Acknowledge that the universal (non-verbal) way to greet others is a simple handshake or wave.
List of some words and expressions in all languages
Afrikaans - haai (hello) pronounced Ha-i Albanian - tungjatjeta (hello) pronounced Toon-jat-yeta A'Leamona - tél nìdõ (good day) pronounced tehl-neye-doe Arabic - subbal-el-kheir (good morning), masaa-el-khair (good evening): note that Kh is pronounced from the back of the throat. mArHAbAn (Hello) pronounced Mar-ha-ban Armenian - barev or parev Azerbaijani - salam (hello) pronounced Sa-lam Bahamas – hello (formal), hi or heyello (informal), what you sayin', Buyh? (very informal - slang) Basque - kaixo (pronounced kai-show), egun on (morning; pronounced egg-un own), gau on (night; pronounced gow own) Bavarian and Austrian German - grüß Gott (pronounced gruess gott), servus (informal; also means "goodbye"; pronounced zair-voos) Bengali — namaskar Bremnian - koali (pronounced kowalee) Bulgarian - zdraveite, zdrasti (informal) Burmese - mingalarbar Cape-Verdean Creole - oi, olá Catalan - hola (pronounced o-la), bon dia (pronounced bon dee-ah)good morning, bona tarda (bona tahr-dah) good afternoon, bona nit (bona neet)good night. You can also say just "Bones (bo-nahs) to make it informal. Chamorro - hafa adai (hello/what's up?), hafa? (informal), howzzit bro/bran/prim/che'lu? (informal), sup (informal)and all other English greetings Chichewa - moni bambo! (to a male), moni mayi! (to a female) Chinese - 你好, Cantonese nei ho or lei ho (pronounced nay ho or lay ho) Mandarin 你好 (pronounced ni hao), 早上好（pronounced zao shang hao; good morning!） Congo - mambo Cree - Tansi (pronounced Dawnsay) Croatian - bok (informal), dobro jutro (morning), dobar dan (day), dobra večer (evening), laku noć (night) Czech - dobré ráno (until about 8 or 9 a.m.), dobrý den (formal), dobrý večer (evening), ahoj (informal; pronounced ahoy) Danish - hej (informal; pronounced hey), god dag (formal), god aften (evening; formal), hejsa (very informal). Double Dutch - hutch-e-lul-lul-o (hello), gug-o-o-dud mum-o-rug-nun-i-nun-gug (good morning; formal), gug-o-o-dud a-fuf-tut-e-rug-nun-o-o-nun (good afternoon; formal), gug-o-o-dud e-vuv-e-nun-i-nun-gug (good evening; formal) Dutch - hoi (very informal), hallo (informal), goedendag (formal) English - hello (formal), hi (informal), hey (informal, US only) Esperanto - saluton Estonian - tere' Ewe (Ghana) - Woezor Fijian - bula Finnish - hyvää päivää (formal), moi or hei (informal), moro (Tamperensis) French - salut (informal; silent 't'), bonjour (formal, for daytime use; 'n' as a nasal vowel), bonsoir (good evening; 'n' is a nasal vowel), bonne nuit (good night). There is also "ça va", but this is more often used to mean "how are you?" Gaelic - dia duit (informal; pronounced dee-ah gwitch; literally "God be with you") Georgian - gamardjoba German - hallo (informal), Guten Tag (formal; pronounced gootan taag), Tag (very informal; pronounced taack). Gujarathi - kem che Greek - yia sou (pronounced yah-soo; informal), yia sas (formal) Hawaiian - aloha Hebrew - shalom (means "hello", "goodbye" and "peace"), hi (informal), ma kore? (very informal, literally means "whats happening" or "whats up") Hindi - नमस्ते, namaste (pronounced na-mus-thei), kaise hain (a little formal), kaise ho (informal, familiar) Hungarian, Magyar - jo napot (pronounced yoh naput; daytime; formal), szervusz (pronounced sairvoose; informal) Icelandic - góðan dag (formal; pronounced gothan dagg), hæ (informal) Igbo - nde-ewo (pronounced enday aywo), nna-ewo (pronounced enna wo) Indonesian - selamat pagi (morning), selamat siang (afternoon), selamat malam (evening) Italian - ciào (pronounced chow; informal; also means "goodbye"), buon giorno (pronounced bwohn geeornoh; good morning; formal), buon pomeriggio (pronounced bwohn pohmehreejeeoh; good afternoon; formal), buona sera (pronounced bbwoonah sehrah; good evening; formal) Japanese - ohayou gozaimasu (pronounced o-ha-yo go-zai-mass; good morning), konnichi wa (pronounced ko-nee-chee-wa; daytime or afternoon), konbawa (pronounced gong-ban-wa; evening); moshi moshi (pronounced moh-shee moh-shee; when answering the phone); doumo (pronounced doh-moh; informal way of greeting, but means countless other things as well so only use when context makes sense) Jibberish - huthegelluthego, h-idiguh-el l-idiguh-o (formal), h-diguh-i (informal), h-idiguh-ow a-diguh-re y-idigah-ou? (meaning "how are you?") Jamaican (slang)- Yow Wah gwaan (pronounced wa-gwaan) Kanien'kéha (Mohawk) - kwe kwe (pronounced gway gway) Kannada - namaskara Kazakh - Salem (hello), Kalay zhagday (How are you?) Klingon - nuqneH? [nook-neck] (literally: "what do you want?") Korean - ahn nyeong ha se yo (formal; pronouned ahn-yan-ha-say-yo), ahn nyeong (informal; can also be used to mean "goodbye") Kurdish — choni, roj bahsh (day; pronounced rohzj bahsh) Lao - sabaidee (pronounced sa-bai-dee) Latin (Classical) - salve (pronounced sal-way; when talking to one person), salvete (pronounced sal-way-tay; when talking to more than one person), ave (pronounced ar-way; when talking to one person; when talking to someone respected), avete (pronounced ar-way-tay; when talking to more than one respected person) Latvian - labdien, sveiki, chau (informal; pronounced chow). Lingala - mbote Lithuanian - laba diena (formal), labas, sveikas (informal; when speaking to a male), sveika (informal; when speaking to a female), sveiki (informal; when speaking to more than one person). Luxembourgish - moïen (pronounced MOY-en) Malayalam - namaskkaram Maltese - merħba (meaning "welcome"), bonġu (morning), bonswa or il-lejl it-tajjeb (evening) Maori - kia ora (kia o ra), tena koe, ata marie, morena (good morning) Marathi - namaskar Mongolian - sain baina uu? (pronounced saa-yen baya-nu; formal), sain uu? (pronounced say-noo; informal), ugluunii mend (morning; pronounced ohglohny mend), udriin mend (afternoon, pronounced ohdriin mend), oroin mend (evening; pronounced or-oh-in mend) Nahuatl - niltze, hao Navajo - ya'at'eeh Neapolitan - cia, cha Nepali - namaskar, namaste, k cha (informal), kasto cha Northern German - moin moin Northern Shoto - dumelang Norwegian - hei ("hi"), hallo ("hello"), heisann ("hi there"), halloisen (very informal). Oshikwanyama - wa uhala po, meme? (to a female; response is ee), wa uhala po, tate? (to a male; response is ee) nawa tuu? (response is ee; formal), ongaipi? (meaning "how is it?"; informal) Oromo(Afan Oromo) - asham (hi')akkam? (how are you?),nagaa (peace, peace be with u) Persian - salaam or do-rood (see note above - salaam is an abbreviation, the full version being as-salaam-o-aleykum in all Islamic societies) Pig Latin - eyhay (informal), ellohay (formal), atswhay upay? ("what's up?") Polish - dzień dobry (formal), witaj (hello) cześć (hi, pronounced, "cheshch") Portuguese - oi, boas, olá or alô (informal); bom dia or bons dias (good morning, used before noon or before the noon meal); boa tarde or boas tardes (good afternoon, used after noon or after the noon meal, until twilight); boa noite or boas noites (good evening and good night, used after twilight). Punjabi - sat sri akal Rajasthani (Marwari)- Ram Ram Romanian - salut, buna dimineata (formal; morning) buna ziua (formal; daytime) buna searaformal; evening), buna (usually when speaking to a female pronounced boo-nhuh) Russian - pree-vyet (informal), zdravstvuyte (formal; pronounced ZDRA-stvooy-tyeh) Samoan - talofa (formal), malo (informal) Scanian - haja (universal), hallå (informal), go'da (formal), go'maren (morning), go'aften (evening) Senegal - salamaleikum Serbian - zdravo (informal), dobro jutro (morning, pronounced dobro yutro), dobar dan (afternoon), dobro veče (pronounced dobro vetchay evening), laku noć (night) Sinhala - a`yubowan (pronounced ar-yu-bo-wan; meaning "long live") Slovak - dobrý deň (formal), ahoj (pronounced ahoy), čau (pronounced chow) and dobrý (informal abbreviation) Slovenian — živjo (informal; pronounced zhivyo), dobro jutro (morning), dober dan (afternoon), dober večer (evening; pronounced doh-bear vetch-air) South African English - hoezit (pronounced howzit; informal) Spanish - hola (pronounced with a silent 'h': o-la), alo, qué onda (South America;very informal, like "what's up"; pronounced keh ondah), qué hay, (South America; very informal), qué pasa (Spain, informal), buenos días ("good morning"), buenas tardes (afternoon and early evening), buenas noches (late evening and night). These three forms can be made informal by saying "buenas". Also Qué Transa (Mexico;very informal, like "what's up" pronounced keh trahansa). Qué tál, meaning "what's up", pronounced "kay tal". Sulka - marot (morning; pronounced mah-rote [rolled r and lengthened o], mavlemas (afternoon; v is pronounced as a fricative b), masegin (evening; g is pronounced as a fricative) Swahili - jambo Swedish - tja (very informal; pronounced sha), hej (informal; pronounced hey), god dag (formal) Swiss German - grüzi (pronounced grew-tsi) Tagalog (Pilipino - Philippines) - Kumusta po kayo? (formal, means "How are you, sir or madam", pronounced "kuh-muh-stah poh kah-yoh"), Kumusta ka? (informal, means "how are you?", "kuh-muh-stah kah"). You can also add na when talking to someone you haven't see in a while, Kumusta na po kayo? or Kumusta ka na?. Magandang umaga po (Good morning, pronounced "mah-gan-dang oo-mah-gah poh"), Magandang hapon po (Good afternoon, "mah-gan-dang ha-pon poh"), Magandang gabi po (Good evening or night, "mah-gan-dang gah-beh poh"), Magandang tanghali po (good day, literally midday or noon, "mah-gan-dang tang-ha-leh poh"); NOTE: to make these informal greetings, drop po from the end and add the person's first name. Still, some people use words like mare or pare (very informal greeting, mare pronounced "mah-reh" for a close female friend; pare pronounced "pah-reh" for a close male friend). You may add it either before or after the greeting. Example, Mare, kumusta ka na? or Kumusta ka na, pare? Tahitian - ia orana Tamil - vanakkam Telugu- namaskaram Telugu - baagunnara (means "how are you?"; formal) Tetum (Timor - Leste) - bondia (morning), botarde (afternoon), bonite (evening) Thai - sawa dee-ka (said by a female), sawa dee-krap (said by a male) Tongan - malo e lelei Tsonga (South Africa) - minjhani (when greeting adults), kunjhani (when greeting your peer group or your juniors) Turkish - merhaba (formal), naber? (Informal) Twi (Ghana) - Akwaaba
Ukranian - dobriy ranok (formal; morning), dobriy den (formal; afternoon), dobriy vechir (formal; evening), pryvit (informal) Urdu - adaab ir salam (waley-kum) Vietnamese - xin chào Welsh - shwmae (North Wales; pronounced shoe-my)OR Helo Yiddish - sholem aleikhem (literally "may peace be unto you"), borokhim aboyem or gut morgn (morning), gutn ovnt (evening), gutn tog (day), gut shabbos (only used on the [1]) Zulu - sawubona
CREDIT: WikiHow with some additions.
What do you think?
