing the world.

So what are you waiting for? Starting learning a new language today!
 
Research before you go, and learn a language. 

Anyway we can get some audio for these?

Hi Alex - Unfortunately with the way the blog is set up we can't currently add audio to blog posts. If there is a particular language that you are interested in then Google Translate should work well enough for that.

That was very interesting. Some countries or language I have never heard of!
In Iran, where I come from, the widely used word is "salam". Like any Islamic country. But the Original Persian equivalent word is "dorood". Just for info ..

The same is true for Morocco. When I worked in Egypt a very long time ago though, it was relatively rare to hear "salaam" as a greeting; rather it was, "Sabaah el kheer", "Sabaah el noor", "Sabaah el ishta" (good morning, afternoon...) or simply "Ahlan" (welcome). It was also rare to see veils. Now people always greet each other with "salaam".
 

While in China last fall, I learned exactly two words: nǐ hǎo which was helpful when meeting people, and ganbei, which generally translates as "cheers." I later learned another translation is "dry cup," which explains why they were always filling my glass with the 56% alcohol content "wine" they have there...

Ganbei. Good word. I've got it memorized. The other one with the funny squiggles looks too difficult. Why worry about "hello" when you have "dry cup" in your skill set? I am ready for China. 
 

Those squiggly marks over the letters are tone markers.  Gānbēi is actually two high tones. They said that a lot at my wedding.

I call them squiggly marks to showcase my extensive vocabulary. Learning a tonal language must be incredibly difficult. And I've always wondered how one can sing in such a language.

Must have been an interesting wedding. I don't get invited to such classy events as the polite gānbēis get drowned out by raucous cries of dry cup...
 

Hey Jason, thanks for the info. BTW, it's Australia in the third row second column not Austria. It's a common mistake if you're not an Aussie but it does tend to get on an Australian's nerves when we see that. 
Oh another one I picked up on as well, well maybe a bit of an oversight more than a mistake...Canada is not among your list  who say "Hello or Hi (unless you're saying they're North American of course)

Regards, Grant


 

Grant: I am guessing that the Canadians will be just as annoyed at being lumped in with the US as you Aussies are at being mistaken for Austrians. Nothing against Austrians, but given the choice I will hang out with you Aussies any time...you have better accents and bigger beers.

Hi Grant - Whoops! Coming from New Zealand you would have thought that I would have picked that one up! Anyway, it is now amended.

Hey thanks Jason, what about Canada?

Hi Grant - Canada is covered by being in North America!

Yeah it's funny. To me, Canada is another country. It is north of America. Not North America. You don't call Papua New Guinea "North Australia or South Indonesia"

 

Not only to you, Grant, but to geographers around the world. The United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and Greenland are countries on the continent of North America.

This is starting to remind me of the great Randy Newman song, Political Science.

I actually knew ten of these greetings! Audio with it would be great if possible! This article was fun and informative...pardon my geek!

Thanks for this great article. I'm surprised to see how many of the most common languages come from the  India, Pakestan, and Bangladesh region.  But I shouldn't be since there are about 1.5 billion plus people in that area.  For some reason I incorrectly thought they all spoke Hindi. 
I was also surprise out how many distinct languages there are in China.