This page contains only Christmas GREETING translations for the original Holiday Christmas Music Special Presentation: the WORLDWIDE SLEIGH RIDE. Click here for the WorldwideSleighRide.com main page.
Have some foreign language skills? Got some authentic, street level knowledge of proper Christmas greetings in a certain country?
If the answer is yes, then you could really help this project by posting 30 seconds of your own Media Content.
Consider posting a "mini-lesson" Christmas greeting translation audio or video to the Telegram Main Group discussion feed located here:
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The Warm Wishes (Christmas In Every Language) theme song lyrics contain about 20 different foreign language Christmas greeting translations. Scroll down for background info on each one.
NOTE: The translations are listed here roughly in the order they appear in the Vegas "Rat Pack" Orchestra version of the theme song which is video #3.
Hey, why doesn't everyone just use this one! Ha. (Of course, I kid. Let's not lose our sense of humor, Peoples.) The truth is we don't want everyone across the world speaking the same language and placing the same tacky holiday gifts under the same plastic Christmas trees, now do we?
OK. Our first translation from American English is this weird one from across the pond. Seems like a complete misappropriation of the adjective "happy". The phrase is largely incoherent. Indecipherable, really. Why can't they just speak proper English over there?
Famous phrase with a swanky vibe. These Peoples have style. Always decorating the text with their funny markings. You can reach a new level of sophistication by learning how to correctly pronounce this translation and then go about deploying it strategically at holiday parties.
Every music lover knows this one! I was leaning toward omitting it because it's so musically famous.
Question: How many "h" letters does it take to say Merry Christmas in German? Answer: A whole lot. OK, fine. Say what you will. But their country is not crammed with plastic crap from China.
Smooth yet stylish salutation here. They've got the panache. They know how to communicate with the mellifluous tones.
This is a food centric greeting (feast). The Nederlanders love cuisine. But they are not obese. Maybe they skip the high fructose corn syrup?
Similar to Spanish but don't you dare confuse the two. "Respecto!" (No, I'm not of the Portuguese persuasion.)
This one is such a mouthful I had to edit it down for the song lyrics. Caution, singers: for the pronunciation you're gonna need to hire a team of linguistic experts.
This is another one where the culture uses a couple of phrase variations. I do love this place. Respect must be paid to the cradle of the Old World, the Ancient Civilization.
Here's sort of a grab bag of the Nordic greetings. I didn't have room in the song to tag them all individually. Don't like it? See you in court!
OK, this one is genuinely tricky. But maybe it's a matter of getting used to the sounds. (Btw I considered including Aramaic, the ancient language that Jesus actually spoke, but decided that was a bridge too far.)
Yes, there are still Christian Arabs out there in the world. They are under constant pressure. This one's for you.
Philippines is a great bastion of Christianity in Asia and a multicultural place with a lot of dialects -- but I had to choose just one greeting. Hope I chose the right one.
This is for all of the Christian dissidents trapped inside the Orwellian Chi-com dictatorship hellzone. And also it is for you, Chairman Xi. You and your goons, and your stooges. Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For all of our friends on the Korean peninsula. The South is a happy and industrious land, home to many, many Christians. The key to liberating the North is the Nazarene. God only knows how many believers are holed up right now -- deep inside the rocket man's dystopian, nutcase, nightmare society. Pray for them and their literal struggle for daily bread.
Oh, man. Don't even get me started on the pronunciation of this one. But we owe Sobieski the ultimate debt of gratitude, so we soldier on.
This place is the real deal apparently as far as Christianity goes. They've got the spirit. Apparently the heavy Soviet boot made no lasting impact. What a great example of resistance to tyranny!
Polls say Czech Republic is the most de-Christianized nation in Europe, sadly. How about a revival, Czech Peoples? Atheism is an intellectual conceit and a dead end. Agnosticism is not much better. Tyrants around the world want secular citizens because then the people are easier to distract and enslave!
For our friends in the Land of the Rising Sun. Christians are fairly thin on the ground there -- but the Japanese do enjoy some secular Santa-themed festivities. That's what I call a good start!
Yes, the Warm Wishes (Christmas In Every Language) theme song lyrics contain about many different foreign language Christmas greeting translations -- but exactly which ones to employ is a decision left up to each singer.
NOTE: The vast cornucopia of translations is still largely unexplored, still fuzzy. Somebody asked me why the Korean phrase was missing -- which comes as a suprise to me because someone else told me a while ago it was essentially the same phrase as the English phrase, with a slight spelling difference. So, I didn't think it was necessary to break it out separately.
But apparently I got some bad info and there is a specific phonic representation in English. I haven't researched it yet thoroughly but I assume it's another case of multiple expressions -- a case of more than one salutation -- which is a fairly common occurrence throughout the world.
There are apparently more than 10 million Christians in South Korea, and only God knows how many more in North Korea. So I will definitely try to squeeze the Korean translation in a version of the song soon.
UPDATE: Okey dokey I fixed the greeting list to include the Korean phrase on this page, at least (it will take quite a while to fix the omission everywhere else in the sheet music and all of the graphics etc). And it's more like 15 million Christians in South Korea. And, yeah, I mis-remembered the pronunciation issue -- it's almost identical to the Japanese one, not the USA English one.
The greeting list at this stage is still very modest. Updates are coming soon. There are somewhere around 100 foreign language Christmas greetings in use around the world. Can we eventually get 100 accurate mp3 sound file "mini-lesson" WSR translations linked on this page? Yeah, I think we can.
Looking to build out this section of the website as a searchable, comprehensive list with audio pronunciation files embedded.
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Casual and candid holiday greetings are very much welcome -- in whatever language you happen to use!
Wish the Worldwide Sleigh Ride a "Merry Christmas", "Seasons Greetings", or "Holly Jolly" in a Media Content posting (audio, photo, video) or just post it as a comment at the Telegram Main Group discussion page linked below. No mini-lesson is required.
