Different Ways to Say Hello

"We learned a few words, the basics, like hello and goodbye. We learned to use chopsticks. It's not as hard as it looks." ~ Casey Hamilton

This life gives us so many chances to meet different people and interact with them. Especially as internet users, we all come across people from different cultures and backgrounds. Learning different languages and different ways to say hello, therefore, proves to be of great use! Hello is the first greeting that helps us start a verbal interaction with a person who is new to us. The different ways of saying hello also helps us understand the kind of relationship that the person wants with us, a formal one, or a friendly one! Let's go through the different ways to say hello in the some popular languages in the west.

Different Ways to Say Hello in English

Did you know that the word "Hello" was first authenticated in 1846 after it was derived from the words like holla, hollo which was attested in 1588. Thomas Edison is often given the credit as the word is a coinage for telephonic usage. Below are the different ways of saying hello in English.

Formal Ways of Saying Hello in English
English is the only one language which is spoken in each and every part of the world. In fact, English language is the only language that is spoken between people with no similar geographical or cultural backgrounds. Hello is that one word which has no offensive interpretation whatsoever. We can't share an informal vibe with people we don't know. Therefore, below are the different ways of saying hello in English, formally.

    * Good day
    * How are you?
    * Depending on the time of the day you can greet a person using greetings like, Good morning or Good afternoon.
    * How are you doing today?
    * Glad to meet you / glad to see you / glad to hear from you.

Informal Ways of Saying Hello in English
Unlike formal ways of saying hello, which is usually the case in business interactions, informal ways of saying hello indicate more of a friendly approach towards socializing with a stranger. Some cool ways to say hello in English are as follows.

    * Hey
    * Hi
    * Hiya
    * How's it going?
    * Howdy
    * Ey up
    * Wassup / what's up
    * Yo
    * Sup
    * Howzit

Different Ways to Say Hello in Spanish

Spanish is another beautiful language that most of the people either want to learn or either they come across people from Spanish origin. Although mostly the same, there is however a slight difference in greetings when it comes to Spanish language spoken in Spain and Latin America. Just go through the different ways of greeting in Spanish depending on the time of the day.

    * ¡Buenos días!: The beginning of an inverted exclamation mark means the beginning of an exclamation and using the normal exclamation mark at the end of the word shows the end. Coming to the words, Bueno means good, therefore buenos is the plural tense of good. Día means day, therefore días means many days. Therefore, Buenos días means Good day!
    * ¡Buenas tardes!: This means Good afternoon. Unlike many countries where the greeting changes from 'good morning' to 'good afternoon' as the clock strikes 12 noon, in Spain, people change the greeting after mid afternoon. Don't get confused for the later time difference, the good news is that good afternoon in Spanish is the same as good evening, ¡Buenas tardes! :)
    * ¡Buenas noches!: This means Good night which is also a way to say hello around 8 in the evening. Also a way to greet farewell as in other countries.

If you are still a little confused considering the time factor, as to which time to say which greeting, below are some general ways of saying hello in Spanish which can be said at anytime of the day.

    * ¡Buenas! / ¡Muy buenas!
    * ¡Hola!…which is more of an informal way to say hello and is pronounced as 'Ola', the 'H' is silent.
    * Over the phone, the Spanish people in Spain say ¡Digame! which means "speak to me." whereas in Latin America they greet the caller by saying ¡aló! which is hello in Spanish accent.

Different Ways to Say Hello in French

Like any other language, in French too, you can say hello in different ways. The kind of greeting depends upon the situation (formal or informal), how the other person has greeted you, and of course, the nature of relationship that you share with the person. When it comes to greetings in French, observing their social customs is another important aspect that one should consider. Below are the different ways to say hello in French.

    * Bonjour!: Pronounced as "bohn zhoor", this is a standard greeting that is followed among the French. Bonjour means good day and is mostly used in the morning.
    * Bon aprés midi: Pronounced as "buhn ah pray mee dee", this means good afternoon and is used as a formal greeting.
    * Bon soir: Pronounced as "buhn swahr", this means good evening and again, is used as a formal greeting.
    * Comment vous allez vous?: This is again a formal greeting which means, how are you? in French.
    * Salut!: Pronounced as "sah loo", this is an informal way to say hello…more like a 'hi' in English!
    * Allô: Pronounced as "ah lo", it's a telephonic greeting that is used when answering the telephone.
    * Hé: Pronounced as 'ay', this greeting is used when one is trying to attract someone's attention to ask something.
    * Ça va?: Pronounced as "sah vah", this greeting is used in an informal situation meaning how's it going?

They say that your first impression is always the last impression. The way you greet a person who is unknown to you creates a true reflection of your personality! I hope the above article on different ways to say hello helped you in finding your answers. To conclude, I would like to quote the following, "To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are different in the way we perceive the world, and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others."

Saying Hello Around the World

People have established different ways of saying hello depending on their region, their culture and general values. These rules have generally been kept from ancient times to our present days. Thus, in ancient Rome, people used to greet each other by raising their right arm upwards. The Romans used to greet each other with "Ave" (I greet you), "Salus" (May you be healthy) "Servus" (I am at your service, very respectful greeting) or "Salve" (a sort of good day), and they would say "Vale" when they used to part. (Farewell). The ancient Greeks when they met they would greet each other with "Charie", which meant "peace to you".

The inhabitants of China would greet each other by squeezing their own hand. The first Christians used to greet each other by using the word "peace". The French used to greet each other by squeezing each other’s cheeks.

Military men greet by raising their hand to the cap.

People in Latin America hug each other.

People in the Far East greet by bringing their hands together as if for prayer, and then bow. People in New Guinea put leaves on each other’s head as a greeting. People in Samoa express their greetings by smelling each other.

As a general rule, kids always say hello to the adults first. Also, boys greet girls. Friends greet each other cordially and it does not matter who says hello first.

When we salute a person that comes to welcome us, we greet that person from a 3-4 steps’ distance in order to allow that person to respond.

Who says hello first? Well, it usually goes as follows: the one who is walking says hello to the one who is standing; the one who is in the car says hello to the pedestrians; the one who is approaching a group; the one who enters a room says hello to the ones in; the one who leaves the first; the most respectful one. The most frequent greetings are hello, good morning/afternoon/evening, nice to see you, good luck. One should always respond to a greeting.

As far as the hand shake is concerned, here the order changes a bit. The rules about who stretches his hand first are the opposite of the ones for the greetings. Always give your right hand. Adults stretch their hand to the kids. Girls stretch their hand to the boys. Friends greet each other by stretching their hands at the same time. When shaking one’s hand, you should always look that person in the eye and smile. When we shake a boy’s hand, we do it firmly but when we shake a girl’s hand we do it with gentleness and tenderness. It is impolite to shake one’s hand while wearing a glove. It is not polite to retain the other person’s hand too much, just until saying hello is quite enough. Also, it’s not nice to squeeze the other person’s hand too tight.

French people have the habit to shake hands with their friends, or to kiss them on both cheeks whenever they meat or take leave. For this very reason, French people consider that the British are cold, impolite and unfriendly.

There are many other interesting greeting habits all over the world:

    * In Japan, people consider it polite to greet each other by taking a bow. This is valid for both men and women.
    * In Polynesia they have a very cute way of saying hello to your friend, and that is taking your friend’s hands and use them to stroke your face with them.
    * In Canada, the Inuit people have the habit of rubbing noses.
    * In Tibet there is what we would consider it a bit funny way of greeting. It is considered to be very polite to stick your tongue out at somebody, because in this way you show you have no evil thoughts towards that person.
    * In the US, it is normal especially for men to shake hands when they meet, but unusual to kiss each other’s cheeks.
    * British people usually say no more than hello when they meet their friends and they shake hands when they meet for the first time.
    * People in Holland kiss three times on cheeks (not only twice as French or Romanians do).

Well, be it as it would, but if our hello is friendly and from a warm heart, that is what makes the difference!