How to say 'Merry Christmas' in other languages

This is how you say 'Merry Christmas' in English.

One of the things I love to do is go travelling, and as I come from England and I don't like being cold, I therefore usually plan my travels to coincide with the English winter. This means that I'm often away backpacking for Christmas, and as you get to meet other backpackers from around the world it means that you often learn how to say Merry Christmas in various other languages.

So in the spirit of worldwide festivities, here is how to say Merry Christmas in various languages from around the world, starting with a familiar sounding version from Japan...

Japanese - meri kurisumasu

Many modern Japanese words sound amusingly like English words spoken with a Japanese accent, so occasionally when I've told friends Japanese words they sometimes don't believe me and they think I'm just making it up! If you're one of those sceptical people, you can hear the Japanese version of Merry Christmas on Google Translate. Click the link below, then click the 'Listen' button which looks like a volume button.
meri kurisamasu from Google Translate

Santa's been on a diet.
And also the rack by the looks of it.

Korean and Tamil also have versions of Merry Christmas which translate almost phonetically...

Korean - meri keuriseumaseu (메리 크리스마스)
Tamil - Merri Kiristumas (மெர்ரி கிறிஸ்துமஸ்)

The French and Spanish translations may also be recognisable to some people...

French - Joyeux Noël
Spanish - Feliz Navidad

The Swedish and Norwegian version of 'Merry Christmas' makes a lot of sense, once you learn that 'j' is pronounced 'y' in Scandinavian languages, and that 'god' is pronounced similar to the English 'good'...

Swedish - God Jul
Norwegian - God Jul

Even some languages which you would expect to be totally different have a few vaguely familiar syllables, such as Swahili and Thai.

Swahili - Krismasi Njema
Thai - S̄uk̄hs̄ạnt̒ Wạn Khris̄t̒mās̄

However, not all foreign versions of Merry Christmas sound quite so familiar, as demonstrated by the German translation...

German - Frohliche Weihnachten

Merry Christmas!

Here are a few more languages where the translation for Merry Christmas is totally unrecognisable...

Dutch - Vrolijk Kerstfeest
Russian - Schastlivogo Rozhdestva
Finnish - Hyvää Joulua
Hungarian - Boldog Karácsonyt
Maori - Koa Kirihimete

Finally, the Chinese version of Merry Christmas is perhaps the least recognisable of them all...

Chinese - 圣诞节快乐

Wherever you are in the world I hope everyone has a fudgetastically muffinabulous Christmas!

Once again Merry Christmas, meri kurisumasu, meri keuriseumaseu, Merri Kiristumas, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad, God Jul, Krismasi Njema, S̄uk̄hs̄ạnt̒ Wạn Khris̄t̒mās̄, Frohliche Weihnachten, Vrolijk Kerstfeest, Schastlivogo Rozhdestva, Hyvää Joulua, Boldog Karácsonyt, Koa Kirihimete and 圣诞节快乐 to everyone!

Other Christmas related posts:
How does Santa spend his free time?
Christmas 'higher or lower' quiz