Steps

1. Acknowledge that the universal way to greet each other is to have a simple handshake or wave. You can also use a salute, if you are being humorous.
2. Look up the language in which you would like to say “hello or good morning”. You will find suggestions on that line. Pronounce the suggested wording.
   
   
   
   • Afrikaans - haai (hello) pronounced Ha-i
   • Albanian - tungjatjeta (hello) pronounced Toon-jat-yeta
   • Arabic - sabbah-el-khair (good morning), masaa-el-khair (good evening): note that Kh is pronounced from the back of the throat. mArHAbAn (Hello) pronounced Mar-ha-ban
   • Armenian - barev or parev
   • Azerbaijani - salam (hello) pronounced Sa-lam
   • Bahamas – hello (formal), hi or heyello (informal), what you sayin’, Buyh? (very informal - slang)
   • Basque - kaixo (pronounced kai-show), egun on (morning; pronounced egg-un own), gau on (night; pronounced gow own)
   • Bavarian and Austrian German - grüß Gott (pronounced gruess gott), servus (informal; also means “goodbye”; pronounced zair-voos)
   • Bengali — namaskar
   • Bulgarian - zdraveite, zdrasti (informal)
   • Burmese - mingalarbar
   • Cape-Verdean Creole - oi, olá
   • Catalan - hola (pronounced o-la), bon dia (pronounced bon dee-ah)good morning, bona tarda (bona tahr-dah) good afternoon, bona nit (bona neet)good night. You can also say just “Bones (bo-nahs) to make it informal.
   • Chamorro - hafa adai (hello/what’s up?), hafa? (informal), howzzit bro/bran/prim/che’lu? (informal),sup (informal)and all other English greetings
   • Chichewa - moni bambo! (to a male), moni mayi! (to a female)
   • Chinese - 你好, Cantonese nei ho (pronounced nay ho) Mandarin 你好 (pronounced ni hao), 早上好（pronounced zao shang hao; good morning!）
   • Congo - mambo
   • Cree - Tansi (pronounced Dawnsay)
   • Croatian - bok (informal), dobro jutro (morning), dobar dan (day), dobra večer (evening), laku noć(night)
   • Czech - dobré ráno (until about 8 or 9 a.m.), dobrý den (formal), dobrý večer (evening), ahoj(informal; pronounced ahoy)
   • Danish - hej (informal; pronounced hey), god dag (formal), god aften (evening; formal), hejsa (very informal).
   • Dutch - hoi (very informal), hallo (informal), goedendag (formal)
   • English - hello (formal), hi (informal), hey (informal)
   • Esperanto - saluton
   • Estonian - tere (pronounced tereh),
   • Fijian - bula
   • Finnish - hyvää päivää (formal), moi or hei (informal), moro (Tamperensis)
   • French - salut (informal; silent ‘t’), bonjour (formal, for daytime use; ‘n’ as a nasal vowel), bonsoir(good evening; ‘n’ is a nasal vowel), bonne nuit (good night). There is also “ça va”, but this is more often used to mean “how are you?”
   • Gaelic - dia duit (informal; pronounced dee-ah gwitch; literally “God be with you”)
   • Georgian - gamardjoba
   • German - hallo (informal), Guten Tag (formal; pronounced gootan taag), Tag (very informal; pronounced taack).
   • Gujarathi - kem che
   • Greek - yia sou (pronounced yah-soo; informal), yia sas (formal)
   • Bremnian - koali (pronounced kowalee)
   • Hawaiian - aloha
   • Hebrew - shalom (means “hello”, “goodbye” and “peace”), hi (informal), ma kore? (very informal, literally means “whats happening” or “whats up”)
   • Hindi - namaste (pronounced na-mus-thei), kaise hain (a little formal), kaise ho (more informal, familiar)
   • Hungarian, Magyar - jo napot (pronounced yoh naput; daytime; formal), szervusz (pronouncedsairvoose; informal)
   • Icelandic - góðan dag (formal; pronounced gothan dagg), hæ (informal)
   • Igbo - nde-ewo (pronounced enday aywo), nna-ewo (pronounced enna wo)
   • Indonesian - selamat pagi (morning), selamat siang (afternoon), selamat malam (evening)
   • Italian - ciào (informal; also means “goodbye”), salve, buon giorno (morning; formal), buon pomeriggio (afternoon; formal), buona sera (evening; formal)
   • Japanese - ohayou gozaimasu (pronounced o-ha-yo go-zai-mass; good morning), konnichi wa(pronounced ko-nee-chee-wa; daytime or afternoon), konbawa (pronounced gong-ban-wa; evening);moshi moshi (pronounced moh-shee moh-shee; when answering the phone); doumo (pronounceddoh-moh; informal way of greeting, but means countless other things as well so only use when context makes sense)
   • Jibberish - huthegelluthego, h-idiguh-el l-idiguh-o (formal), h-diguh-i (informal), h-idiguh-ow a-diguh-re y-idigah-ou? (meaning “how are you?”)
   • Jamaican(slang)- Yow Wah gwaan (pronounced wa-gwaan)
   • Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) - kwe kwe (pronounced gway gway)
   • Kannada - namaskara
   • Klingon - nuqneH? [nook-neck] (literally: “what do you want?”)
   • Korean - ahn nyeong ha se yo (formal; pronouned ahn-yan-ha-say-yo), ahn nyeong (informal; can also be used to mean “goodbye”)
   • Kurdish — choni, roj bahsh (day; pronounced rohzj bahsh)
   • Lao - sabaidee (pronounced sa-bai-dee)
   • Latin (Classical) - salve (pronounced sal-way; when talking to one person), salvete (pronounced sal-way-tay; when talking to more than one person), ave (pronounced ar-way; when talking to one person; when talking to someone respected), avete (pronounced ar-way-tay; when talking to more than one respected person)
   • Latvian - labdien, sveiki, chau (informal; pronounced chow).
   • Lingala - mbote
   • Lithuanian - laba diena (formal), labas, sveikas (informal; when speaking to a male), sveika(informal; when speaking to a female), sveiki (informal; when speaking to more than one person).
   • Luxembourgish - moïen (pronounced MOY-en)
   • Malayalam - namaskkaram
   • Maltese - merħba (meaning “welcome”), bonġu (morning), bonswa or il-lejl it-tajjeb (evening)
   • Maori - kia ora (kia o ra), tena koe, ata marie, morena (good morning)
   • Marathi - namaskar
   • Mongolia - sain baina uu? (pronounced saa-yen baya-nu; formal), sain uu? (pronounced say-noo; informal), ugluunii mend (morning; pronounced ohglohny mend), udriin mend (afternoon, pronounced ohdriin mend), oroin mend (evening; pronounced or-oh-in mend)
   • Nahuatl - niltze, hao
   • Navajo - ya’at’eeh
   • Neapolitan - cia, cha
   • Nepali - namaskar, namaste, k cha (informal), kasto cha
   • Northern German - moin moin
   • Northern Shoto - dumelang
   • Norwegian - hei (“hi”), hallo (“hello”), heisann (“hi there”), halloisen (very informal).
   • Oshikwanyama - wa uhala po, meme? (to a female; response is ee), wa uhala po, tate? (to a male; response is ee) nawa tuu? (response is ee; formal), ongaipi? (meaning “how is it?”; informal)
   • Oromo(Afan Oromo) - asham (hi’)akkam? (how are you?),nagaa (peace, peace be with u)
   • Persian - salaam or do-rood (see note above - salaam is an abbreviation, the full version being as-salaam-o-aleykum in all Islamic societies)
   • Pig Latin - eyhay (informal), ellohay (formal), atswhay upay? (“what’s up?”)
   • Polish - dzień dobry (formal), witaj (hello) cześć (hi, pronounced, “cheshch”)
   • Portuguese - oi, boas, olá or alô (informal); bom dia or bons dias (good morning, used before noon or before the noon meal); boa tarde or boas tardes (good afternoon, used after noon or after the noon meal, until twilight); boa noite or boas noites (good evening and good night, used after twilight).
   • Punjabi - sat sri akal
   • Rajasthani (Marwari)- Ram Ram
   • Romanian - salut, buna dimineata (formal; morning) buna ziua (formal; daytime) buna searaformal; evening), buna (usually when speaking to a female pronounced boo-nhuh)
   • Russian - pree-vyet (informal), zdravstvuyte (formal; pronounced ZDRA-stvooy-tyeh)
   • Samoan - talofa (formal), malo (informal)
   • Scanian - haja (universal), hallå (informal), go’da (formal), go’maren (morning), go’aften (evening)
   • Senegal - salamaleikum
   • Serbian - zdravo (informal), dobro jutro (morning, pronounced dobro yutro), dobar dan (afternoon),dobro veče (pronounced dobro vetchay evening), laku noć (night)
   • Sinhala - a`yubowan (pronounced ar-yu-bo-wan; meaning “long live”)
   • Slovak - dobrý deň (formal), ahoj (pronounced ahoy), čau (pronounced chow) and dobrý (informal abbreviation)
   • Slovenian — živjo (informal; pronounced zhivyo), dobro jutro (morning), dober dan (afternoon),dober večer (evening; pronounced doh-bear vetch-air)
   • South African English - hoezit (pronounced howzit; informal)
   • Spanish - holà (pronounced with a silent ‘h’: o-la), alo, que onda (South America;very informal, like “what’s up”; pronounced keh ondah), que hay, (South America; very informal), que pasa (Spain, informal), buenos días (“good morning”), buenas tardes (afternoon and early evening), buenas noches (late evening and night). These three forms can be made informal by saying “buenas”. AlsoQue Transa (Mexico;very informal, like “what’s up” pronounced keh trahansa). Qué tál, meaning “what’s up”, pronounced “kay tal”.
   • Swahili - jambo
   • Swedish - tja (very informal; pronounced sha), hej (informal; pronounced hey), god dag (formal)
   • Swiss German - grüzi (pronounced grew-tsi)
   • Tagalog (Pilipino - Philippines) - Kumusta po kayo? (formal, means “How are you, sir or madam”, pronounced “kuh-muh-stah poh kah-yoh”), Kumusta ka? (informal, means “how are you?”, “kuh-muh-stah kah”). You can also add na when talking to someone you haven’t see in a while, Kumusta na po kayo? or Kumusta ka na?. Magandang umaga po (Good morning, pronounced “mah-gan-dang oo-mah-gah poh”), Magandang hapon po (Good afternoon, “mah-gan-dang ha-pon poh”),Magandang gabi po (Good evening or night, “mah-gan-dang gah-beh poh”), Magandang tanghali po(good day, literally midday or noon, “mah-gan-dang tang-ha-leh poh”); NOTE: to make these informal greetings, drop po from the end and add the person’s first name. Still, some people use words like mare or pare (very informal greeting, mare pronounced “mah-reh” for a close female friend; pare pronounced “pah-reh” for a close male friend). You may add it either before or after the greeting. Example, Mare, kumusta ka na? or Kumusta ka na, pare?
   • Tahitian - ia orana
   • Tamil - vanakkam
   • Telugu - namaskaram
   • Telugu - baagunnara (means “how are you?”; formal)
   • Tetum (Timor - Leste) - bondia (morning), botarde (afternoon), bonite (evening)
   • Thai - sawa dee-ka (said by a female), sawa dee-krap (said by a male)
   • Tongan - malo e lelei
   • Tsonga (South Africa) - minjhani (when greeting adults), kunjhani (when greeting your peer group or your juniors)
   • Turkish - merhaba (formal), naber? (Informal)
   • Ukranian - dobriy ranok (formal; morning), dobriy den (formal; afternoon), dobriy vechir (formal; evening), pryvit (informal)
   • Urdu - adaab ir salam (waley-kum)
   • Vietnamese - xin chào
   • Welsh - shwmae (North Wales; pronounced shoe-my)OR Helo
   • Yiddish - sholem aleikhem (literally “may peace be unto you”), borokhim aboyem or gut morgn(morning), gutn ovnt (evening), gutn tog (day), gut shabbos (only used on the [1])
   • Zulu - sawubona

Tips

• Make sure you use the appropriate greeting for the situation. For example, in English, we use the more formal “good morning”, “good afternoon” or “good evening” to greet clients in the workplace, but the informal “hello” to greet colleagues, friends, and family.
• Take the time to learn the correct pronunciation. This not only helps to avoid confusion; it is also common courtesy. For example, many languages have rolled r’s.
• Each culture and language has a different form of body language. Hand-shaking is common courtesy in Australia, England and America, while Korean and Japanese people keep a distance and bow, and Ukrainians are affectionate and hug or kiss. Maltese like to kiss each other on both cheeks when you know the person well, and shake hands if it is not very informal.
• When Navajos shake hands, they don’t grab each other’s hands in a tight handshake, they simply do a ‘limp handshake,’ and what counts is simply a light squeeze.
• A simple “Hello”, “Hi”, wave, handshake and kiss can be understood by most people.

Warnings

• The cultures of various places are obviously different, and the languages of those places likewise reflect this. For example, the Japanese greeting for ‘good morning’ should only be used before approximately 10am.
• If you visit another English-speaking country, do not imitate their accents or use their slang, as this could lead you to appear rude or presumptuous. Misusing and/or mispronouncing can make you appear inept.
• If you pronounce these words wrong, and someone points it out to you, it could be embarrassing, so try to learn the correct pronunciation! It doesn’t matter too much if you do make a mistake, and most people will be sympathetic about it, but it is common courtesy to try.