English-speaking photographers often ask people to 'say cheese' to get them to smile in photographs. This is because the ee in cheese, a close unrounded front vowel (/i:/), is hard to pronounce without a smile. In other language they might use words that contain this vowel, some other vowel pronounced with a smile, or words that people find amusing.
| Language | Phrase |
|---|---|
| Belarusian | Усміхніся! (Usmіhnіs′a!) - sg Усміхніцеся! (Usmіhnіćes′a!) - pl/frm |
| Bulgarian | Усмивка! (Usmivka!) - Smile! Зеле! (Zele!) - Cabbage! |
| Catalan | Lluis |
| Central Dusun | Ngingis! |
| Chinese (Cantonese) |
笑 (siu) - laugh 小小 (síusíu) - a little 一 二 三 (yāt yim sàam) - one two three |
| Chinese (Mandarin) |
茄子 (qiézi) - eggplant - used in China 七 (qī) - seven - used in Taiwan 笑一笑! (xiào yī xiào!) - smile |
| Coastal Kadazan | Ngingis! |
| Croatian | Ptičica (birdie) |
| Czech | Vyletí ptáček! Řekněte sýr! |
| Danish | Sig 'appelsin' (say orange) |
| Dutch | Lach eens naar het vogeltje! (Smile at the birdy/little bird!) |
| Finnish | Muikku! (vendance) Sano muikku! |
| French | Ouistiti ! (marmoset!) Souriez ! (smile!) Pepsi ! Le petit oiseau va sortir (The little bird is going to come out) |
| German | Spaghetti Käsekuchen (cheesecake) Wo ist das Vögelchen? (Where's the birdie? - said to children) Lächeln (smile) Ameisen-Scheiße (ant shit) |
| Greek (Modern) | Πες τυρί! (Pes tyrí!) - say cheese |
| Hebrew | (say cheese - Tagid 'chiz') תגיד צ'יז |
| Hindi | हसो (haso) - laugh! डट दिखाओ (dat dikhao) - show your teeth! |
| Hungarian | Csíz [tʃi:z] (small bird) |
| Icelandic | Segðu sís! |
| Indonesian | Katakan keju! (Say cheese!) Buncis! (Green beans!) |
| Japanese | Sei, no! はい、チーズ！ (hai, chiizu!) |
| Kannada | ನಗಿ (nagu) |
| Korean | 김치 (gimchi) |
| Norwegian | Appelsin! (Orange!) |
| Spanish | Patata (Potato - used in Spain) Diga 'whiskey' (Say 'whiskey' - used in Latin America) |
| Persian (Farsi) | apple - (sib) سیب |
| Polish | Uśmiech proszę! (Smile, please!) |
| Portuguese | Digam X (say X [ʃiʃ] - used in Brazil) Olha o passarinho (Watch the birdie) |
| Romanian | Zâmbeşte! (Smile!) |
| Russian | Скажи 'изюм!' (Skazhi 'izyum!') - Say 'raisins!' Улыбнитесь! (Ulybnites'!) - Smile! Улыбочку! (Ulybochku!) - A little smile! |
| Slovenian | Sir! [si:r] (Cheese!) |
| Swedish | Säg omelett! (Say omelette!) |
| Tamil (formal) | சிரி (siri) - smile, laugh |
| Telugu | నవ్వు (navvu) - laughter |
| Thai | เป๊ปซี่ (pepsi) |
| Turkish | Gülümseyin! (Smile!) |
| Ukrainian | Посміхніться! (Posmikhnit'sya!) - smile |
| Auxiliary and constructed languages | |
|---|---|
| Esperanto | Ĝis! Ridetu! |
| Talossan | Ditz "wisky" |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say_cheese
http://www.flickr.com/groups/central/discuss/72157611422265222/
http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?p=135
http://www.librarything.com/topic/56452
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1610650
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1g2jrh/what_is_the_equivalent_of_say_cheese_in_other/
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
My hovercraft is full of eels | Stop the world, I want to get off! | Say cheese! | Colorless green ideas sleep furiously | I am the king of the chickens | Thingamajig
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