MetaChat - Translation request:

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23 October 2008

Translation request: "Happy Holidays" in German? →[More:] I've got competing translations here, "Gluckliche Urlaube" and "Frohe Festtage". I'm trying to get the general "I wish you a merry celebration of the end-of-year seasonal holidays of your choice" vibe.

post by: occhiblu at: 12:12 | 15 comments

Frisch aussteigend das Boot translation, via Google: Ich wünsche Ihnen ein frohes Fest des Ende-des-Jahres-Saison-Urlaub Ihrer Wahl.

posted by not_on_display 23 October | 12:27

(...but don't use it, really. You'd probably come off as more goofy than you intend to.)

posted by not_on_display 23 October | 12:28

Heh.

posted by occhiblu 23 October | 12:30

"Glücklich Urlaub" is more "Happy Vacation" in American so I don't think that's what you're going for.

I'd say that "Frohe Feiertage" or "Schöne Feiertage" would be the generic "Happy Holidays" that you seek.

I am not a native German speaker, but I do speak it daily.

posted by cmonkey 23 October | 12:41

Whattya think about this website?
These are their two suggestions:
1) Frohe Weihnachten
2) Fröhliche Weihnachten
Und ein frohes neues Jahr

posted by Stewriffic 23 October | 12:42

This multilingual holiday card seems to back up option 1--Frohe Weihnachten

posted by Stewriffic 23 October | 12:45

Weihnacht is Christmas, Stew. I think occhi is looking for a more inclusive phrase.

posted by jrossi4r 23 October | 12:49

Danke schoen a tutti! :-)

posted by occhiblu 23 October | 12:55

Yeah, "Weihnacht" is "Christmas".

Here in Bavaria variations on that greeting are popular in December, but "Gruß Gott" (literally, "Greet God") is also a popular way of saying hello year-round and that annoys the living shit out of this atheist.

posted by cmonkey 23 October | 12:58

Ah. Maybe that's why people shouldn't attempt a translation of a language they don't speak.

Nonetheless, I'll point out one more webpage that suggests Frohe Festtage.

De nada, ojoazul!

posted by Stewriffic 23 October | 12:59

Frohe Festtage

totally sounds dirty

posted by ethylene 23 October | 13:02

Maybe you should think of it not as "[You should] greet God" and more as "[I am] greet[ing you as a] God." Kind of a German version of "Namaste."

posted by occhiblu 23 October | 13:06

Maybe that's why people shouldn't attempt a translation of a language they don't speak.

One of the things I learned while in Germany is that I speak just enough German to ask questions but not enough to fully understand the answers. That's dangerous.

My first grader has her first Spanish class today. I'm hoping if we start early and stick with it she'll be fluent someday.

posted by jrossi4r 23 October | 13:10

happstein holidacht.

(not really.)

posted by loiseau 23 October | 21:40

I ended up emailing the most likely variations to our client, who either speaks German or comes from a family of native German speakers or some such. So the ball's in her court now.

posted by occhiblu 23 October | 23:31

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