Christmas stands as one of the most popular holidays on the globe; over 2.3 billion people celebrate it each year. Here are some incredible global translation facts about this great holiday:
Merry Christmas In Global Translation
Here’s how to say ‘Merry Christmas’ to your friends from around the world:
- Arabic translation – Milad Mubarak
- Dutch translation – Zalig Kerstfeest
- French translation – Joyeux Noël
- German translation – Fröhliche Weihnachten
- Greek translation – Kala Christougenna
- Italian translation – Buon Natale
- Japanese translation – Merii Kurisumasu
- Portuguese translation – Boas Festas (Portugal)/Feliz Natal (Brazil)
- Spanish translation – Feliz Navidad
- Mandarin Chinese translation – Sheng Dan Kuai Le
Christmas, Xmas, and Global Translation
We often see ‘Xmas’ instead of ‘Christmas.’ Why? Many people think it is easier to write. Others believe that writing ‘Xmas’ instead of Christmas is an attempt to remove Christ from Christmas. However, ‘X’ in ‘Xmas’ is, in fact, not the English letter ‘ex.’ It is an abbreviation of the Greek name of ‘Christ,’ Χριστός (Christos), which starts with the Greek letter Chi. Abbreviating ‘Christ’ as ‘X’ can be traced centuries back, with some written documents dated as early as 1100 AD.
The Christmas Tree
Whether made of actual evergreens or plastic substitutes, the Christmas tree has come to symbolize the most important holiday for Christians all over the world. The Christmas tree is thought to have originated in Germany. Additionally, tinsel, once made of silver, traces back to 1610 in Germany.
Every year, around 50 million live Christmas trees are decorated in the United States. Christmas trees are cultivated in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. The top Christmas tree-producing states in the United States are California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Christmas Food
For many of us, Christmas is the most important day of the holiday season. After all the presents have been unwrapped, the primary event of the day usually involves eating. Here are three amazing facts about Christmas food:
- Did you know that a typical Christmas dinner can include 7,000 calories per person?
- A candy cane is a typical Christmas candy, but it was designed to help keep children quiet during church.
- Sugar plums are not plums at all. In the 1600s, ‘plum’ referred to any form of dried fruit, and sugar plums were made with dried fruit and spices coated in sugar.
Christmas Songs
There are a few occasions when a great playlist is required to make your day more enjoyable. One of them is Christmas. Here are some popular Christmas songs
- ‘Jingle Bells,’ originally called ‘One Horse Open Sleigh,’ was written by James Pierpont in Massachusetts as a Thanksgiving song and was the first song sung in space by astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra on December 15, 1965.
- ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ was initially performed by servants to demand alcoholic beverages from their bosses.
- ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby is the best-selling Christmas song, with over 50 million copies sold worldwide thanks to the power of global translation services.
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