Good morning in 25+ languages, and when to use each one

TL;DR: Good morning is bonjour in French, guten Morgen in German, buenos días in
Spanish, ohayō gozaimasu in Japanese and ṣabāḥ al-khayr in Arabic. The full table below
covers 26 languages with their original scripts, romanisation for pronunciation and literal
meanings. Something to note is that several of the best-known phrases are not morning
greetings at all: bonjour, buongiorno, dzień dobry and bom dia all literally mean good day,
and locals use them well past lunchtime.

Each greeting below appears in its own script with a romanisation spelling that you can read
aloud and a note on what time of the day it can be used with locals. Naturally, greeting
windows can change depending on region and formality, so the last column is more of a
contextual guide than a hard and fast rule.


How do you say good morning in 25+ languages?

The spellings of some romanisations will differ from the ones seen in travel blogs.
Reading a romanisation is also not the same as recognising the phrase at speed, which is
why Memrise pairs vocabulary with clips of native speakers rather than studio recordings.
This helps learners to recognise key phrases as they would be spoken by a local.


Why “good morning” is often not a morning greeting

It is tempting to assume these phrases will perfectly pair up with an English equivalent.
However, most of the best-known greetings do not, as they are often rooted in the cultural
mores of each country and community.

Bonjour, buongiorno, dzień dobry, bom dia and kaliméra all literally mean “good day”.
Speakers use them from the first thing in the day until early evening. French has no separate
everyday morning greeting at all and bonjour covers most greetings until the evening. Czech
and Japanese however have more formal guidelines on when certain greetings should be
used, switching to another phrase once the morning is out.

It’s key to learn the greeting and its suitable context rather than the word alone. When you
are unsure, the all-day form is the safer option, as it will usually be applicable morning, noon
and night.

Which of these languages has the most speakers?

Mandarin has the most speakers of any language in the table. Ethnologue’s 2025 edition
puts it at 1,184 million, counting both first and second language use.

It’s useful to note, however, that these numbers are for total speakers rather than native
speakers, which is a notable difference. Ethnologue also counts varieties separately instead
of grouping them, which lowers the totals for Arabic and Chinese in particular, which both
have multiple dialects and variations.

Which languages are the hardest to learn?

Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese and Korean are recorded as the hardest for English speakers.
The US Foreign Service Institute puts its hardest group at roughly 2,200 class hours to reach
professional working proficiency. That is about four times what its easiest group takes.

Why is Mandarin Chinese so difficult to learn?

Mandarin does not use an alphabet, which is worth understanding first. It is written with
logographic characters, so the written form gives little help with pronunciation, and each
character is learned as a unit. Tone is a key part of communication and the same syllable
shifts meaning with its pitch. When learning Mandarin Chinese, it is important to understand
both characters and tones together rather than leaning on pinyin.


Why is Arabic so difficult to learn?

The script runs right to left and short vowels usually go unwritten, which makes it difficult for
new learners to get to grips with the written language. The real obstacle is diglossia, where
different standards of Arabic are used in different situations and communities. For example,
Modern Standard Arabic is the language of writing and broadcasting, but it is rarely spoken
in the home. Equally, Arabic differs greatly from location to location, so you will need to know
the dialect alongside the standard form to get by in places like Cairo, Casablanca and Beirut.


Why is Japanese so difficult to learn?

Japanese uses three scripts at once. Hiragana and katakana are syllabaries of a few dozen
characters each, and kanji involves borrowed Chinese characters, most of which carry
more than one reading. An ordinary sentence mixes all three. The consolation is that
pronunciation is straightforward and the grammar regular, so the reading load is where the
difficulty sits.


Which languages are the easiest to learn?

Spanish, Norwegian and Dutch are among the easiest for English speakers. The Foreign
Service Institute groups them with the other western European languages at roughly 600 to
750 class hours, against 2,200 for its hardest group.


Why is Spanish considered easier?

Spanish spelling is close to phonetic, so once you know the rules you can pronounce a word
you have never seen. The five vowels are clean sounds that do not shift with stress, so the
sound system will not catch you out the way French does. Oftentimes, understanding verb
endings takes some time for English speakers to understand but as these are generally
regular, they can be easy to follow with practice.

Why is Norwegian considered easier?

Norwegian shares a great deal of vocabulary with English, as both are Germanic, and the
sentence structure feels familiar from the start. Verbs barely change, with one present tense
form for every person. The complication is that Norway has two written standards and a wide
spread of dialects, so there is no single spoken form to copy.


Why is Dutch considered easier?

As the Dutch language has common roots with English and German, much of the written
language can be guessed on sight. The order of words follows German more closely than
English, which can take some time to adjust to, and the pronunciation contains sounds
English does not have. It is still one of the quickest routes to reading a second language.



Where to start

If you want to have some confidence with one of these languages in a short period of time,
learn the Spanish greeting and the phrases around it. The spelling is phonetic, so what you
read is close to what you say. The Foreign Service Institute ranks Spanish as one of
the fastest languages to learn.

Admittedly, this is a very personal choice. If you are planning a holiday elsewhere or have a
friend or family member you want to communicate with in their own language, then naturally
it’s best to start with that language. Whichever language you choose to learn, however,
greetings and polite exchanges are always a great starting point and can often get you
further than you might expect.


Frequently asked questions

What are the most important words to learn in a new language?
Start with greetings, yes and no, please and thank you, and the phrase for “I don’t
understand”. These will carry you through most short exchanges with a stranger.
Following that, numbers are very useful. Understanding some basic numbers and
figures can help in many situations

What is the 80/20 rule, and does it apply to language learning?
The 80/20 rule, or Pareto principle, is a general observation that a small share of inputs
produces most of the output. It is not a finding about language learning, and no study
establishes a fixed split for study time. What is true is that high-frequency words appear far
more often than rare ones, so early vocabulary choices matter.


How often should I practise?
Short and regular practice sessions are always better than long sessions that only
take place occasionally. A daily 10-15-minute routine is more useful than an hour once a
fortnight, as this will often keep phrases, grammar and vocabulary fresh in the mind.

How many words do I need to know to hold a conversation?
Estimates vary widely and no authority sets the number. Figures between 2,000 and 3,000
words are commonly quoted for everyday conversation. They come from different studies
using different definitions of both “word” and “conversation”, so treat them as a rough order
of magnitude.


What do CEFR A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 mean?
These are the six levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages, which describes what a learner can do rather than how much grammar they
have covered. Memrise’s explainer breaks down each band in full. A1 covers set phrases
and basic needs, B1 is independent use in familiar situations, and C2 is near-native
command.

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