I’m not going to lie, I’m terrible at learning languages. That’s okay though, this interested me enough to put together. The following is how to say sports in different languages.
I’d like to get all the translations for the top 100 most spoken languages (source) in the world. If you see ****, that means I haven’t figured out the right solution yet. HELP ME! Leave a comment or send me an email, please.
The languages are in order of how many people speak them, how you say ‘sports’ and where it is spoken:
| 1 | Mandarin | Tǐyù | China, Taiwan, Singapore |
| 2 | Spanish | Deportes | Hispanic America, Spain, United States, Equatorial Guinea, Western Sahara, Pacific islands |
| 3 | English | Sports | Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Singapore, Philippines |
| 4 | Hindi | khel | India, Fiji, Nepal |
| 5 | Arabic | riadat | North Africa, Western Asia (Middle East), East Africa |
| 6 | Portuguese | Esportes | Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste |
| 7 | Bengali | Krīṛā | Bangladesh, West Bengal (India), Tripura (India), Assam (India) |
| 8 | Russian | vidy sporta | Russia, former Republics of the Soviet Union, Mongolia |
| 9 | Japanese | Supōtsu | Japan |
| 10 | Punjabi | Khēḍāṁ | Punjab region (India, Pakistan) |
| 11 | German | sport | Austria, Belgium (Eupen-Malmedy), Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, South Tirol (in Italy) |
| 12 | Javanese | olahraga | Java (Indonesia) |
| 13 | Wu (Shanghainese) | **** | Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu (eastern China) |
| 14 | Malay/Indonesian | malay sukan indo olahraga | Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore |
| 15 | Korean | seupocheu | North Korea, South Korea |
| 16 | Telugu | Krīḍalu | Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry (India) |
| 17 | Vietnamese | các môn thể thao | Vietnam |
| 18 | French | des sports | Belgium (Wallonia, Brussels), Canada (particularly Quebec, New Brunswick and Eastern parts of Ontario), France, Switzerland, Francophone Africa, French Caribbean, French Polynesia, various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. |
| 19 | Marathi | Kriḍā | Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat (India) |
| 20 | Tamil | Viḷaiyāṭṭu | Tamil Nadu, Karnataka (India), Puducherry (India), Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius |
| 21 | Urdu | khail | India, Pakistan |
| 22 | Persian/Farsi | **** | Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan |
| 23 | Turkish | Spor Dalları | Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria |
I did notice many of the basketball and football teams in Turkey ended with ‘spor’. Antalyaspor, Trabzonspor etc. Makes sense. Kinda.
Turkish for the night
| 24 | Cantonese | pāi | Guangdong (Canton), southern Guangxi (southern China), Hong Kong, Macau |
| 25 | Italian | gli sport | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino |
| 26 | Thai | Kīḷā | Thailand |
| 27 | Gujarati | Ramatō | Gujarat (India) |
| 28 | Basque | kirol | Northern Spain |
| 29 | Minnan hua | ūn-tōng | Fujian, eastern part of Guandong (southeastern China), Hainan (southern China), Taiwan, Malaysia |
| 30 | Polish | Sport | Poland, USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Belarus, western Ukraine, Lithuania |
| 31 | Pashto | **** | Afghanistan, Pakistan |
| 32 | Kannada | Krīḍe | Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra (India) |
| 33 | Malayalam | spēārṭs | Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mahé (India) |
| 34 | Sundanese | olahraga | Java (Indonesia) |
| 35 | Chamorro | **** | Austronesian language spoken mainly on the island of Guam, and also in the Marianas Islands. |
| 36 | Hausa | wasanni | Nigeria |
| 37 | Burmese | aarrkahcarr | Burma |
| 38 | Oriya | krida | Odisha (India) |
| 39 | Armenian | sportadzever | Armenia Georgi and Russia |
| 40 | Ukrainian | sport | Ukraine |
| 41 | Bhojpuri | **** | Bihar (India) |
| 42 | Tagalog | laro | Manila and Northern Philippines |
| 43 | Yoruba | idaraya | Nigeria, Benin and Togo |
| 44 | Maithili | **** | Bihar (India) |
| 45 | Sindhi | **** | Sindh (Pakistan and neighboring areas in India) |
| 46 | Swahili | michezo | Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda |
| 47 | Uzbek | sport turlari | Uzbekistan |
| 48 | Amharic | siporitochi | Ethiopia |
| 49 | Fula | **** | West and Central Africa, from Senegal to Sudan |
| 50 | Igbo | egwuregwu | Nigeria |
| 51 | Oromo | **** | Ethiopia and Kenya |
| 52 | Romanian | sport | Romania, Moldova |
| 53 | Azerbaijani | idman | Azerbaijan and Northern Iran |
| 54 | Manipuri/Meitei | **** | North East India, Bangladesh, Burma |
| 55 | Chichewa | **** | Bantu language spoken in parts of Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique |
| 56 | Cebuano | sports | Central and Southern Philippines |
| 57 | Dutch | sport- | Belgium (Flanders, Brussels), Netherlands and Suriname |
| 58 | Kurdish | sporê | “Kurdistan”, northern Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria |
| 59 | Serbo-Croatian | **** | Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro |
| 60 | Malagasy | fanatanjahan-tena | Madagascar |
| 61 | Nepali | Ma Khēlakuda | Nepal and neighbouring areas, Sikkim, (India) |
Some extreme sports action in Nepal.
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| 62 | Saraiki | **** | Sindh (Pakistan) |
| 63 | Santali | **** | India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan |
| 64 | Khmer | keila | Cambodia |
| 65 | Sinhalese | krīḍā | Sri Lanka |
| 66 | Bambara | **** | Mali Mande language with about 3 million speakers in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ghana |
| 67 | Assamese | **** | Assam (India) |
| 68 | Madurese | ****/td> | Madura, and Java (Indonesia) |
| 69 | Somali | ciyaaraha | Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Yemen |
| 70 | Magahi | **** | Bihar (India) |
| 71 | Dogri | **** | Kashmir Jamu (india) |
| 72 | Marwari | **** | Rajastan (India and Pakistan) |
| 73 | Hungarian | sport- | Hungary and areas in neighbouring countries |
| 74 | Chewa | **** | Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe |
| 75 | Kinyarwanda | **** | Kinyarwanda, a Bantu language spoken in mainly in Rwanda. |
| 76 | Greek | Athlitismós | Greece, Cyprus |
| 77 | Akan/Twi | **** | Ghana, Ivory Coast |
| 78 | Khasi | **** | Meghalaya state in India by the Khasi people. |
| 79 | Kazakh | sport | Kazakhstan |
| 80 | Tswana | **** | Botswana |
| 81 | Hebrew | **** | Israel |
| 82 | Zulu | ezemidlalo | South Africa |
| 83 | Czech | sportovní | Czech Republic |
| 84 | Kinyarwanda | **** | Rwanda |
| 85 | Kokani | **** | Goa (india) |
| 86 | Haitian Creole | espò | Haiti |
| 87 | Afrikaans | sport | South Africa |
| 88 | Ilokano | **** | Northern Luzon in the Philippines |
| 89 | Quechua | **** | Peru and Bolivia |
| 90 | Kirundi | **** | Burundi and Uganda |
| 91 | Swedish | sporter | Sweden and Finland |
| 92 | Hmong | kev ua si | Laos and neighbouring areas |
| 93 | Shona | mitambo | Zimbabwe |
| 94 | Hiligaynon | **** | Western Visayas in the Philippines |
| 95 | Uyghur | **** | Xinjiang (Western China) |
| 96 | Balochi | **** | Balochistan (province in Pakistan and Iran) |
| 97 | Belarusian | spartyŭny | Belarus |
| 98 | Mossi | **** | Burkina Faso |
| 99 | Xhosa | midlalo | South Africa |
| 100 | Konkani | **** | Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra (India) |
Well, there you go. There are a lot of languages on this list I’d never heard of. Now go play some espò.
