How to ask for ‘one more beer, please’ in 50 languages

By Kristin Conard On November 17, 2010 · 60 Comments

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Image: Matador

Languages are tricky, and as no one here at Matador is yet fluent in 50 languages, I reached out to native speakers around the world. From our own editors to tourism bureaus to hostels around the world, this is our collection of how to ask for “one more beer, please” in 50 languages.

Remember to use these responsibly – in some countries, drinking is illegal. There may also be some regional and formality variations in pronunciation, but these should get the job done!

Photos left to right: rick, dynamosquito, @sahxic < twitter.

A-E

Language	Spelling	Phonetic Pronunciation
Afrikaans	Een meer bier, asseblief / Nog ‘n bier, asseblief (more common)	Een mear bie-er, ah-seh-bleef / Noch ehn bie-er, ah-seh-bleef
Albanian	Edhe një birrë, të lutem	Edhe nye bi-re, too luh-tehm
Arabic (Egypt)	واحد بيرة كمان من فضلك	Wahid beera kaman min fadlak
Armenian (Western)	Ուրիջ մեկ պիրա, հաձիս Ourish meg bira, hajis	Ourish meg bira, hajis
Basque	Beste garagardo bat, mesedez	Beh-ste –aragar-doh bag, mehshedez
Bavarian	No a bia, gäh san’s so guad / No oans, gäh san’s so guad	No a be-a gah san s-so gu-ad / No o-ans gah san s-so gu-ad
Bosnian	Molim vas, još jedno pivo / Još jedno pivo, molim	Moh-leem vuhs, yosh yedno pivo / Yosh yedno pivo, mohleem
Burmese	Beer ta buu htut pay bar	Beer ta buu htut pay bar
Catalan	Una altra cervesa, si us plau	Una altra ser-ve-sa, see oos plow
Chamorro	Un setbesa ta’lo, fan / Un setbesa mas, put fabot	Un set-beh-sa tah-lo, fan / Un set-beh-sa moss, put fah-bot
Chinese (Mandarin)	请再来一瓶啤酒 qǐng zài lái yī píng pí jiǔ / tsing zai lie ee ping pee geo 再来一瓶啤酒 zài lái yī píng pí jiǔ	Tsing dzai lie ee ping pee geo / Dzai lai ee ping pee gee-oh
Croatian	Molim vas, dajte mi jos jedno pivo (formal) / Još jedno pivo (informal)	Moh-leem vuhs, duhte me yosh yehd-no pee-voh / Yosh yehd-no pee-voh
Czech	Ještě jedno pivo, prosím	Yehsh-tyeh yehd-now pih-voh, proh-seem
Danish	En øl til, tak	Een oel til, tack
Dutch	Nog één biertje, graag	Nog een beer-t, grahg
Estonian	Üks õlu veel, palun / Veel üks õlu, palun	Ooks ur-loo vehl, pah-lun / Vehl ooks ur-loo, pah-lun

Photos left to right: a4gpa, reivax, joseloya.

F-M

Language	Spelling	Phonetic Pronunciation
Filipino/Tagalog	Isang beer pa po	Eeh-sang beer pah po
Finnish	Vielä yksi olut, kiitos (kiitos is polite, but not always needed)	Viela uks oh-lut, key-tos
Flemish	Nog een bierke alsjeblieft	Nog een beer-keh all-sye-bleeft
French	Une autre bière s’il vous plaît	Oon o – tra bee yehr see voo play
German	Noch ein Bier, bitte	Noch ein beer, bit-uh
Greek	άλλη μια μπύρα, παρακαλώ Ali mia beera parakalo	Ah-lee me-a bee-ra pah-rah-kah-lo
Hebrew	אוד בירה אחת בבקשה	Od beera akhat bevakasha
Hindi	Ek aur biyara chahiye	Ek aur bi-ya-ra cha-hi-ye
Hungarian	Kérek szépen még egy sört (formal) / Egy sört kérek (informal)	Keyrek say-pen may egye shirt / Egye shirt keyrek
Icelandic	Annan bjór, takk	Ann-an bee-yor, tack
Irish	Beoir eile, le do thóil	Byor el-eh, leh doh hul
Italian	Un’altra birra per favore	Oon al-trah bee-rah, pehr fahv-oh-ray
Japanese	ビールもういっぱいお願いします biiru mou ippai onegaishimasu (in a glass) / ビールもう一本お願いします biiru mou ippon onegaishimasu (in a bottle)	Bee-ru moe eep-pie oh-neh-guy-she-mahs / Bee-ru moe eep-pie eep-pon oh-neh-guy-she-mahs
Korean	맥주 한 병 더 주세요 Mekju han byung du juseyo (in a bottle)	Mek-ju han byung du ju-seyoh
Latvian	Vēl vienu alu, lūdzu	Vehl vi-eh-nu uh-lu, loo-dzoo
Lithuanian	Dar vieną alaus, prašom	Dar viena alous, prashom
Macedonian	Уште едно пиво, ќе ве молам	Ushte edno pivo, kye ve molam
Mongolian	Dahiad neg shar airag	Dah-iad neg shar ar-ag

Photos left to right: Wotang01, minor9th,sun_summer.

N-Z

Language	Spelling	Phonetic Pronunciation
Norwegian	En øl til, takk / En pils til, takk	En oel til, tack / En pills til, tack
Polish	Poproszę jeszcze jedno piwo / Jeszcze jedno piwo proszę	Poprohsheh yesh-teh yedno pee-vo / Yesh-teh yedno pee-vo prohsheh
Portuguese	Mais uma cerveja, por favor	Myees uma cerveja, pohr fah-vohr
Romanian	Încă o bere, vă rog	Inkha o behre, vah rogh
Russian	Еще одно пиво / Еще пива, пожалуйста	Esche ad’no piva / Esche piva, pajaloosta
Serbian	Još jedno pivo, molim	Yosh yedno pivo, mohleem
Slovenian	Še eno pivo, prosim	She eno peevo, proseem
Spanish	Otra cerveza por favor	Oo-trah sair-bay-sa por fah-bor
Swedish	En öl till, tack / Jag tar en öl till, tack (more formal)	En uhl teel, tackh / Ya tar en uhl teel, tackh
Thai	Kho beer eek kaew ka (for women) / Kho beer eek kaew krab (for men)	Ko beer ik kae kaw / Ko beer ik kae krab
Turkish	Bir bira daha lütfen	Bir bira da-ha luet-fen
Vietnamese	Cho một bia nữa	Cho mo’oht bee-ah neu’uh
Welsh	Un cwrw’n fwy, os gwelwch yn dda	Un corwn foo-ee, os gwel-ookh un tha
Xhosa	Ndiphe obunye utywala futhi	Ndip-he obun-je uc-wala futhi
Yoruba	J Ọ, fun mi l’ Ọ tí kan si	Jaw, foon me law tea con see
Zulu	Nye ningi utshwala	JNee nin-gi ut-sch-wala

Community Connection

Check out Matador’s highly scientific rankings of the world’s Top 10 Rooftop Bars, and Top 10 Local Parties for ideas on where to get your international drink on.

Flying solo? Read the Gutsy Girl’s Guide to Drinking Alone.

About The Author

Kristin Conard

Kristin Conard is an editor at Matador Nights as well as a writing instructor in California. As a child, she wanted to be a librarian, because she thought that the librarian was the one who got to write all the books in the library. Her obsession with reading and writing has continued, and when she is not grading papers and lesson planning, she is working on a collection of essays and planning her next trip.

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view all → Kristin Conard

http://dzema.name Dmitriy Dzema

“Еще одно пиво” is pronounced like “Esche odno pivo” which means “One more beer”.
“Esche piva, pajaloosta” means “More beer, please” and should be written as “Еще пива, пожалуйста”

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

Thanks for the heads up! We’ve got it fixed up!
http://www.OnOurOwnPath.com Bessie

Good work, Dmitriy.

http://salocin.com Nicolas

Unaweza ku leta bieri moja – Swahili.

You can add “baridi sana” at the end if you want to ask for it to be very cold, which is advisable.
R

Hi,

There is a discrepancy between the spelling and pronunciation of the Russian phrase. The spelling is:

- Еще одно пиво

Which is pronunciated roughly as “Esche ad’no piva” and tranlsated as “One more beer”.

The “Phonetic pronunciation” is:

- Esche piva, pajaloosta

Which is actually spelled as “Еще пиво, Пожалуйста” and translated as “More beer, please”.

I guess you could use “Еще одно пиво, Пожалуйста” – “Esche ad’no piva, pajaloosta” – “One more beer, please”. It seems more correct and polite.

The other languages I understand, Portuguese, Spanish and Frensh, are just fine.

Regards,
R

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

Thanks for this! We’ve got it fixed up!

http://www.kirstenalana.com/ Kirsten

Great list!! Wish this was some kind of iPhone app …
http://backpackingworldwide.com Matt Hope

I’ll definitely be putting some of these to use next year
http://www.buenosairesenglish.com Dominick DalSanto

Dear God, I think this is the happiest I have ever been reading a blog post! This had got to be put in some kind of handbook for travelers, as point number one. I mean after all, whats the point of traveling, if you dont sit back in your new environment and have a beer with good friends every once and a while?
Pete

In Thai, we don’t like to say lengthy sentences, especially issuing orders in a restaurant/bar while beer often is served by the bottle, normally large bottle (smaller size is served in tourist venue and is expensive) So, just say this, “Nong, Beer Kuad” which means, “Little Brother/Sister, one more bottle of beer of the same size and brand I am currently drinking” or just signal to the waiter by pointing to your empty beer bottle and then point your index finger upward. It doesn’t matter if the waiter/waitress looks older than you’re. If the waiter looks really old, just drop the “Nong” part and say “Beer Kuad”
Chris

The very first one – the afrikaans one “Een meer bier, asseblief”, is kinda redundant (no one uses it and I think its probably even wrong) people will laugh at you if you say it BUT will appreciate the effort

Also, the pronounciation for the better phrase is a bit off – “Noch ayn beer, ah-seh-bleef”
More like “Noch ehn bie-ehr (like the first part of bieber, unfortunately) ah-seh-blief (again like the first part of bieber bieber)”

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

There are definitely more formal ways to ask for things and the first way is the way the South Africa tourism board recommended it (and a couple of others confirmed), but the more casual way has been noted along with the pronunciation. Thanks for your watchful eye!

Tam

Very cool fun list Kristin.

Beer, along with thanks, hello and goodbye, were my first 4 words in Mandarin

In Mandarin (spoken in mainland China & Taiwan), you can just say 再来一瓶 | zài lái yī píng which kind of means “another bottle” and is easier and quicker (the Chinese don’t bother to waste words in such cases); the version above is quite polite and formal, though no problem, except you missed out the character for nǐ 你.

In HongKong Cantonese is the official language; perhaps someone can enlighten us on how to say it in Cantonese?

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

I did have some back and forth with a number of Chinese speakers, and we thought to keep in the please to make it more polite. But we now have the more casual/less formal way to say it there as well!

http://saffakidlife.blogspot.com jenna

a helpful list for sure!

just one thing, in afrikaans you wouldn’t say “een meer bier” at all, it’s more of a literal translation, and sounds awkward.

the second one on the list “nog ‘n bier asseblief” is fine!

or, if you want to go the full sentence route, and be more polite, you can also say “kan ek nog ‘n bier kry asseblief”.

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

South African tourism board recommended the first one, though we’ve noted the second as the more common phrase!

http://saffakidlife.blogspot.com jenna

thanks kristin!

i find it a bit strange that the south african tourism board would have recommended the first one though, since i’ve lived in south africa and spoken afrikaans my whole life, and i’ve never heard anyone ever say it.

i think they might be confused?

thanks for including afrikaans in the list anyway though!

Brian

Your pronunciation for Italian is a little off. This one will help a little better:

Oon-al-trah bee-rah, pehr fahv-oh-ray.

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

Thanks for the little adjustment. We’ve got it sorted!

http://kentoikeda.com Kento

You’re going to be in a bit of a surprise if you ask for airag in Mongolia and are expecting beer. Think more along the lines of “fermented mare’s milk.”
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me

I can ask for a beer in every place in the world just by gestures no need for that! ahahah
http://olivaresbound.blogspot.com Cat

In Southern Spain, simply holding up your fingers suffices!
http://www.jettingaround.info Pola

Great post!! I’m glad to see that you got the Polish part right And in Mexico, “una mas” worked too.
Shosh

Woohoo! Fabulous!

Just a little spelling mistake in the Hebrew:

אוד בירה אחת בבקשה

needs to be:

עוד בירה אחת בבקשה
http://gahovhannisyan.livejournal.com Gagik

Hi Kristin,

In Armenia (Eastern Armenian) we say “One more beer” as:

(polite) Եւս մէկ գարեջուր (Evs mek garedjur)
or
(general) Մի հատել գարեջուր (Mi hatel garedjur)

Note: In Armenian beer is գարեջուր (garedjur), which literally translates as “barley + water” (գարի + ջուր = gari + djur)

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

Thanks for this!

missgates

great post, kristin!!
love the variety of languages
Daniel Dočekal

Correction for czech

Ještě jedeno pivo, prosím ->
Ještě jedno pivo, prosím

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

Nice one. Fixed!

Petar

In Croatian and Bosnian (which are basically the same as Serbian) you’ve used a line “Please can you give me one more beer” and in Serbian “Babe, give me one more”. Do you have the idea of the meaning of the sentence before you put it on your website actually?

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

Thanks for this! Yikes – my bad. I’ve fixed it! This one is definitely much more polite. Good call!
gruja

Petre zheno,idi beri cvece.

brat

Haha Grujo kralju

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Paul

Finnish:

The y is pronounced in English more like a “u”, and really the phonetic spelling overcomplicates it. Kiitos is just Kitos with an extended i.

I like how simplified you’ve made the Icelandic one!

http://kristin5683.wordpress.com/ Kristin Conard

Cheers!

Pingback: How To Say “Cheers!” in 50 Languages
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http://matadortravel.com/traveler/pole Matt K.

In Polish, “Jeszcze” is actually pronounced “yesh-cheh,” not “yesh-teh” “yesz-teh” is closer to sounding like a slurred “I am” or “You are.”

But sweet article! This will come in handy for traveling around.
услуги по установке сантехники

недурно да круто
gorstak

serbian: daj jos jedno vopi
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http://reallydontmind.tumblr.com Aina

malaysian : tolong bagi satu lagi beer/arak.
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Giled

Punjabi : Ek hor peg de de
Juan Carlos

those are some LAME (Le-im) phonetic pronounciations…
Bob

a lot of inaccuracies and poor phonetics
Bob

a lot of inaccuracies and poor phonetics
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1800125306 Leyla Akhundova

In Ukrainian it Ще одне пиво, будь ласка Sche odne pyvo, bud’ laska!
Dustin Steichmann

the korean should be deo not du. (daw as apposed to doo)
Dustin Steichmann

the korean should be deo not du. (daw as apposed to doo)
Chris

Few Portuguese people say por favor, se faz favor would be better.
Chris

Few Portuguese people say por favor, se faz favor would be better.
Sara

The phonetic pronunciation
in Italian is a heresy! The Italian is pronounced exactly as you write a word! “Per favore” is “Per fa-vo-re” not “Pehr fahv-oh-ray”! In addition, the correct phrase is “Potrei avere un’altra birra, per favore?” (“May I have another beer please?”)

Guest

Relax Sara ! You could open ten different language books and they would all have a different phonetic spelling for pronunciation. She did a pretty good job organizing a fun article. That is what it is meant to be. Go order another beer and take an aspirin or Midol … A proposito, sono italiano !

Cloudlakemoon

Pronunciation….as long as they are close enough to get you a beer is all that counts )
My problem is that I seldom order ONE beer, bier or bjore…but need help with TWO and FOUR or PITCHER.

How to ask for ‘one more beer, please’ in 50 languages

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