Cheers! How to Make a Toast in Ten Different Languages

How to make a toast saying ‘Cheers!’ in 10 languages and also 4 useful English phrases for asking about words and their meanings.

When you don’t know how to say something in English, you need to ask. In this lesson we’re going to look at some ways to ask, and also find out how to say cheers in some different languages.

When you’re toasting in Portuguese you say ‘Saude!’, which would be something like ‘Health!’
In Danish we say ‘Skål!’ and err… then of course we drink.
‘Yamas!’ Yamas. OK. It’s the short form for ‘Stin iyia mas’ which means ‘To our health’. So err… so this is an abreviation.
There’s a couple. In proper Dutch you say ‘Gezondheid!’, you know, a drink to your health. But in Flemish we… In Flemish, just the Dutch in the north of Belgium, we say Skal very often.
Skål!
Slainte mhath. Yes slange is health and mhath is big. Great health. And the answer Slainte mhor means greater heath. Better health. You know, the other way round.
In the Phillipines we say ‘Mabuhay!’. Mabuhay means long live, more power…
Egészségedre! Egészségedre!
It’s to your health.
The stress is on the first syllable. In Hungarian the stress is always on the first syllable. Egészségedre.
What do you say? In Mexico we say say ‘Salud!’ ‘Salud!’ ‘Salud!’ ‘Salud!’ ‘Salud!’
And we also use the French word santé. ‘Santé!’ we say. ‘À votre santé!’
‘Prost!’ ‘Prost!’
Err, sometimes you may say ‘A nossa!’ which would be to us, to our health.
Or just general good wishes, you know. Happiness, Felicidade!
I’m drinking a Belgian cherry beer. It’s a ladies’ beer.
Felicidade!
Egészségedre!
À votre santé!
Prost! Prost!
Yamas!
Mabuhay!
Slainte mhath!
Skål!
Salud! Salud! Salud! Salud! Salud!
Mmmm. Fantastic! Here’s to the chef. It’s a pleasure.

Let’s check some language you can use to understand and explain words. To find out what people say, ask ‘What do you say?’

When you’re toasting in Portuguese you say ‘Saude!’ ‘Yamas!’ ‘Gezondheid!’ ‘Skål!’ ‘À votre santé!’
You can also ask how to say something.
In Danish we say ‘Skål!’ and err… then of course we drink.

And when you want the meaning ask, ‘What does it mean?’

Slainte mhath. Yes slange is health and mhath is big. Great health. And the answer Slainte mhor means greater heath. Better health.

Notice the third person ‘s’ here. And in the question, we say ‘does’. So these structures are wrong.

Yamas. OK. So this is an abbreviation.

An abbreviation is a shortened word or phrase. You can ask a question like ‘What’s it short for? ‘What’s Yamas short for?

It’s the short form for ‘Stin iyia mas’ which means ‘To our health’.

Now what about pronunciation? If you want to know how to say or pronounce something, ask ‘How do you pronounce that?’

The stress is on the first syllable. In Hungarian the stress is always on the first syllable. Egészségedre.

So there you are – four useful questions for asking about words and their meanings. Oh and tell me, how do you say ‘Cheers in your language?
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