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.

boys with football

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.

honorary turkish member

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.

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.