Today is officially Christmas Eve! (So, Merry Christmas everybody!) I thought that I’d take a dive into how you would say Merry Christmas in other languages!
Origins of Christmas
Before we deep dive into how to say Merry Christmas in other languages, I wanted to go over the brief origins of Christmas.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Messiah, that Jews are still waiting for.
According to the New Testament, he was born in Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph. It is claimed in the Bible that the God came to Mary in a dream, to tell her that he’d chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah.
Obviously, when Joseph found out (Joseph was Mary’s husband), he was not too happy (as would most people), until Angel Gabriel came to him in a dream to tell him it was a good thing.
It is then believed that the Angel Gabriel went to shepherds and kings (wise men) telling them of the birth. They then followed a new star towards the stable where Jesus was born, and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Please read here, for more information!
101 ways to say Merry Christmas in other languages!
With the origins behind us, we can now talk about how to say Merry Christmas in other languages!
Each section will be split into continents where the language originated from (eg. English is European, even though Americans, Indians and Australians also use the language!)
African Languages:
Afrikaans: Geseënde Kersfees!
Chewa: Khrisimasi Yabwino!
Hausa: Barka da Kirsimeti!
Igbo: Ezi ekeresimesi!
Sesotho: Kereseme e monate!
Shona: Kisimusi yakanaka!
Somali: Hambalyo Christmas!
Sudanese: Wilujeng Natal!
Swahili: Krismasi Njema!
Malagasy: Tratry ny KRISMASY!
Xhosa: Ikrismesi emnandi!
Yoruba: Ikini ọdun keresimesi!
Zulu: Jabulela Ukhisimusi!
Asian Languages
Amharic: መልካም ገና! (melikami gena!)
Arabic: عيد ميلاد سعيد! (eid milad saeid!)
Armenian: Շնորհավոր Սուրբ Ծնունդ! (Shnorhavor Surb Tsnund!)
Azerbaijani: Milad bayramınız mübarək!
Bangla: মেরি ক্রিসমাস! (Mēri krisamāsa!)
Cebuano: Maayong Pasko!
Cantonese: 聖誕快樂! (Seng Dan Fai Lok!)
Filipino: Maligayang Pasko!
Georgian: გილოცავთ! (obas gilotsavt!)
Gujarati: મેરી ક્રિસમસ! (Mērī krisamasa!)
Hebrew: חג מולד שמח!
Hindi: क्रिसमस की बधाई! (krisamas kee badhaee!)
Hmong: Zoo siab rau Christmas!
Indonesian: Selamat Natal!
Japanese: メリークリスマス！(Merīkurisumasu!)
Javanese: Merry Natal!
Kannada: ಮೆರ್ರಿ ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್! (Merri krismas!)
Kazakh: Рождество құтты болсын! (Rojdestvo quttı bolsın!)
Khmer: រីករាយថ្ងៃបុណ្យណូអែល! (rikreay thngai bony nauel!)
Korean: 메리 크리스마스! (meli keuliseumaseu!)
Kurdish: Kirîstmas piroz be!
Kyrgyz: Рождество майрамы менен! (Rojdestvo mayramı menen!)
Lao: ສຸກສັນວັນ Christmas! (suksanvan Christmas)
Malay: Selamat Hari Natal!
Malayalam: സന്തോഷകരമായ ക്രിസ്മസ്! (santēāṣakaramāya krismas!)
Mandarin: 圣诞快乐! (Sheng Dan Kuai Le!)
Marathi: मेरी ख्रिसमस! (Mērī khrisamasa!)
Mongolian: Зул сарын баярын мэнд! (Zul saryn bayaryn mend!)
Myanmar: ပျော်ရွှင်သောခရစ္စမတ်ဖြစ်ပါစေ! (pyawshwinsaw hkarahchcamaat hpyitparhcay!)
Nepali: मेरी क्रिसमस! (Mērī krisamasa!)
Pashto: کرسمس مو مبارک!
Persian: کریسمس مبارک!
Punjabi: ਮੇਰੀ ਕਰਿਸਮਸ! (Mērī karisamasa!)
Sindhi: ميري ڪرسمس!
Sinhala: සුබ නත්තලක්! (suba nattalak!)
Tajik: Мавлуди Исо муборак! (Mavludi Iso muʙorak!)
Tamil: கிறிஸ்துமஸ் வாழ்த்துக்கள்! (Kiṟistumas vāḻttukkaḷ!)
Telugu: క్రిస్మస్ శుభాకాంక్షలు! (Krismas śubhākāṅkṣalu!)
Thai: สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส! (S̄uk̄hs̄ạnt̒ wạn khris̄t̒mās̄!)
Urdu: میری کرسمس!
Uzbek: Rojdestvo bilan!
Vietnamese: Giáng sinh vui vẻ!
American Languages
Haitian Creole: Jwaye Nwel!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka!
European Languages
Albanian: Gëzuar Krishtlindjet!
Basque: Eguberri on!
Belarussian: З Калядамі! (Z Kaliadami!)
Bosnian: Sretan božić!
Bulgarian: Весела Коледа! (Vesela Koleda!)
Catalan: Bon Nadal!
Corsican: Bon Natale!
Croatian: Sretan Božić!
Czech: Veselé Vánoce!
Danish: Glædelig jul!
Dutch: Vrolijk kerstfeest!
Estonian: Häid jõule!
Finnish: Hyvää joulua!
French: Joyeux Noël!
Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen!
Galician: Bo Nadal
German: Frohe Weihnachten!
Greek: Καλά Χριστούγεννα! (Kalá Christoúgenna!)
Hungarian: Boldog Karácsonyt!
Icelandic: Gleðileg jól!
Irish (Gaelig): Nollaig Shona!
Italian: Buon Natale!
Latin: Felicem natalem Christi!
Latvian: Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus!
Lithuanian: Linksmų Kalėdų!
Luxembourgish: Schéi Chrëschtdeeg!
Macedonian: Среќен Божиќ! (Sreḱen Božiḱ!)
Maltese: Il-Milied it-tajjeb!
Norwegian: God jul!
Occitan: Polit Nadal
Polish: Wesołych Świąt!
Portuguese: Feliz Natal!
Romanian: Craciun Fericit!
Russian: С Рождеством! (S Rozhdestvom!)
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig Chridheil!
Serbian: Срећан Божић! (Srećan Božić!)
Slovak: Veselé Vianoce!
Slovenian: Vesel božič!
Spanish: ¡Feliz Navidad!
Swedish: God Jul!
Turkish: Mutlu Noeller!
Ukrainian: Щасливого Різдва! (Shchaslyvoho Rizdva!)
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen!
Yiddish: לעבעדיק ניטל! (lebedik nitl!)
Oceanic Languages
Samoan: Manuia le Kirisimasi!
Why do you need to know how to say Merry Christmas in other languages?
Knowing how to say Merry Christmas in other languages is an invaluable skill if you are travelling over Christmas. Or just if you are an avid language learner.
Quickly saying Merry Christmas in other languages to your hosts, can often be the difference between a good and a bad stay.
As Anglophones, we don’t necessarily have the best reputation for speaking other languages. So, the ability to say Merry Christmas in other languages can be an invaluable skill when attempting to endear yourself to the locals of your host country.
I was in Spain (Catalonia) recently, celebrating a friend from college’s engagement. My quick ability to use both Catalan and Spanish to say ‘Merry Christmas’, even managed to earn me, a free glass of wine!
If you have friends who are foreign, or who speak another language other than English, that you want to impress, say Merry Christmas in other languages to them! This is probably one of the best ways for foreigners and other language speakers to have the highest opinions of you!