If you’re planning on visiting Nepal anytime soon, then now is the perfect time to learn meaning of Namaste. The locals in Nepal always appreciate it when visitors make an effort to speak their language. Getting some basic words and phrases under your belt will be a solid investment in your ability to communicate with your porters and guides when you’re out in the mountains or the shop-keepers and taxi drivers when you’re getting around Kathmandu.
So where to start? The perfect place to begin is with the meaning of namaste. Namaste is the main Nepali greeting and simply means hello and goodbye. You won’t have been in Nepal long before you’ll be getting bombarded with Namaste. The polite way to greet people in Nepal is to say “Namaste” and then hold the palms of your hands upright and together in front of your chest. To learn more about the meaning of namaste, view the accompanying hand gesture.
Namaste is just the beginning
Once you’ve mastered the meaning of namaste it will be time to start getting adventurous. I’ve listed a few very handy phrases below.
How are you? – tapailai kasto cha?
I’m fine – malai sancai cha (or the less formal way to say you’re fine is to say “thikcha”)
Yes – hujur
No – hoina
Excuse me/Pardon – hajur?
How much is it? – kati ho?
My name is – mero nam ho
What is your name? – tapaiko nam ke ho?
Please show me the menu – menu dinuhos
One of our favourite sayings being Australians is “no worries”. Given not much worries the Nepalese people this is well worth learning and the expression for “no worries” in Nepali is “bhailhalchani”. And it sounds like this… “by-harlt-sunny”
It’s great fun on all our expeditions spending time with our Sherpa leaders, guides and porters and learning Nepalese from them. They also appreciate the opportunity to learn English from us and most of our staff are very determined to learn as much as they can. Trek Climb Ski Nepal invests heavily in all our staff and sending our guides to English classes is one way we help prepare them for guiding and leadership roles with our groups out in the mountains. Stay tuned to this blog for more Nepali language lessons soon, but for now we hope you’ve got the meaning of namaste covered.