How to toast like a global citizen
IF you’re entertaining overseas friends or clients, here are a few things you might say when going out for a beer, shots or cocktails:
With the Dutch or Germans, say, “Proost”. The Germans spell it with one “o” less but it sounds the same. Translated, it means “Health” or “Cheers.”
With Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelanders, you can say, “Skaal!”, pronounced as “Skoll!”, which means “To your health.”
With English speakers, there are lots of toasts. Popular ones include “Cheers!”, “To your health!” and “Bottom’s up!” ( Note: the bottom is the glass’ bottom.)
With the Italians, the most common is, “Salute!”, pronounced sah- loo- teh, which means “Cheers!” and it also works if someone sneezes. You’ll also hear “Chin- chin!”, an onomatopoeic word that comes from clinking glasses.
With the Japanese, the word is “Kampai!”, but you may hear “Banzai!” on occasion, too.
With the Scots or Irish, say, “Sláinte mhaith” pronounced slan- je- VAH, meaning “Good health”.
With Spanish speakers, from central and south America to people from Spain, you can impress them by this common toast, “Salud, dinero y amor! ... y tiempo para disfrutarlos!”, which means “Health, money and love. And time to enjoy them all!”
Pronounce it as sah- LOOD, dee- nair- oh ee ahmor - ee tee- YEM- poh pah- rah dis- fruitAHR- los. If that’s too hard, just say, “Salud!”
With the Ukrainians, the toast is “Budmo!”, meaning “Ever lasting life!”
With the Russians, there is no common toast, each toast is personally inspired. If you’re doing business, you may have to make a very short speech like, “To our meeting and to our mutual success in this venture!”
But if everyone’s having fun, you may find yourself drinking to increasingly ironic toasts like “May we never run out of booze!”