I’ve been a bit remiss with my blogging lately, but I felt compelled to publish one today as Britain takes to the polls in the historic EU referendum.
Don’t worry; this post is going to stay well away from politics.
Instead, I thought a quick language lesson might be in order – so that you’re equipped with the linguistic basics whatever the result is tomorrow.
And what better words to pick than from a song title by one of my favourite 80s bands: Soft Cell’s Say Hello, Wave Goodbye?
So, without further ado, here’s how to say Hello* and Goodbye* in the languages of the 28 member countries of the EU.
* To keep things simple, I’ve just focused on the main word used for Hello (not informal variants like Hi, Hey etc) and Goodbye (not Bye, Cheerio etc).
| Country | Hello | Goodbye |
| Austria | Hallo | Auf Wiedersehen |
| Belgium | Bonjour / Hallo | Au revoir / Vaarwel |
| Bulgaria | Zdraveĭ | Sbogom |
| Croatia | Zdravo | Doviđenja |
| Republic of Cyprus | Yasa | Andio |
| Czech Republic | Ahoj | Sbohem |
| Denmark | Hej | Farvel |
| Estonia | Tere | Hüvasti |
| France | Bonjour | Au revoir |
| Finland | Hei | Hyvästi |
| Germany | Hallo | Auf Wiedersehen |
| Greece | Chaírete | Antío |
| Hungary | Helló | Viszontlátásra |
| Ireland | Hello | Goodbye |
| Italy | Ciao | Arrivederci |
| Latvia | Sveiki | Ardievas |
| Lithuania | Sveiki | Sudie |
| Luxembourg | Hallo | Äddi |
| Malta | Bongu | Addiju |
| Netherlands | Hallo | Vaarwel |
| Poland | Cześć | Do widzenia |
| Portugal | Olá | Tchau |
| Romania | Bună ziua | La revedere |
| Slovakia | Ahoj | Dovidenia |
| Slovenia | Zdravo | Zbogom |
| Spain | Hola | Adiós |
| Sweden | Hej | Adjö |
| UK | Hello | Goodbye |
Please accept my apologies if I’ve made any mistakes. When searching online I found alternatives for quite a few of the countries, so I went with what seemed to be the most common word.
(photo courtesy of Geerati via Freedigitalphotos.net)
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