Albanian greetings and everyday social customs

Some Albanian Greetings

• Good morning = Mirëmëngjes
• Good afternoon = Mirëdita
• Have a nice day = Ditën e mirë
• Good evening = Mirëmbrëma
• Good night = Natën e mirë
• Good bye = Mirupafshim
• How are you? How do you do? = Si jeni?
• Thank you = Faleminderit
• When you see someone working, esp. in the field or manual labour, you greet "Puna e mbarë" (May your work go well)
• If you need to ask someone for help, you can say "Te lutem me ndihmo" (Please help me) or "Kam nevoje per ndihme" (I need help).
• If you are lost and see someone, you can tell them "Kam humbur rrugen" (I have lost my way). "Ke pare nje grup me njerez?" (Have you seen a group of people?) "Si shkohet ne ...." (How do I go to ....?) "Si shkohet ne Tirane?" (How do I go to Tirana)

Albanians will treat foreigners as welcome guests, no matter the nationality. The guest is sacred in the Albanian traditions and no effort is spared to help or make the guest comfortable, no matter how poor the family is. However, there may be unfortunate exceptions (bad-mooded people, drunkards, criminals in hiding), so use your judgement and gut feeling about who you ask for help.

Men: be careful not to approach local girls in the villages and not to do any action that can be misunderstood. Their family will most certainly not like it and their neighbors will gossip about it. It is ok to ask help or directions, to greet, or to have a talk if you know a language in common, but do keep a physical distance ("personal space").

Albanians are not too scared about grown-ups smiling or talking to their children. Usually the young children will be shy and keep a distance from the group, but if they do come near, it's ok to greet them. Older children may mix with the hash group for a while and will be happy to talk to you; if you know even a little Albanian, try to communicate - they'll not care about your mistakes, and they may even talk to you in English or Italian. It will be a nice experience for both parties. Again, do not do anything that can be misunderstood. Albanians do NOT see a predator in every adult that interacts with their children, hence you can be pretty relaxed about that. However do talk to your fellow Albanian hashers if you are not sure about what is ok and what is not, or send us an email or leave a comment at this site.