European customs – How to say ‘cheers’

Cheers! (by drtorres at Flickr.com)

Many countries or cultures have different ways of making toast. Locals love to teach expatriates and foreigners the proper way to make a toast, and they love to learn about yours as well!

In this article, we’ll tell you about the different customs we’ve stumbled upon when travelling, either for business or pleasure, through several of our 57 cities throughout Europe.

‘Na Zdravi!’

Quite a few countries in Central and Eastern Europe have a way of saying cheers that sounds quite similar.

When you find yourself in Prague, the way to the locals’ hearts is to say ‘Na Zdravi‘ (to your health) and lightly tap your glass against the other’s drink. Do not forget to make eye contact, it is very rude not to!

In many countries, the gist of saying ‘cheers’ is most always, to ensure good health for you and your drinking partners.

Now on to Warsaw and Krakow, where the gulping is allowed! Most drinks are served in small glasses to make said gulping easier.

Another thing to remember is toasting is only done with hard liquor, obviously vodka.

The cheer is ‘Na Zdrowia‘, and you should always maintain eye contact. In Slovakia (Bratislava), the situation isn’t much different – you should also toast with ‘Na zdravie!’.

In Slovenia (Ljubljana), it’s pretty much the same: ‘Na zdravje!’, but the locals will probably give you more props for pronouncing ‘Živijo!’

Twins (by Laura Wyatt at Flickr.com)

In Budapest, they say “Egészségére” (tip-sounds similar to pronouncing ‘I guess she can drive’ with a thick Hungarian accent!).

However, the technique is slightly different as there’s no clinking of glasses (especially not with beer!).

First of all, make eye contact, raise your glass to eye level, say the cheers, take a drink (no gulping the whole thing down), make eye contact again and place the glass back on the table.

‘Prost!’

In Vienna they’re aren’t too many rules to remember.

Just be your charming self, raise your glass, make eye contact and say ‘Prost!’.

You’re probably realizing now that eye contact is a must nearly everywhere! It just shows you’re interested in your companions instead of your smart-phone. This goes for any city we might not mention in this article.

In Belgium (Brussels), it’s polite to stand whilst having a toast with friends. The Flemish (Antwerp & Ghent) actually raise their glass twice, during the toast (say ‘Sante‘) and afterwards.

Most common is toasting the host or a friend with a fat wallet who bought the drinks.

In Belgium’s neighbouring country, the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam & The Hague), the cheers for a toast is ‘Proost‘.

Most of the time, this is accompanied by eye contact and the clinking of glasses, usually only with beer and soft drinks.

When drinking wine, the Dutch tend to say ‘Santé‘ or nothing at all, because simply raising your glass to others in the acknowledgement is more important.

Like the Netherlands, Germans (Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt & Munich,) have a separate toast for beer, ‘Prost’ and for wine, ‘Zum Wohl’, which all mean “to your good health”.

Remember to touch glasses with those you can reach around you, there’s no need for climbing over tables or others to get to someone’s glass.

All throughout Germany, it is also important to keep eye contact until you’ve placed your glass back down.

‘Salute!’

In Paris, you can’t go wrong with ‘a Votre santé‘ or just ‘Santé’ or ‘Tchin‘ and raising your glass, even clinking if you want! When you’re in Italy (Milan & Rome).

In Oslo, the proper word is ‘Skol‘, which goes along with… you guessed it, eye contact! Oslo’s neighbours in Stockholm pronounce, and spell, it slightly different. It’s ‘skål‘ and is pronounced ‘skoal’.

In Helsinki, of course, even though the countries are neighbouring, the languages are very different, so use ‘kippis‘ for a Finnish toast!

Just south of Finland lies Estonia (Tallinn), with probably the dirtiest way of saying cheers: ‘Terviseks!‘.

Use it with discretion. Go a little further down south to Latvia (Riga) and boast your knowledge of ‘Priekā!‘ as their way of toasting! Remember that it’s impolite to drink before saying cheers!

Happy hour (by absinthegroup at Flickr.com)

In Lisbon or Porto, if you want to ‘do as the locals do’, say ‘Saude’ or ‘Tchin Tchin’, which is apparently derived from the sound of clinking glasses.

The Portuguese word ‘saude’ is pronounced ‘sah-ood’ which sounds similar to the Spanish toast ‘Salud‘ (Madrid & Barcelona).

Now for the country of many languages, Switzerland (Zurich & Geneva).  In the German-speaking parts, start your night off with ‘Prost‘, in the French parts, it’s ‘Santé‘, and in the Italian part, it is ‘Salute’.

Remember your eye contact and clink glasses with everyone within reach. No surprises there, right?

‘Živeli!‘

If you find yourself roaming the Slavic-speaking countries of the Balkan peninsula (Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje), you can get by on ‘Živeli!‘ in any of these.

The word exclaims hopes for long life, and eye contact with every individual you clink your glass with is mandatory.

Going further east, in Bucharest, you should say ‘Noroc!‘, and in Sofia ‘Nazdrave!‘. If you make your way down to Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki), toast with a hardy ‘Yamas‘ or ‘Stine Giasou‘!