The holidays are a fantastic time to practice giving. This year, I want to focus on giving the gift of empathy and understanding this holiday season, and I think you should too! Below is a list of holiday phrases in different languages, and I encourage you to use these with people you know who’s first language isn’t english.
- Happy Holidays!
Happy holidays is a great way to include everyone in the December season! For Canadians, it is always great to know some French as we are a bilingual country. Happy holidays in French is joyeuses fêtes.
In Korean it is 행복한 휴일 (haengboghan hyuil).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sleZGsib9Ds
Going back to Europe, in Germany, happy holidays is schöne Ferien.
In the Middle East, Arabic is a popular language with over 420 million speakers. Happy holidays in Arabic is اجازة سعيدة (‘iijazat saeida) [read from right to left].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0PObUH0TuY
In Japanese, happy holidays is 幸せな休日 (Shiawasena kyūjitsu).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dec0wjbBvak
Spanish is also another very popular language 437 million speakers. Happy holidays in Spanish is felices fiestas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6z5mjuRKw
In Danish, happy holidays is god ferie.
I’ve been (trying) to learn Italian for 12 years! I still can’t speak it, but now I know that happy holidays is Buone vacanze.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBaQUOG8smY
- Good Tidings to You!
Going back to Canada’s second official language, this phrase in French is bonne nouvelle à vous.
In Korean, good tidings to you is 너에게 좋은 소식 (neoege joh-eun sosig).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhl__oxL8Bg
In Germany, this phrase is Gute Nachrichten für Sie.
Arabic, which is over 1500 years old, says good tidings to you as بشرى لك (busharaa lak).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dfMVstNnik
Japanese was originally written in Chinese characters and dates back to the 8th century. This phrase in Japanese is あなたに良い知らせ (Anata ni yoi shirasemasu).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6A7KpMzvLU
Good tidings to you in Spanish is buenas noticias para ti.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7cojzcBot8
In Danish, the phrase is gode budskab til dig.
In Italian, good tidings to you is buone notizie a voi. Another phrase I didn’t know!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3BT7tgWraQ
- Noel!
Over 275 million people speak French, including areas of Africa. Noel in French is mostly the same, it is noël.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YuiXveKoGc
In Korean, noel is 크리스마스 축가 (keuliseumaseu chugga).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBtYTvlrK7U
German is also a very old language that dates back to the 9th century. Noel in German is also just noel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5wpK15MsWU
In Arabic, noel is نويل (nuiil).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFTBC2oW0-c
The Japanese language is over 128 million years old. Noel in Japanese is ノエル (Noeru).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM77jmHepfs
Spanish is derived from a dialect of Latin, and it roots back to the 13th century. Noel in Spanish is Navidad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jx09QlyIeM
Danish is spoken by 5.4 million people in Denmark, where the phrase is just noel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5wpK15MsWU
In Italian, noel is just noel… so I guess I did know that one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T1qYD1P5ko
- Happy New Year!
French is a fairly new language, only spoken 800 years ago. Happy New Year in French is bonne année.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_5E4titaGE
Korean is spoken by 75 million people. In Korean, Happy New Year is 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (saehae bog manh-i bad-euseyo).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVuPkguzAaA
Happy New Year in German is Frohes neues Jahr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XlMYYf732E
In Arabic, Happy New Year سنه جديده سعيده (sanah jadiduh saeidah).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbvlB41vz4o
Happy New Year in Japanese is 明けましておめでとうございます (Akemashiteomedetōgozaimasu).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUOlFVCmb8E
In Spanish, Happy New Year is Feliz año nuevo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jj2kBB9Alk
Danish says Happy New Year as godt nytår.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co7-eVLtxx4
I definitely didn’t know this one… Happy New Year in Italian is felice anno nuovo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdvR58Dm_I
Bonus: Happy Holidays and Happy New Year in American Sign Language (ASL). It is thought to have originated in 1817 at the American School for the Deaf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBVGJVgmMhY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7XzlaqA0DI
Although we tried to make these translations as accurate as possible, some of the cultural context and meaning was lost in translation or didn’t exist in some of these languages. Many of these translations may be incorrect, so feel free to add your understanding in the comments or any other phrases and languages you know. Happy New Years is a very common phrase across the globe, so that translation is likely correct across all of these languages. Personally, my favourite language to learn was ASL, and I hope this holiday season we can do our part to make sure everyone feels included!
