Phrases |
'Useful' phrases |
Idioms |
Tongue twisters |
Language-related proverbs
How to welcome people in a variety of different languages.
Cick on any of the words that are links to hear them spoken. If you can provide recordings of other languages, corrections or additional translations, please contact me.
Key to abbreviations: sg = singular (said to one person), pl = plural (said to more than one person), inf = informal, frm = formal, m = male (said by males), f = female (said by females), >m = said to males, >f said to females.
| Language | Welcome |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Welkom |
| Albanian | Mirë se vjen |
| Arabic (Egyptian) |
(ahlan wa sahlan) أهلاً و سهلاً |
| Arabic (Modern Standard) |
(ahlan wa sahlan) أهلاً و سهلاً |
| Armenian (Eastern) | Բարի գալուստ! (Bari galu'st) |
| Armenian (Western) | Բարի՜ եկաք: (Pari yegak) |
| Aromanian | Ghini vinit! (plural) Ghini vinishi! (singular) |
| Azerbaijani | Xoş gəlmişsiniz! |
| Basque | Ongi etorri |
| Batak | Menjuah-juah! Horas! |
| Belarusian | Вiтаем (Bitaem - We greet you) Прывiтанне (Pryvitańne - Greetings) |
| Bengali | স্বাগতম (shagotom) |
| Bhojpuri | स्वागत बा (swagat ba) |
| Bosnian | Dobrodošli |
| Breton | Degemer mat |
| Bulgarian | Добре дошъл dobre došãl) >1m Добре дошла (dobre došla) >1f Добре дошли (dobre došli) >pl Добре заварил (dobre zavaril) <1m Добре заварила (dobre zavarila) <1f Добре заварили (dobre zavarili) < pl Добре дошло (dobre došlo) |
| Catalan | Benvingut (>m), Benvinguda (>f), Benvinguts (pl), Benvingudes (pl/f) |
| Cebuano | Maayong pag-abot |
| Chamorro | Bien binidu / Buen binidu |
| Chechen | марша вагIийла хьо (m) марша йагIийла хьо (f) марша дагIийла шу (pl) |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 歡迎 (fòonying) |
| Chinese (Hakka) | 歡迎 (fon2 ngiang2) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 歡迎光臨 [欢迎光临] (huānyíng guānglín) |
| Chinese (Taiwanese) | 歡迎光臨 (hoan-geng5-kong-lim5) |
| Cornish | Dynnargh dhis |
| Corsican | Bonavinuta |
| Croatian | Dobrodošli |
| Czech | Vítáme tĕ (sg/inf) Vítáme vás (pl/frm) |
| Danish | Velkommen |
| Dutch | Welkom |
| Esperanto | Bonvenon |
| Estonian | Tere tulemast |
| Ewe | Woezor |
| Faroese | Vælkomin |
| Finnish | Tervetuloa |
| French | Bienvenue |
| Friulian | Agradît / Benvignût |
| German | Willkommen |
| Georgian | კეთილი იყოს თქვენი /
შენი მობრძანება (kethili iqos tk'veni / sheni mobrdzaneba) |
| Greek | Καλώς Ορίσατε (Kalós orísate) – frm Καλώς Όρισες (Kalós órises) – inf Καλώς Ήλθατε (kalós ílthate) – frm Καλώς Ήλθες (kalós ílthes) – inf Kαλώς Ήρθατε (kalós írthate) – frm Kαλώς Ήρθες (kalós írthes) – inf |
| Greenlandic | Tikilluarit / Tikilluaritsi |
| Guaraní | Eguahé porá |
| Gujarati | પધારો (padhāro) |
| Hawaiian | Aloha |
| Hebrew | (baruch haba)
ברוך הבא pl - (bruchim ha-baim) ברוכים הבאים |
| Hindi | स्वागत (Svāgat) |
| Hungarian | Üdvözlet |
| Icelandic | Velkomin(n) |
| Igbo | nno̱ |
| Indonesian | Selamat datang |
| Iñupiaq | Qaimarutin |
| Inuktitut | ᑐᙵᓱ (Tunngahugit/Tunngasugit) |
| Irish (Gaelic) | Fáilte, Tá fáilte romhat/romhaibh Cead míle fáilte (hundred thousand welcomes - seen mainly on signs) Fáilte romhat isteach! (Welcome here!) |
| Italian | Benvenuto (sg-m)
Benvenuti (pl-m) Benvenuta (sg-f) Benvenute (pl-f) |
| Japanese | ようこそ (yōkoso) |
| Javanese | Sugeng rawuh |
| Jèrriais | Séyiz les beinv'nu(e)(s)! |
| Kazakh | Қош келдіңіз! (Qos, keldiñiz!) |
| Khmer | ភាស្វាគមន៍ (sohm swaakohm) |
| Korean | 환영합니다 (hwangyong-hamnida) |
| Latin | Salve |
| Latvian | Laipni lūdzam |
| Limburgish | Wilkóm |
| Lithuanian | Sveiki atvykę |
| Lojban | fi'i |
| Luxembourgish | Wëllkomm |
| Macedonian | Добредојде
(Dobredojde) - inf Добредојдовте (Dobredoydovte) - frm |
| Malay | Selamat datang |
| Malayalam | സ്വാഗതം (swagatam) |
| Maltese | Merħba |
| Manx | Failt, Failt royd |
| Māori | Haere mai / Nau mai |
| Marathi | स्वागत आहे (svāgat āhe) |
| Mikmaq | Weltasualuleg |
| Mongolian | Тавтай морилогтун (tavtai morilogtun) |
| Nepali | स्वागतम् (swagatam) |
| Norwegian | Velkommen |
| Occitan | Benvengut! Benvenguda! Planvengut! Planvenguda! |
| Persian | (khosh amadid) خوش آمدید |
| Polish | Witamy |
| Portuguese | Bem-vindo (>m) Bem-vinda (>f), Bem-vindos (pl) |
| Punjabi | ਜੀ ਆਇਆ ਨੂੰ (jī āiā nūng) |
| Romanian | Bun venit / Bine ai venit |
| Russian | Добро пожаловать (Dobro požalovat') |
| Sardinian | Bene bennios |
| Scottish Gaelic | Fàilte, Ceud mìle fàilte |
| Serbian | Добродошли (Dobrodošli!) |
| Sesotho | Kena ka kgotso! (sg) Kenang ka kgotso! (pl) |
| Shona | Mauya |
| Sicilian | Binvinutu |
| Slovak | Vitajte |
| Slovenian | Dobrodošli, Pozdravljeni |
| Somali | Soo dhowow |
| Spanish | Bienvenido (sg) Bienvenidos (pl) |
| Swahili | Karibu |
| Swedish | Välkommen (sg) Välkomna (pl) |
| Tagalog | Maligayang pagdating / Mabuhay |
| Tahitian | Maeva / Manava |
| Tamil | வாங்க (vaazhga) |
| Telugu | సుస్వాగతం (susvāgatam) |
| Thai | ยินดีต้อนรับ (yindii ton rap) |
| Tigrinya | ገንዘብካ (genzebka - lit: it is yours) እንቋዕ ብደሐን መጻእካ (ənqwaˋ bdeHen meSaəka) Literally: wonderful that you have arrived safely እንቋዕ ብድሐን ጸናሕካ (ənqwaˋ bdeHen SenaHka) Literally: wonderful that you have stayed well (response to above) |
| Turkish | Hoş geldin (sg) Hoş geldiniz (pl/frm) |
| Ukrainian | Ласкаво просимо (Laskavo prosymo) Вітаємо (Bitajemo) |
| Urdu | (khush āmdīd) خوش آمديد |
| Uzbek | Xush kelibsiz |
| Venetian | Benvegnù / Benvegnesto (sg-m) , Benvegnùa / Benvegnesta (sg-f) Benvegnùi / Benvegnesti (pl-m) , Benvegnùe / Benvegneste (pl-f) |
| Vietnamese | Hoan nghênh / Được tiếp đãi ân cần |
| Volapük | Vekömö |
| Walloon | Benvnuwe |
| Welsh | Croeso / Croeso cynnes iawn |
| Xhosa | Siya namkela nonke |
| Yiddish | sg (Borekh-Habo)
ברוך־הבא pl (Brukhim-Haboim) ברוכים־הבאים |
| Yorùbá | Ẹ ku abọ |
| Zulu | Ngiyakwemukela (sg) Ngiyanemukela (pl) |
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, please
contact me. If you can provide audio recordings
of any of these phrases, please send them to
You can send me audio files in any format. If you don't know how to make recordings on a computer, you can send me recordings on audio cassette. Let me know if you want to do this and I'll send you my snailmail address. Or you can call me on Skype (omniglot) and I'll do the recording.
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Copyright 1998- Simon Ager