A "Merry Christmas" has no language barrier

The joy-filled Christmas season is celebrated in so many countries on so many continents throughout the world. The merriment and hope of the season crosses borders and language barriers.

How much fun it is, though, to learn how to wish others a "Merry Christmas" in a different language.

Here are some phrases to learn if you would like to wish someone holiday greetings in Croatian or Hungarian.

In Croatian the equivalent of "Merry Christmas" is "Sretan Bozic". If you want to get a little more specific, you might say, ""Sretan i Blagoslovljen Božić! Nadam se da ce vam nadolazeća godina donijeti mnogo radosti, mira i sreće." This means, "Have a blessed and joyful Christmas! Hope this coming year will bring you and your family a lot of joy, peace and luck."

In Hungarian, you may wish someone "Merry Christmas" by saying "Boldog Karácsonyt". Another traditional Christmas wish is, "Kellemes Karácsonyi Ünnepeket " which means "Abundant Christmas Holidays". Adding a wish for a happy new year to your greeting, you might say, "Kellemes Karácsonyi Ünnepeket és Boldog Újévet!" which means, "Pleasant Christmas celebrations and a Happy New Year!". If you'd like to hear how to pronounce that last phrase, click here.

Reading these phrases is one thing. Learning to say them is an entirely different matter.

I'll work on the pronunciations for next year, but this year I'm happy to be able to avoid having to attempt them while I wish you...

Sretan Bozic and Boldog Karácsonyt!

The topic for this post was inspired by Thomas MacEntee's Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories at Destination: Austin Family. Check out his calendar daily this month for some good mini-memoirs of this nostalgic season. This post will be listed under Christmas Grab Bag on December 7.