At the bare minimum, every traveler should learn at least two new expressions in every country. Hello and thank you are two of the most important words that you can learn and you will use them many times every day. They are the absolute minimum in terms of showing respect and will open many doors for you. You would be surprised at how far a little common courtesy will go.
This is a list of some of the most useful languages to know while traveling. If you master this list then you should be able to say hello and thank you to a huge percentage of the world’s population.
Good luck and happy travels.
– The Essential Destination
Language |
Hello |
Thank You |
French |
Bonjour- (day) Bonsoir –(evening) |
Merci |
German |
Guten Tag- (day) Guten Abend- (evening) |
Danke |
Spanish |
Hola |
Gracias |
Portuguese |
Bom Dia- (day) Boa Tarde- (evening) |
Obrigado- (man) Obriganda- (woman) |
Mandarin |
Ni Hao 你好 |
Xie’xie 谢谢 |
Italian |
Buongiorno- (day) Buona Sera- (evening) |
Grazie |
Indonesian |
Selamat Pagi- (day) Selamat Malam- (evening) |
Terima Kasih |
Japanese |
Konnichiwa こんいちは |
Arigatou ありがとう |
Russian |
Privet Привет |
Spasiba Спасибo |
Thai |
Sawdeekhrap (man) Sawadeekha (woman) |
Khapkunkhrap (man) Khaphunkha (woman) |
Xhosa |
Molo (to one person) Molweni (to more than one person) |
Ndiyabulela |
Hawaiian |
Aloha |
Mahalo |
Swahili |
Habari |
Asante sana |
Tagalog |
Mabuhay |
Salamat po |
Vietnamese |
Chào |
Cảm on |
Greek |
Ya su Γεια σου |
Efharisto Ευχαριστώ |
Hungarian |
Szia |
Köszönöm |
Arabic |
As-salām ‘alaykum Wa ‘alaykum is salām- (response) |
Shukran |
Norwegian |
Hei |
Takk |
Dutch |
Goeiedag |
Dank u |
Hebrew |
Shalom שלןם |
Toda תןדה |
Hindi |
Namaste |
Dhanyavād |
Written by Joseph Ramsey for The Essential Destination