Essential Bengali phrases

The Chittagonian language, in its own name. Standard Bengali is what is written, taught and used with outsiders; Chatgaiya is what is actually spoken in the street, and the two are not mutually intelligible. Knowing this is the single most useful orientation a newcomer can have here.

'My' in Chittagonian. Note the nasal vowel: আর (ar) means 'and', আঁর (ãr) means 'my'. Nasalisation carries meaning here in a way it does not in standard Bengali, which is why Bengali speakers from elsewhere mishear so much.

The standard greeting, used exactly as in Dhaka. Standard Bengali is universally understood even where it is not the home language, so this always works.

The port. In Chattogram it is not one employer among many — it is the reason the city exists, the reference point for directions, and the thing whose congestion or clearance times most conversations eventually come back to.

The river that splits the city from the port's southern shore. 'Karnaphuli-r opare' — across the Karnaphuli — means Anwara and Patenga side, now reachable by the road tunnel under the river.

Hill. Chattogram is built across low hills — the only large Bangladeshi city that is — which is why addresses talk about being up or down, and why monsoon landslides are a real hazard in the hillside settlements.

The green three-wheeler auto-rickshaw, named for its fuel. Metered in theory, negotiated in practice. With no metro here, CNGs, buses and ride-hailing are the whole answer to getting around.

Traffic. Used unchanged in Bengali. In Chattogram the specific villain is the port truck traffic on the access roads and the Dhaka–Chattogram highway, which is why locals plan by hour rather than by distance.

The Chittagonian communal feast — a host feeding an entire neighbourhood, traditionally on beef. It is the region's defining social institution and being invited to one is a real welcome, not a formality.

'Brother', attached to almost any man's name and used for strangers; 'Apa' for a woman. Works identically in Chittagonian and standard Bengali and is the fastest way to sound less foreign.

Slow-cooked beef reduced almost black, the dish Chattogram is known for across Bangladesh. If you eat one thing here, this is it, and every family claims the correct version.

999 is the national emergency service — police, fire and ambulance on one number, the same across Bangladesh. 333 is the government information helpline. 109 is the national helpline for violence against women and children.