My Turkish friends Aynur and Zübeyir
at their "Maksim" café in Wimbledon, south London
in 131 languages
As an internationalist, I would like to welcome you to my Web site by greeting you in your own language, but I don’t know what time of day it is for you and I don’t know which language you normally speak. So I’m going to assume it’s morning and, if it isn’t, then never mind. As we say in English: “It’s the thought that counts”.
One cautionary note: There are often several ways to say "Good morning" in any particular language. For instance, in Czech I know three ways. Often the difference is between an expression that strictly refers to first thing in the morning and a more general term applying to the whole of the morning or even the whole of the day. Another difference is that, in many countries and cultures, the greeting used is not so much strictly "Good morning" as a kind of general salutation often referring to God. Language is not a science and, on this page, I've tried to give the version of "Good morning" that is specific to early in the day.
I hope that below you will find the greeting “Good morning” in your own language. If not, please e-mail me, advise me how to say “Good morning” in your language and I’ll add it to this page.
Meanwhile, I was delighted in August 2003 to receive the following e-mail from a couple of teachers in the Los Angeles South Central district:
"Hi there! Thank you so very much for listing so many ways to say good morning. My room mate and I are teachers here in Los Angeles. She will be using your "good mornings" to teach her international 2nd graders (7 years olds) a different way to say good morning every week. Thank you again. Most sincerely, Gertie (and Lisa)".
It certainly is a small world - although, as one wag once told me, I wouldn't want to paint it!
| Afrikaans | Goeie môre |
| Albanian | Mir mengjesi |
| Amharic | Endermen aderkh |
| Arabic | Sabah-il-kheir |
| Armenian | Bari luys |
| Assyrian | Kedamtookh brikhta |
| Azerbaijani | Sabahiniz Xeyr |
| Bamougoum | Oli yah |
| Basque | Egun on |
| Belarussian | Dobray ranitsy |
| Bemba | Mwashibukeni |
| Bengali | Shu-probhaat |
| Bisaya | Maayong adlaw |
| Bosnian | Dobro jutro |
| Bulgarian | Dobro utro |
| Cantonese | Zou san |
| Catalan | Bon dia |
| Cebuano | Maayong buntag! |
| Chichewa | Mwadzuka bwanji |
| Chinese: Mandarin | Zao shang hao |
| Cornish | Myttin da |
| Corse | Bun ghjiornu |
| Creole | Bonjou |
| Croatian | Dobro jutro |
| Czech | Dobré ráno |
| Danish | God morgen |
| Dari | Sob Bakhaer |
| Divehi | Baajjaveri hedhuneh |
| Dutch | Goedemorgen |
| English | Good morning |
| Eritrean | Haderfum |
| Esperanto | Bonan matenon |
| Estonian | Tere hommikust |
| Etsakor | Naigbia |
| Fanti | Me ma wo akye |
| Farsi | Subbakhair |
| Fijian | Sa Yadra |
| Filipino | Magandang umaga po |
| Finnish | Hyvää huomenta |
| Flemish | Goeie morgen |
| French | Bon matin |
| Frisian | Goeie moarn |
| Galician | Bos dias |
| Georgian | Dila mshvidobisa |
| German | Guten Morgen |
| Greek | Kali mera |
| Greenlandic | Iterluarit |
| Gujrati | Subh Prabhat |
| Hakka | On zoh |
| Hawaiian | Aloha kakahiaka |
| Hebrew | Boker tov |
| Hiligaynon | Maayong aga |
| Hindi | Shubh prabhat |
| Hungarian | Jo reggelt |
| Icelandic | Gódan daginn |
| Ilocano | Naimbag nga Aldaw |
| Indonesian | Selamat pagi |
| Irish Gaelic | Dia duit ar maidin |
| Italian | Buon giorno |
| Japanese | Ohayo gozaimaz |
| Kannada | Shubhodaya |
| Kapampangan | Mayap a abak |
| Kazakh | Kairly Tan |
| Khmer | Arrun Suo Sdey |
| Kimeru | Muga rukiiri |
| Kinyarwanda | Muraho |
| Konkani | Dev Tuka Boro Dis Divum |
| Korean | Annyunghaseyo |
| Kurdish Badini | Spede bash |
| Kurdish Sorani | Beyani bash |
| Laotian | Sabaidee |
| Latvian | Labrit |
| Lithuanian | Labas reytas |
| Lozi | U zuhile |
| Luganda | Wasuze otyano |
| Luxembourg | Gudde moien |
| Macedonian | Dobro utro |
| Malayalam | Suprabhatham |
| Malaysian | Selamat pagi |
| Maltese | Għodwa it-tajba |
| Manx | Moghrey mie |
| Maori | Ata marie |
| Mapuche | Marí-marí |
| Marathi | Suprabhat |
| Mongolian | Öglouny mend |
| Navajo | Yá'át'ééh abíní |
| Ndebele | Livukenjani |
| Nepali | Nameste |
| Northern Sotho | Thobela |
| Norwegian | God morgen |
| Owambo | Wa lalapo |
| Pashtun | Sahar de pa Khair |
| Persian | Sob bekhair |
| Polish | Dzien dobry |
| Polynesian | Ia ora na |
| Portuguese | Bom dia |
| Punjabi | Sat Shri Akal |
| Romanian | Buna dimineata |
| Russian | Dobraye ootra |
| Samoan | Talofa lava |
| Sanskrit | Suprabhataha |
| Sardinian | Bona dia |
| Serbian | Dobro jutro |
| Shona | Mangwanani |
| Singhalese | Suba Udesanak Wewa |
| Slovak | Dobré ráno |
| Slovenian | Dobro jutro |
| Somalian | Subax wanaagsan |
| Southern Sotho | Dumela |
| Spanish | Buenos dias |
| Swahili | Habari za asubuhi |
| Swedish | God morgon |
| Tagalog | Magandang umaga |
| Taiwanese | Gau cha |
| Tamil | Kaalai Vannakkam |
| Telugu | Namaskaramu |
| Thai | Aroon-Sawass |
| Tibetan | Nyado delek |
| Tonga | Mwabuka buti |
| Tswana | Dumela |
| Turkish | Günaydin |
| Turkmen | Ertiringiz haiyirli bolsun |
| Ukrainian | Dobri ranok |
| Urdu | Subha Ba-khair |
| Uzbek | Khairli kun |
| Vietnamese | Xin chao |
| Welsh | Bore da |
| Xhosa | Bhota |
| Yoruba | E karo |
| Zulu | Sawubona |
| !Kung san | Tuwa |
An addition to this list of oral greetings is "Good morning" in American Sign Language.
As if all these languages were not enough, what about "Good morning" in Klingon?!? Just in case you find yourself on the Starship Enterprise, you might like to know that it's "maj po'" Honest!
According to the best estimates, there are now about 6,000 languages in the world, although some 5,000 of them have fewer than 100,000 speakers. In my own city of London, there are 193 languages spoken.
The most widely spoken languages are Chinese Mandarin (885M), English (508M), Hindustani (497M), Spanish (392M) and Russian (277M).
No of speakers No of languages % of languages More than 100 million 9 0.15 10-99.9 million 72 1.2 1-9.9 million 239 3.9 100,000-999,999 795 13.1 10,000-99,999 1,605 26.5 1,000-9,999 1,782 29.4 100-999 1,075 17.7 10-99 302 5.0 1-9 181 3.0
ROGER DARLINGTON
Last modified on 23 January 2009
"Good morning": Greeting in 250 languages
Hello to World: Basic instruction in 30 languages
Ethnologue:
Top 100 languages by population
The Rosetta Project: An effort to archive all the world's languages