Twenty-one is a pretty spiffy number. In a card game it can mean black jack. It’s the title of a great Adele album. And it's the age we can officially drink beer, wine, whiskey … even absinthe!
Not to mention it's the number of puppies we found that can't comprehend the concept of sleep.
It's also the date of today’s holiday, “World Hello Day.” The creators of this day, Brian and Michael McCormack, established the holiday during the 1973 conflict between Egypt and Israel. They believed that if more people learned to say "howdy" in languages other than their own, the act would advocate world peace.
So in honor of Nov. 21 here are 21 ways to say “hello” in 21 different languages—from French and Japanese to Mongolian and Zulu:
1. Mandarin: Nǐ hǎo
Pronounced knee-how.
2. Spanish: Hola
Pronounced o-la.
3. Hindi: Namastē
Pronounced na-me-stay.
4. Persian/Farsi: Salaam
Pronounced sa-lam.
5. Portuguese: Oi
Pronounced Oy!
6. Russian: Privet
Pronounced pre-vet.
7. Japanese: Konnichiwa
Pronounced con-niche-e-wa.
8. German: Hallo
Pronounced hall-o!
9. Javanese: Halo
That’s right, the people on Indonesia pronounce it the same way the Germans do—hall-o!
10. Turkish: Merhaba
Pronounced mir-ha-ba.
11. Korean: Annyeong haseyo
Pronounced an-yong-ha-say-yo.
12. French: Bonjour
Pronounced bon-jor.
13. Italian: Ciao
Pronounced chow.
14. Zulu (South Africa): Sawubona
Pronounced saw-boo-na.
15. Thai : S̄wạs̄dī
Pronounced so-wa-dee.
16. Czech: Ahoj
Pronounced AH-hoy.
17. Swedish: Hallå
Pronounced ha-lou.
18. Polish: Cześć
Pronounced chest.
19. Quechua: Manallatac canqui
The native language of the native language of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador is pronounced EE-mah-nah-YA-tahk CAHNG-ee. Say that three times fast.
20. Mongolian: Sain bainuu
Pronounced san-ban-no.
21. Greek: Yassou
Pronounced YAH-su.
Learn them all and remember to SHARE!
