As I read the last of the year posts by my buddies at WordPress I marvel at all they have accomplished and their memories of 2011 which then prompted me to look at my own adventures. My year, like most, included events that were happy, sad, miraculous, mundane, motivational and the odd time downright irritating, and or downright silly. All in all I am not sad to be bidding adieu to the year as a whole.
So in as few words as possible and as many languages as possible (just to make sure you get the message 2011:
Goodbye – English
creole- ba bye
Farewell – English (formal)
Bye – English (casual)
totsiens / tot siens – Afrikaans (standard)
tot weersiens – Afrikaans (informal)
tot wederom – Afrikaans (informal)
wederdom – Afrikaans (informal)
koebaai – Afrikaans (informal; derived from English “Good-Bye”)
ghoebaai – Afrikaans (informal; derived from English “Good-Bye”)
baai – Afrikaans (informal; derived from English “Bye”)
arriewarie – Afrikaans (informal; folk etymology from “Au revoir“)
tatta / tata – Afrikaans (children’s language)
vaarwel – Afrikaans (formal)
elalleqa – Arabic
khodaa haafez _ persian
aabar dekha hobey – Bengali
Donadagohvi – Cherokee
Hagoonea’ – Navajo
Ahoj – Czech
Ja ne /
・カ・・・ヒ (informal) – Japanese
Ja mata ne /
・カ・・・ワ・ス・ヒ (formal) – Japanese
Sayonara /
・ウ・・・ネ・・ (if you will not see them for a long time) – Japanese
Auf Wiedersehen – German
Bis dann – German
Tschüss – German
Ade – German
Tschau – German
Bis Spater (Bis Schpaater)- German
Viszlát! – Hungarian
Arrivederci – Italian
Addio – Italian
Ciao – Italian
Buona sera – Italian
Adieu – French [add-ee-uh] (farewell) very formal
Au Revoir – French (aw reh-VWAH)
À bientôt – French (see you later)(ah bee-EN-toe)
À demain – French (see you tomorrow)(ah deh-MAN)
Hejdå – Swedish
Aloha – Hawaiian
Le’hitraot – Hebrew
Shalom – Hebrew
Aavajo – Gujarati
Punha Bhetu – Marathi
Sampai Jumpa – Indonesian
Adios – Spanish
Paalam – Filipino
Zai Jian – Chinese, Mandarin
Zoi Geen (the “g” is pronounced like geek) – Chinese, Cantonese
Farvel – Danish
Namaste (same as hello) – Hindi ( this video shows you how to pronounce namaste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXlcpjgyrOg )
Fir Milenge (see you) – Hindi
Alvida (Goodbye, bit formal) – Hindi
Ayo – Papiamentu
Rub Rakha – Punjabi
Feri bhetaula (lit. we’ll meet again) – Nepali
Do zobaczenia (see you) – Polish
Żegnaj – Polish
Adeus – Portuguese
Tchau – Portuguese
Do svidan’ya/До Свидания (until we meet again, formal)- Russian
Poka/Пока (pronounced pa-ka, informal) – Russian
Do vstrechi/До Встречи (until we meet again) – Russian
Selamat jalan – Malay
Selamat tinggal – Malay
Tot ziens – Dutch
Dag – Dutch
Doei – Dutch
????
- Chinese
Yasou (YAH-soo) – Greek
Hwyl fawr – Welsh
Annyeonghi Kyeseyo(if the person you’re talking to isn’t leaving) – Korean
Anyeonghi Gasyeo(if the person you’re talking to is leaving) – Korean
Näkemiin (See you) – Finnish
Hyvästi (Farewell) – Finnish
Hasta La Vista (see you later) – Spanish
Adios – Spanish
Te veo despues – Spanish
Vale- Latin (to one person)
Valete- Latin (to more than one person)
La revedere – Romanian
Veloma – Malagasy
Sige la – Pangasinan
Khuda Hafiz – Urdu
zai jian – Chinese
Ha det bra – Norwegian
Ha det – Norwegian
Sees – Norwegian
Snakkes – Norwegian
Vida parayunnu – Malayalam
Vidaiperukiren – Tamil (very formal, in fact no one uses this)
Ok maams – Tamil (very informal, use with mates only)
Poitu Vaarein (Taking leave but will visit again)- Tamil (standard fare)
Vaarein (Will come again) – Tamil short for Poitu Vaarein
Slan – Irish
Aavajo – Gujarati
Чао – Macedonian
Doviđenja – Croatian (litteraly means “Until we see again”)
Bog – Croatian ( litteraly means “God”, but can be pronounced Bok! so it is differencianised from the word “God”)
Ćao – Croatian ( Primarily used in Coastal Croatia, because of it location very close to Italy, where you would say “Ciao” and the prounanciation of Ciao and Ćao are similar, if not the same)
Mattae Sigona – Kannada (Used for meet you again sometime)
Chao – Serbian/Bulgarian
Nawatha hamu wemu – Sinhalese (This means “Catch you later”)
Subha dawasak – Sinhalese (This means “Have a nice day”)
Nasvidenje – Slovene (Formal)
Adijo – Slovene (Bye)
Čav – Slovene (Also čao and is pronounced as italian ciao
Thanks to: http://www.wikihow.com/Say-Goodbye-in-Several-Different-Languages

January 7, 2012 at 10:49 am
And then there’s the child’s ‘bu-by’!
Chris, I don’t know if you’re interested in my art blog, but that’s where I’m blogging now, because I’ve deleted Absurd Old Bird blog (so it’d be helpful if you could remove the old link in your blogroll). The new blog is the one attached to my name and gravater now.
Have a happy and healthier 2012.
January 7, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Hi Val Yes I have subscribed to your new blog. Thanks for reminding me to update my blogroll! I love your new site and will be happy to get it posted correctly!
January 2, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Ta ra to 2011!
January 2, 2012 at 11:14 pm
And I thought 2011 would be a banner year so am not predicting anything about 012!
January 1, 2012 at 7:09 am
That just about covers everything..are you sure that you did not miss one out.
Chestita novo gordini….happy New Year in Bulgarian
January 1, 2012 at 11:00 am
Chestita novo gordino to you Patrecia!
January 1, 2012 at 4:36 am
Happy 2012 Chris! I do hope all these goodbyes are JUST for 2011 and not for all of us too!
January 1, 2012 at 11:06 am
Happy New Year Susan! Yes I am glad to say goodbye to the year..just the year not y’all!
January 1, 2012 at 12:38 am
Chris, Out with the 2011 (old) in with the (new) 2012! Chris please if you don’t keep blogging keep in touch at jackiepaulson8@gmail.com Are you going to keep blogging?
January 1, 2012 at 11:08 am
Hi Jackie..yes I am blogging on..just glad to see the backside of the year! Thanks for your email addy, mine is cbar_k@yahoo.ca. Happy New year my friend. I am so glad I found you!
December 31, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Happy New Year! So nice to have met you in 2011. Good-bye tonight and hello tomorrow.
January 1, 2012 at 11:10 am
Georgette I am so glad to have found you this year also!! Happy Happy New Year!
December 31, 2011 at 6:01 pm
oops, ka kite ano! c
December 31, 2011 at 6:01 pm
You are fantastic, what a stunning idea.. (laugh) have a good one chris! c
December 31, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Cecilia..you are also fantastic!!
December 31, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Happy New Year to you and yours Chris!
December 31, 2011 at 6:15 pm
You also Barb! Hope you have a wonderful evening!
December 31, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Original and fun post! And tomorrow, hello?
December 31, 2011 at 6:15 pm
It is a great farewell! Oh yes and hello tomorrow! Good idea!
December 31, 2011 at 4:05 pm
CHOW MAIN 2011!!!! (Hehe….my play on the Italian’s ciao)
Happy New Year Chris!!!!
December 31, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Oh my dear dear friend Colleen…only you can make me laugh the way you do! Thank you for your friendship and encouragement. You are a blessing!!
Chris
December 31, 2011 at 3:55 pm
I love it! Great idea for a New Year’s post!
Happy New Year, Chris!
Kathy
December 31, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Kathy my friend, your comments and blogs have made my world a better place and I count you as a blessing. Very very Happy New Year wishes to you and yours!!
Chris