‘Feliz Navidad’ and other ways to wish a merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! You can find out how to express that two-word sentiment — which, whether you celebrate the holiday or not, you’re bound to hear countless times today — in a number of different languages, thanks to troves of glossaries online.

[Click on the photo above to tour a gallery of Christmas trees around the world.]

The Life Hackery blog, for instance, came up with 57 ways to utter the greeting. Here are a handful of Christmasy phrases from its post, with which to impress family, friends or neighbors from around the globe:

Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka

Navajo: Merry Keshmish

Amharic (Ethiopa): Melkin Yelidet Beaal

Spanish: Feliz Navidad

Welsh: Nadolig Llawen

French: Joyeux Noel

Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie

Norwegian: God Jul or Gledelig Jul

Japananese: Shinnen omedeto. Merii Kurisumasu.

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Piazza del Duomo, Milan, Italy; Vittorio Zunino Celotto / Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 9:00 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Arts & Culture, Family & Kids, Festival, Global, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.