# Welcome!



## *Ginnyminny*

Hi
I'm here again .
And now I want to have "Welcome" in so much languages as possible.
I have three:
English: Welcome
German: Willkommen
Arabic: اهلا و سهلا (Ehlan ua sehlan) (I know how to pronounce it. But I don't know how to write it in English .)


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## Whodunit

French: Bienvenue!
Latin: Salve! (to one person); Salvete! (to more than one person)

By the way, the Arabic transcription should be "ahlan wa sahlan".


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:* Hoş geldiniz
*Dutch:* Welkom


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## pickypuck

Spanish

Bienvenido (male)
Bienvenida (female)
Bienvenidos (males or males and females)
Bienvenidas (females)

This is applicable to all romance languages.

¡Olé!


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## vince

Portuguese is bem-vindo/vinda

Does anyone know where the practice of putting well + come came from? The Romance and Germanic languages seem to be doing this. (e.g. "bem" = well", vindo = "come" (past participle))

French: bienvenue (bien = well, venu = come (past participle))

Mandarin: Huan-ying
Cantonese: Fun-jing


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## pickypuck

Catalan

Benvingut
Benvinguda
Benvinguts
Benvingudes

Basque

Ongi etorri
Ongi etorriak

Galician

Benvido
Benvida
Benvidos
Benvidas

¡Olé!


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## panjabigator

Hindi:  Aap kaa swaagat hai
Panjabi  Tuhaadaa Swaagat hai, jii aaye nuu
Urdu: Khosh aamdiid

Panjabi for some reason has two!


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## Maja

In Serbian:
for a group of people usually "*dobro došli* /* добро дошли*", but it can be gender-based like

sg.
dobro došao / добро дошао (male)
dobro došla / добро дошла (female)
pl. & formal
dobro došli / добро дошли (males or a group)
dobro došle / добро дошле (females)


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## elroy

pickypuck said:
			
		

> Bienvenido (male)
> Bienvenida (female)
> Bienvenidos (males or males and females)
> Bienvenidas (females)
> 
> *This is applicable to all romance languages.*


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## MingRaymond

elroy said:
			
		

>


 
I think pickypuck means in romance languages, there are also four welcome. For example, in Italian,

Benvenuto (male)
Benvenuta (female)
Benvenuti (males or males and females)
Benvenute (females)

Ming


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## elroy

MingRaymond said:
			
		

> I think pickypuck means in romance languages, there are also four welcome. For example, in Italian,
> 
> Benvenuto (male)
> Benvenuta (female)
> Benvenuti (males or males and females)
> Benvenute (females)
> 
> Ming


That's what I thought - hence my confusion.  As far as I know, in French only the feminine form ("Bienvenue") is used as a greeting, even if one is addressing a male or a group.


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## Confused Linguist

Bengali

Shagotom


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## ukuca

In Turkish:
*hoş geldin* (familiar)
*hoş geldiniz* (formal)


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## Anatoli

vince said:
			
		

> ...
> Mandarin: Huan-ying
> Cantonese: Fun-jing


*Chinese:*
Both Mandarin and Cantonese writing (simplified /traditional): 欢迎 / 歡迎
Mandarin pronunciation with tones: huānyíng
note the Cantonese second syllable is also pronounced "ying", letter "j" is used in yutping (jyutping) transcription.

*Japanese:*

ようこそ yōkoso
いらっしゃいませ irasshaimase


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## vince

Anatoli said:
			
		

> *Chinese:*
> Both Mandarin and Cantonese writing (simplified /traditional): 欢迎 / 歡迎
> Mandarin pronunciation with tones: huānyíng
> note the Cantonese second syllable is also pronounced "ying", letter "j" is used in yutping (jyutping) transcription.



That's right, Mandarin and Cantonese use the "same" word for "welcome", just like how most of the Romance languages have the "same" word.


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## pickypuck

elroy said:
			
		

> That's what I thought - hence my confusion. As far as I know, in French only the feminine form ("Bienvenue") is used as a greeting, even if one is addressing a male or a group.


 
In French it's the same:

Bienvenu
Bienvenue
Bienvenus
Bienvenues

When you see "bienvenue", it is not the feminine adjective, but the noun. You mean "[je te souhaite la] bienvenue"  

¡Olé!


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## Whodunit

MingRaymond said:
			
		

> I think pickypuck means in romance languages, there are also four welcome. For example, in Italian,


 
I think those are just the adjectives. But we are talking about the greeting in this thread. In German the words "willkommene" and "willkommenen" exist, too, but they have nothing to do with the greeting. They can be used in "This is a gift we highly welcome" (I'm not sure if this phrase makes in English). Maybe Elroy can translate "Das ist ein willkommenes Geschenk". 

On can say "soyez les bienvenu(e)s", but this would correspond to "be welcome" and is not asked for in this thread.


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## Tisia

*Persian:* 

*خوش آمدي* (khosh amadi)- singular
*خوش آمديد* (khosh amadid)- plural/formal

*Finnish:*
Tervetuloa

Tisia


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## pickypuck

Whodunit said:
			
		

> I think those are just the adjectives. But we are talking about the greeting in this thread. In German the words "willkommene" and "willkommenen" exist, too, but they have nothing to do with the greeting. They can be used in "This is a gift we highly welcome" (I'm not sure if this phrase makes in English). Maybe Elroy can translate "Das ist ein willkommenes Geschenk".
> 
> On can say "soyez les bienvenu(e)s", but this would correspond to "be welcome" and is not asked for in this thread.


 
In Romance languages, the greetings and the adjectives coincide. It is true that in French, it is preferred the noun "bienvenue" to the adjectives, but you can also find the adjectives alone (in a much lesser extent than the noun, of course).

¡Olé!


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## übermönch

Russian's

Добро пожаловать!
Dobro pozhalovat'!


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## Aleco

*Norwegian:*
 - Velkommen!

* Icelandic:*
 - Velkommen!

* Swedish:*
 - Välkommen!


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## robbie_SWE

Romanian: 

*Binevenit* (male)
*Binevenita* (female)
*Bineveniti* (males, or males + females)
*Binevenite* (females)

 robbie


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## Aleco

*Faroese:
*- Vælkomin!


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## janek

*Polish*:

- Witam (sing.), witamy (pl.) - if you welcome someone who has arrived, 
- Zapraszam (sing.), zapraszamy (pl.) - if you invite someone to your place (like a sign in front of a restaurant)


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## soulpaolo

pickypuck said:
			
		

> Spanish
> 
> Bienvenido (male)
> Bienvenida (female)
> Bienvenidos (males or males and females)
> Bienvenidas (females)
> 
> This is applicable to all romance languages.
> 
> ¡Olé!


 
Not to Romanian, though 

"Bine ai venit" (sing. both genders)
"Bine atsi venit(plur. both genders)


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## soulpaolo

bahasa Indonesia "Selamat datang".


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## robbie_SWE

soulpaolo said:
			
		

> Not to Romanian, though
> 
> "Bine ai venit" (sing. both genders)
> "Bine atsi venit(plur. both genders)


 
Sorry, but it's exactly the same in Romanian! 

*Esti binevenit(a)! *
*Sunteti bineveniti(-ite)! *

Saluti/Salutari

 robbie


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## amikama

Hebrew:

(blue = male, red = female, *bold* = plural)

ברוך הבא (_barukh ha-ba_)
ברוכה הבאה (_brukha ha-baa_)
*ברוכים הבאים* (_brukhim ha-baim_)
*ברוכות הבאות* (_brukhim ha-baot_)

(so Hebrew is a romance language?   )


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## vince

what do the individual Hebrew words mean?


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## alahay

vince said:
			
		

> what do the individual Hebrew words mean?


I guess: (God) bless this/your staying?


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## alahay

*Arabic:*
اهلا و سهلا (Ahlan wa Sahlan)
* Levantine Arabic: *
Ahla (derived from MSA اهلا و سهلا ) 
Ahlein (two Ahlas)
Ya hala (another common variation)
Ya mit hala (1000 halas)
...etc


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## amikama

vince said:
			
		

> what do the individual Hebrew words mean?


Blessed is he/she/they who come(s).

ברוך = blessed, הבא = [he who] comes


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## *Ginnyminny*

Thank you very much for the answers. I'm really happy about it!
Now I don't need "welcome" anymore. I think I have enough "welcomes" in other languages. Thank you for your help!


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## Insider

In Ukrainian it will be *вітаю *[vitayu] in singular and* вітаємо *[vitayemo] in plural.


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## big-melon

Chinese: 欢迎  or 欢迎光临

Read as : Huan ying       or  Huan Ying Guan Lin

But I not sure the all the guys outside China can speak it clearly, exactly...

Moderator edit: Scroll up for Spanish!


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## Beachgiirl

Spanish: bienvenida
Dutch  : welkom


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## MissPrudish

In Greek:

Καλωσήρθες (kalosirthes) [SINGULAR]

Καλωσήρθατε (kalosirthate) [PLURAL]


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## ekhlewagastiR

Aleco said:
			
		

> *Swedish:*
> - Välkommen!


 
välkommen singular
välkomna   plural


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## linguist786

Tisia said:
			
		

> *Persian:*
> 
> *خوش آمديد* (khosh amadid)


That's the exact same one used for Urdu (even the script).. but phonetically pronounced "Khoosh aamdeed"


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## panjabigator

It's a phonetic change that occured in Farsi.  I believe Urdu retained the pronunciation from years ago where as Farsi has had some changes.


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:
			
		

> It's a phonetic change that occured in Farsi. I believe Urdu retained the pronunciation from years ago where as Farsi has had some changes.


Interesting


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## giuliaVIP

in arabic -ahlan wa sahlan
in romanian-bine ai venit


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## panjabigator

In the book I am reading, it defines Ahlan wa sahlan as meaning "my house is yours."  Is that true?


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## giuliaVIP

i know only 2 meanings : you are welcome - ahlan wa sahlan and welcom the answer to shukran(thank you) - afwan


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## cherine

panjabigator said:
			
		

> In the book I am reading, it defines Ahlan wa sahlan as meaning "my house is yours." Is that true?


Yes the sentence originally means : you cam among your family (ahl) and to an "plain" (sahl) place/ground.
As far as I know, it was used mainly by Arabs in the Arab Desert, to welcome the passers-by and travellers, in sort of telling them: you came to a friendly place after the hardship of your trip in the desert.
Now it's commonly used as a simply welcome. Many people summarise it to a simple "ahlan" that's still considered welcoming and freindly


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## aurette

robbie_SWE said:


> Romanian:
> 
> *Binevenit* (male)
> *Binevenita* (female)
> *Bineveniti* (males, or males + females)
> *Binevenite* (females)
> 
> robbie


 
There is a distinction in Romanian: 

1 when you welcome someone you say: 
*bine ai venit! *singular
*bine ati venit! *plural

2 When you say to someone "you are welcome in my home" 
*esti binevenit/a *singular
*sunteti binveniti/e *plural

don't you think so, robbie


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## bb3ca201

in Gaelic:

Fàilte
 
(I think everyone knows this one -- especially on St. Patrick's Day!)
 
Tapadh leibh (thank you)


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## corp1117

Although people probably know it through the Irish word Fáilte where the fodda goes in the opposite direction (since St Patrick's Day is Irish...)


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## 1234plet

*In Danish:*

Velkommen


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## ceann-feachd

In Icelandic, it's *velkominn* when speaking to a male, or *velkomin* when speaking to a female.

If I'm not mistaken (somebody more fluent in Icelandic than me can correct me), I think the female form *velkomin* also doubles as the neuter plural. So it can be used when addressing mixed genders of more than one person.


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## bb3ca201

Thanks, corp!  I forgot about the different accent (the Gaelic one is in the other direction)

I guess we Scots can get a little mixed up, eh?


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## sufilala

wow great forum! - this thread has been so helpful for a project i'm just working on that i thought i should register and share the fruits of my labours:

*مرحباً بكم* _'marahaba bikum'_ is a more literal arabic translation of _'welcome to you (pl)'_


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## sufilala

Korean: *환영합니다*
Swahili: *Karibu*​Albanian: *Mire se vini*
Kinyarwanda: *MURAKAZA*
Somali: Soo Dhawow
Bengali: *স্বাগতম*
Polish: *WITAJ*
Sorani Kurdish:خێر‌بێن به 
Lingala: Boyé Malamu
Tamil: *வணக்கம்*
Kurmanci Kurdish: *Bi xer hatin*
Vietnamese: *NHIÊT TIÑH CHÃO DÓN*
Turkish:Hoş geldiniz


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## padfoot

*greek*
καλώς ήρθες *or *καλώς όρισες (familiar)
καλώς ήρθατε *or *καλώς ορίσατε (formal, plural)


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## Fishang

The Gaboneses say "Mbolo"


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## GoranBcn

Maja said:


> In Serbian:
> for a group of people usually "*dobro došli* /* добро дошли*", but it can be gender-based like
> 
> sg.
> dobro došao / добро дошао (male)
> dobro došla / добро дошла (female)
> pl. & formal
> dobro došli / добро дошли (males or a group)
> dobro došle / добро дошле (females)



Isn't it written...?

* dobrodošao* / *добродошао* (male)
* dobrodošla* / *добро**дошла* (female)
pl. & formal
* dobrodošli* / *добро**дошли* (males or a group)
* dobrodošle* / *добро**дошле* (females)


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## Lara2005

Welcome! it's an interjection, a kindly greetings. In Tagalog, we say it "Maligayang" (Masayang) pagdating. For instance, if someone arrive.. You say (Welcome home!) Maligayang pagdating! And at home we say , "Come in" or "You're welcome ", in Tagalog "Tuloy po kayo" 

"You are welcome" is said when someone thanks you or in Tagalog "Walang anuman" Example: Juliet said "Thank You" (Salamat) to Romeo. And Romeo answered "You are welcome." (walang anuman), but literally, "Nothing at all."


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## quark1111

You can find "welcome" and lots of other common words/phrases expressed in many different languages on "Jennifer's Language Page"...  

I tried posting the exact URL, but this site told me I could not post a URL until I had made 30 posts  (That's a pretty lame rule.)...  But you can find the site easily by searching Google for "jennifer's language page"...  The link to her site should be right at the top of the links returned.

She (Jennifer) has over 300 listings for the world "Welcome" in other languages.

Cheers!


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## Chazzwozzer

*Maltese:*
Merħba (quite similar to Turkish _merhaba _"hello")


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## Heartagram

In *Greenlandic* it is:

"Welcome" - *Tikilluarit

*Bye!


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## jana.bo99

Slovenian:  DOBRODOŠLI!

Croatian:    DOBRODOŠLI!


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## deine

Lithuanian:
Sveiki atvykę!


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## Nizo

All this variety and no one's covered *Esperanto* yet?  ... _*Bonvenon!*_


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## dejudicibus

Italian: 


Benvenuto (to a single person, male)
Benvenuta (to a single person, female)
Benvenuti (to many male persons, or in general)
Benvenute (to many female persons)


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## DaxxXyrax

Slovak :
Singular - Vitaj!
Plural - Vitajte!

Czech :
Singular - Vítej!
Plural - Vítejte!


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## ThomasK

This is all quite interesting, but I would love to read more about the *meaning* of that expression: 
- _welcome_/ Dutch _welkom_/ German _willkommen_ probably means that it is hoped that people who come will feel well - or that they will come well/ safely/ ... ? 
- the same holds true of French _bienvenu_/ Spanish, ... 
- _salaam_ is probably the Arab alternative: peace
- _salve_ refers to health, well-being, I think 

But I cannot get any further right now. Anyone ?


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## sakvaka

ThomasK said:


> This is all quite interesting, but I would love to read more about the *meaning* of that expression:
> - _welcome_/ Dutch _welkom_/ German _willkommen_ probably means that it is hoped that people who come will feel well - or that they will come well/ safely/ ... ?
> - _salve_ refers to health, well-being, I think
> 
> But I cannot get any further right now. Anyone ?



*Finnish *was already mentioned on p. 1, but I'll tell something more about _tervetuloa_.

_Terve_ means "healthy" and just as the Italian _salve_, it is used as a greeting. _Tulo·a_ is certainly a noun derived from the verb _tulla_ (to come) and its case is partitive. However, I'm unsure why _terve_ isn't in partitive as well; probably it's a compound: _tervetulo, _"wellcoming".

Could the _wel_-, _will- _etc. refer to being well or healthy in all Germanic languages?

And about the pronunciation: The word follow the usual gemination rules of Finnish. _Terve_ ends in a glottal stop that assimilates into the following consonant. IPA: [ˈter.vetˌtu.lo.ɑ].


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## ThomasK

Thanks, and sorry, but there were so many things to read and... 

As for the 'well': maybe, yes, had not thought of that. Had thought of safe, etc., but indeed, safe and sound might very well be. Who will tell.


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: 
Singular: добре дошъл! (m.), добре дошла! (f.).
Plural or polite sg.: добре дошли!


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## ThomasK

But could you explain that, Orlin? Is it the _Dobre_ I have encountered in other Slavic languages? Could it be like health?

Anyone who could explain the Lithuanian expression by the way ?


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## Orlin

Maja said:


> In Serbian:
> for a group of people usually "*dobro došli* /* добро дошли*", but it can be gender-based like
> 
> sg.
> dobro došao / добро дошао (male)
> dobro došla / добро дошла (female)
> pl. & formal
> dobro došli / добро дошли (males or a group)
> dobro došle / добро дошле (females)


 


ThomasK said:


> But could you explain that, Orlin? Is it the _Dobre_ I have encountered in other Slavic languages? Could it be like health?
> 
> Anyone who could explain the Lithuanian expression by the way ?


 
I think dobre/dobro is "well" (cometimes connected to health, sometimes not) and almost common Slavic and the other word is a past active participle of "to come" - see the quoted post for Serbian - it's so close to ours.
Lithuanian is *not *a Slavic language and I know hardly anything about it.


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## ThomasK

Thanks, Orlin. And I did not intend to imply that you  ought to be able to explain Lithuanian as well, as that is a special kind of language as well, I think. Thanks though !


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