Its the most wonderful time of the year again, and countries around the world will soon be preparing to celebrate the Christmas Season. That being the case, I thought it may be fun to use Website Translation to find, and share the different ways of saying Merry Christmas in various languages. Now, I cant say that you or I can pronounce them, but it is fun to see how the birth of Jesus is believed, and cherished all over Earth. Come on, lets start our Christmas journey.
Our first stop will be to use Website Translation to translate a website from English to Arabic, and say, "Milad Majid"! Christmas morning in the Middle East is traditionally spent with friends and family, enjoying coffees, liquers, and sugared almonds. A lunch of chicken and rice, and Kubbeh, or crushed boiled wheat, mixed with meat, onion, salt and paper, is the main meal of the season, usually served at the grandparents or eldest sons' home. Prayers are said in the name of Jesus, and Mohammed all thru the month of December.
Next on our holiday tour is China! In using Website Translation to translate a website from English to Chinese, "Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun" is said to wish others a Merry Christmas! In 2005, according to their government, there were more then 16 million Chinese Christians. While most will overlook Christmas festivities, some do go to church for services in a variety of languages, including Chinese, English and even in French. Christmas services are held at state-run churches in China, and shops, offices, and restaurants, stay open on Christmas Day, but International schools and Embassies are closed on Christmas Day.
Caroling our way to France, we use Website Translation to translate a website from English to French, and bid you a "Joyeux Noel"! Here, Christmas is celebrated very elaborately, even more so than in America. Even today, in Cathedral squares all around France, the story of Christ’s birth is re-enacted by players or actors, in a crèche. If you are a French Christmas lover, it's a definite must-see!
Moving along like Santas sleigh, we fly over to use Website Translation to translate a website from English to German, and hear "Fröhliche Weihnachten" being said among the locals, as they buy holiday cookies, marzipan sweets, and the traditional German Christmas tree pastry, Christbaumgeback, a white dough that can be molded into shapes and baked for Christmas tree decorations, in the always well stocked bakeries . A variety of toys and other gifts are offered in the outdoor markets as well, with little dolls made up of fruit as the traditional Christmas toys. As Germans immigrated to other lands, the custom of The Christmas Tree was spread, making it the most popular Christmas Tradition in Germany. These trees have a special significance for Germans and are known as "trees of life".
Christmas in Japan is quite different then America, and is actually mostly commercial, rather then religious, as most citizens there practice Buddhism and Shinto. When using Website Translation to translate a website from English to Japanese, we hear "Merii Kurisumasu" being wished upon one another. Christmas Eve is the main celebration day, and only children receive gifts from parents, as Santa only leaves gifts with the parents of children that still believe he exists. Once the cat is out of the bag, & Santa is known to not be real, no more presents!!! Most families do get Christmas trees for their celebrations, and more people are now decorating the outsides of their homes too.
As I use Website Translation to translate a website from English to Korean, we wish you a "Sung Tan Chuk Ha", and find that Korean citizens follow more along the lines of a traditional American Christmas. Korea is the only East Asian country to recognize Christmas as a national holiday, focusing more on the religious aspect rather then the commercialism. Families do give presents, decorate trees, and display store bought lights, but prefer to give time and love to one another instead. They attend Mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and believe it or not, the younger generations hold caroling parties as their Christmas festivities!
Nearing the tail end of our Christmas expedition, I use Website Translation to translate a website from English to Portuguese, and find a very pretty "Boas Festas" wishes you a joyous Christmas. Here, the tradition of gift-giving was defined by the strong beliefs of the people, and Santa is not the one bringing the gifts in a sleigh. On Christmas Eve, the children of this land carefully line doorways and windows with carrot filled shoes for the Three Wise Mens horses to eat, while the Three Wise Men fill up the now empty shoes with sweets and baked goods for the children to find on Christmas Morning. Their big Christmas feast is in the morning, where families set a place at the table for their deceased loved ones, in the hopes of gaining good fortune in the upcoming new year.
With only two more stops, our Polar Express chugs along to use Website Translation to translate a website from English to Russian, where a very difficult sounding "Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom" is spoken around Russia. Steering away from many Christmas traditions, Russians do not celebrate Christmas until January seventh, and only after celebrating The New Year first, as it is dubbed a more important holiday then Christmas. Again, Santa is not the star, but a fellow they call Ded Moroz, or Father Frost, and his helper Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden,give gifts to the children to place under the New Year's tree. Some Russian citizens will celebrate two Christmases, and two New Years, so their children learn what others around the world celebrate.
Stealthily, our reindeer land softly with a light jingle of their bells, and as I use Website Translation to translate a website from English to Spanish, our last Christmas Stop produces a well know "Feliz Navidad"! Here, local tradition has eating on Christmas Eve as one of the most important meals of the year. Families gather around Nativity scenes in their homes, and seafood is the main course. Families sometimes hang a ‘pata de jamon’ in their kitchen to slice off and serve cuts of cold ham over the Christmas period. Three "magic" kings, not Father Christmas, or Santa as we call him, give the children presents. Children write to The Three Kings, the way that ours write to Santa Claus, and townspeople gather in the streets to watch The Three Kings in all their glory, throw sweets to all of the children!
Dashing through the snowy Christmas nights of different cultures with you, has been very entertaining, enligtning, and informative, all thanks to the amazing innovation of Website Translation, and the hard work of many who make it possible to translate one language to another. Without the advanced technologies of the internet, we would have remained estranged from a whole world who thinks, feels, and shares the love of Christmas much in the same way as us Americans do. Now, go share some of your new found knowledge of the celebrations of Christs' birth, with your families, as you open gifts around your beautiful Christmas tree.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
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