How to Say Tea in Different Countries?

Have you ever thought what your cup of tea is called in Iceland? For a tea enthusiast, it is essential to be acquainted with the celebrated tea traditions of the world. To savour different flavours of tea in foreign countries, a tea lover must know the vernacular terms of tea.

The study of multiple terms leading to one single beverage is indeed exciting. Along with the vernacular terminologies of tea, the preference of flavours, as well as the techniques of its preparation, are also diverse. It varies from one geographical region to the other.

Different Pronunciations of Tea

The etymology of the term ‘tea’ can be traced back to China. One might wonder that despite being a Chinese beverage, how it got phonetically and culturally associated with the other countries of the world.

To answer this question, one has to flip through the pages of history and garner knowledge regarding the Silk routes. As in those days, the trade routes connected the different parts of the world, forming a link between Russia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Since ‘tea’ is the most commonly used term, the following list shall commence with ‘tea’.

• Tea is widely pronounced in the English, Basque, Tamil, and Hungarian languages.

• Chai is pronounced by people who speak languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Turkish, Slovenian, Slovak, Persian, Bulgarian, Russian, Arabic, Macedonian, and Azerbaijani.

• Cha is pronounced by the Bengali, Korean, Cantonese, Tibetan, and Sinhalese speaking people.

• Romanians pronounce it as ceai ca.

• Thai people call tea chah.

• Japanese call it ocha.

• Poland and Lithuani tea is known as herbata.

• Greeks call it tsai.

• Arabic people call tea shai.

• The Ukrainians pronounce it as chay.

• Tee is pronounced by the Finnish and Afrikaans.

• The Malays, Hebrews, and Indonesians call tea teh.

• The Germans pronounce it as der Tee.

• Dutch people pronounce it as thee.

• Esperanto calls it teo.

• The North Vietnamese calls tea che, whereas the South Vietnamese pronounce it as ja.

• The people of Somalia call tea shah.

• Té is pronounced by the Haitian Creole, Catalan and Galician people.

• The Spanish people call it la-tay; although the spelling goes as la té.

• Luxembourgish people pronounce it as Téi

• The Yiddish people call it tey.

• Mongolian call it tsa.

Teas are not only consumed as a comforting beverage it is also consumed for treating illnesses. There is a diverse range of herbal teas enriched with several medicinal properties such as green tea, ginger tea, rosehip tea etc. Popular tea traditions in the tea-drinking regions over the world are strangely entangled with the social and cultural lives of the people. Tea is the most commonly offered beverage when it comes to receiving invitees at any social event or gathering. It is served using both the hands as a gesture to show respect to the guests.

From providing you with an excuse to escape awkward social interactions to internal detoxification, this magic potion does it all!