# Felice Navidad
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 5, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194 "2004-12-05T08:22:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/1 "2004-12-05T08:22:04Z")
That means Merry Christmas in Spanish, right?
How do you say Merry Christmas in other languages? Include phonic pronunciation if you can.
---
### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/2 "2004-12-05T08:25:04Z")
In Swedish, it’s basically pronounced “Good Yule”, but try to say the “oo” part of “Good” farther back in your throat.
---
### Author:  [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/3 "2004-12-05T08:25:22Z")
It’s “feliz.”
---
### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/4 "2004-12-05T08:36:22Z")
> [@vinniepaz](#):
>
> It’s “feliz.”
I wondered why that wouldn’t translate. There’s all kinds of references to “Felice Navidad” on the web though. 😕
---
### Author:  [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/5 "2004-12-05T08:38:11Z")
possibly my mistake. i’m not a spanish expert but ive always seen it as “feliz”
---
### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/6 "2004-12-05T08:40:41Z")
> [@vinniepaz](#):
>
> possibly my mistake. i’m not a spanish expert but ive always seen it as “feliz”
This site: [http://www.freetranslation.com/](http://www.freetranslation.com/) says you are correct.
---
### Author:  [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/7 "2004-12-05T08:52:13Z")
Prettig Kerstfeest - Dutch
[Try a rolling rrrr -] Prrrrett / tig - [like in ‘Tigger’ but with a guttural G]
Kairst fayzed. 🙂
Fröhliche Weinachten - German
:eek: mmmm. That ö is hard to describe…We know the sound in Dutch. We write it like this : eu
But I can’t think of an English word with the sound in it.
umm…You know Göthe? The philosopher? [well, not personally, ofcourse ;)]
Like that.
Frö / lee / shjuh - Why / nach [like in Bach] / tuh.
Have a good one yourself. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/8 "2004-12-05T08:54:25Z")
A [site](http://www.flw.com/holiday.htm) with “Merry Christmas” in over a hundred language.
> [@ccwaterback](#):
>
> I wondered why that wouldn’t translate. There’s all kinds of references to “Felice Navidad” on the web though. 😕
Never trust the internet when it comes to spelling unless it happens to be a dictionary site.
---
### Author:  [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/9 "2004-12-05T09:11:51Z")
Finnish:
Hauskaa Joulua
Pronounced: **Hoo** -ahh **Yowl** -wa
(“Yowl” sounds like “bowl”)
---
### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/10 "2004-12-05T10:20:01Z")
> [@gum](#):
>
> mmmm. That ö is hard to describe…We know the sound in Dutch. We write it like this : eu
> But I can’t think of an English word with the sound in it.
We don’t really have that sound in English. But try holding your lips as if you were trying to say “ooo”, and then try to say “eee”. That’ll come…well…somewhat close.
---
### Author:  [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/11 "2004-12-05T11:23:40Z")
Isn’t the ö somewhat like the ‘u’ in ‘landlubbers’ or ‘lurve’, but more extended?
---
### Author:  [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/12 "2004-12-05T11:56:20Z")
BTW, I never thought of this when I was taking Spanish, but why is it “Feliz Navidad” and not “Navidad Feliz”? Anyone?
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/13 "2004-12-05T12:19:42Z")
Welsh: Nadolig llawen.
Irish: Nollaig shona dhuit.
Cantonese: Sing dan fie lo.
---
### Author:  [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/14 "2004-12-05T12:51:57Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#):
>
> We don’t really have that sound in English. But try holding your lips as if you were trying to say “ooo”, and then try to say “eee”. That’ll come…well…somewhat close.
That’s how I was taught back when I was taking German classes. Whether it’s completely accurate, I don’t know, but I think it was about the best we poor college freshmen could do when trying to pronounce it.
---
### Author:  [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/15 "2004-12-05T13:39:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Hauskaa Joulua
> Pronounced: Hoo-ahh Yowl-wa
> (“Yowl” sounds like “bowl”)
I’m not seeing how you derive “hoo-aah” from “Hauskaa”, which would be pronounced more like “House-kaah”. “Hoo-aah” would be closer to “Hyvää joulua”, which is also a Christmas greeting, meaning pretty much the same thing.
---
### Author:  [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/16 "2004-12-05T16:18:09Z")
A couple of years ago I sent my Spanish-speaking sister a lovely floral holiday centerpiece. I ordered it online and specified that the card was to say “Feliz Navidad”. When she got it, the card read, “Feliz Nazi Dad”.
---
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/17 "2004-12-05T17:09:02Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#):
>
> I wondered why that wouldn’t translate. There’s all kinds of references to “Felice Navidad” on the web though. 😕
Perhaps she’s a porn star.
---
### Author:  [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/18 "2004-12-05T17:35:11Z")
> [@Already in Use](#):
>
> BTW, I never thought of this when I was taking Spanish, but why is it “Feliz Navidad” and not “Navidad Feliz”? Anyone?
As a Spanish teacher explained to the class when I took the language, _Navidad Feliz_ would refer to Christmas itself being like a person with the capacity to feel happiness. _Feliz Navidad_ is basically a shortened way of saying “I wish that you be **happy** on the day of the **Nativity** ” (i.e. Christmas). Similarly, the Spanish equivalent of “Happy New Year” is _Prospero Año Nuevo_ because the desire is for the recipient of the wish to be prosperous, and not the year itself.
The Bohemian/Czech _Vesele Vanoce_ is basically pronounced VEH-seh-leh VAH-nooh-cheh (Czech is one of the most perfectly phonetic languages, and the first syllable is almost always the stressed one). The special Christmas breads include [_vanocka_](http://archiv.radio.cz/christmas/vanocka.html), which is pronounced VAH-noohch-kah (the second syllable’s vowel sound, as in _vanoce_. being somewhere between the “o” in “boat” and the “oo” in “book”).
---
### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/19 "2004-12-05T17:39:19Z")
::fake sombrero band::
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Ve wiz yoo a mairy Krisztmaz
E wiz yoo a mairy Kriztmas
from dey boddom ov-our haaardz!
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
::put on merciles repeat untill January fifth, 2005 ::
::mad cackling laughter:::
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194/20 "2004-12-05T18:45:13Z")
What do Mexican sheep say at Christmas?
‘Fleece Navidad!’
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felice-navidad/278194.md?page=2)