For birthday wishes on Facebook, I like to try to do something different every year.
Google Translate has that feature that will speak the text for you in a different language. It’s so much fun hearing other languages.
This coming year, I’m going down the list of all the languages in Google Translate that have an audio translation, and I say “happy birthday” in a different language for every person next year. I record this as a quick audio file (about 30 seconds) and post it on the person’s Facebook wall.
Currently, there are 80 languages that have speech-to-text in Google Translate. If I remain diligent with doing his for everyone’s birthday, I might end up looping back around. (If I haven’t wished you happy birthday on Facebook recently, I usually do pretty well in January, but then I fail to do it consistently for the rest of the year.)
“Happy birthday” translated into 80 different languages, along with the literal translation in English
| Language | Happy birthday translation | Literal translation |
|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Lekker verjaar! | Nice birthday! |
| Albanian | Gëzuar ditëlindjen! | Enjoy the birthday! |
| Amharic | መልካም ልደት! | Good birth! |
| Arabic | عيد ميلاد سعيد! | Happy birth celebration! (Happy feast of birth!) |
| Armenian | Ծնունդդ շնորհավոր | Congratulations on your birth |
| Azerbaijani | Ad günün mübarək! | Blessed day of birth! |
| Basque | Zorionak! | Congratulations! (May you be happy!) |
| Bengali | শুভ জন্মদিন! | Auspicious birthday! |
| Bosnian | Sretan rođendan! | Happy birthday! |
| Bulgarian | честит рожден ден | Blessed day of birth |
| Burmese | ပျော်ရွှင်စရာမွေးနေ့ဖြစ်ပါစေ! | May it be a joyous birthday! (May it be a joyful day!) |
| Catalan | Feliç aniversari! | Happy anniversary! |
| Chinese | 生日快乐！ | Birth happiness! |
| Chinese, Cantonese | 生日快樂！ | Fast happiness on birthday! (Birthday happy!) |
| Croatian | Sretan rođendan! | Happy birthday! |
| Czech | Všechno nejlepší k narozeninám! | All the best for the birthday! (All the best for your birthday!) |
| Danish | Tillykke med fødselsdagen! | Congratulations on the birthday! (Congratulations with the birthday!) |
| Dutch | Gefeliciteerd! | Congratulations! |
| English | Happy birthday! | Happy birthday! |
| Estonian | Palju õnne sünnipäevaks! | Much happiness for the birthday! (Many happinesses for birthday!) |
| Filipino | Maligayang kaarawan! | Joyful birthday! (Happy birthday!) |
| Finnish | Hyvää syntymäpäivää! | Good birthday! |
| French | Joyeux anniversaire! | Joyous anniversary! |
| Galician | Feliz aniversario! | Happy anniversary! |
| Georgian | გილოცავ დაბადების დღეს! | Congratulations on your birthday! (Happy day of birth!) |
| German | Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! | All good for your birthday! |
| Greek | Χρόνια πολλά! | Many years! |
| Gujarati | જન્મદિવસની શુભેચ્છાઓ! | Good wishes for the birthday! (Birthday gretings!) |
| Language | Happy birthday translation | Literal translation |
|---|---|---|
| Hebrew | יום הולדת שמח! | Happy birthday! (Happy birthday day!) |
| Hindi | जन्मदिन की शुभकामनाएँ! | Good wishes for the birthday! (Birthday’s good wishes) |
| Hungarian | Boldog születésnapot! | Happy birthday! |
| Icelandic | Til hamingju með afmælið! | Congratulations on the birthday! (To happiness with the birthday!) |
| Indonesian | Selamat ulang tahun! | Congratulations on your year repetition! (Happy repear year!) |
| Italian | Buon compleanno! | Good birthday! |
| Japanese | お誕生日おめでとう！ | Congratulations on your birthday! (Honorable birthday congratulations) |
| Javanese | Sugeng ambal warsa! | Happy repeating age! (Happy new year!) |
| Kannada | ಜನ್ಮದಿನದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು! | Good wishes for the birthday! (Birthday’s good wishes) |
| Kazakh | Туылған күніңмен! | With your day of birth! |
| Khmer | រីករាយថ្ងៃកំណើត! | Happy day of birth! |
| Kinyarwanda | Isabukuru nziza! | Good birthday! (Good morning!) |
| Korean | 생일 축하해요! | Congratulations on your birthday! (Celebrate birthday) |
| Lao | ສຸກສັນວັນເກີດ! | Happy birth day! |
| Latvian | Daudz laimes dzimšanas dienā! | Lots of happiness on the day of birth! (Many happinesses of birthday day!) |
| Lithuanian | Su gimtadieniu! | With your birthday! |
| Macedonian | Среќен роденден! | Happy birthday! |
| Malay | Selamat hari jadi! | Happy day of becoming! (Happy day of birth!) |
| Malayalam | ജന്മദിനാശംസകൾ! | Good wishes on the day of birth! |
| Marathi | वाढदिवसाच्या शुभेच्छा! | Good wishes for the birthday! (Birthday’s good wishes) |
| Mongolian | Төрсөн өдрийн мэнд хүргэе! | Congratulations on the birthday! (Happy birth day greetings) |
| Nepali | जन्मदिनको शुभकामना! | Good wishes for the birthday! (Birthday’s good wishes) |
| Norwegian Bokmål | Gratulerer med dagen! | Congratulations with the day! |
| Persian | تولدت مبارک! | Blessed birth! (Your birth is blessed) |
| Polish | Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin! | All the best on the occasion of birth! (All the best on the occasion of birthday!) |
| Portuguese | Feliz aniversário! | Happy anniversary! |
| Punjabi | ਜਨਮਦਿਨ ਮੁਬਾਰਕ! | Blessed birthday! |
| Romanian | La mulți ani! | To many years! (For many years!) |
| Russian | С днем рождения! | With the day of birth! |
| Serbian | Срећан рођендан! | Happy birthday! |
| Sinhala | සුබ උපන් දිනයක්! | Auspicious birth day! (Happy birth day) |
| Language | Happy birthday translation | Literal translation |
|---|---|---|
| Slovak | Všetko najlepšie k narodeninám! | All the best for the birthday! |
| Slovenian | Srečen rojstni dan! | Happy birth day! |
| Southern Sotho | Letsatsi le monate la tsoalo! | Happy day of birth! |
| Spanish | ¡Feliz cumpleaños! | Happy birthday! |
| Sundanese | Wilujeung tepang taun! | Happy meeting of the year! (Happy meet year!) |
| Swahili | Furaha ya kuzaliwa! | Happiness of being born! (Joy of being born!) |
| Swati | Losuku loluhle lwekutalwa! | A good day of birth! (Beautiful day of birth!) |
| Swedish | Grattis på födelsedagen! | Congratulations on the birthday! |
| Tamil | பிறந்தநாள் வாழ்த்துக்கள்! | Birth day wishes! |
| Telugu | పుట్టినరోజు శుభాకాంక్షలు! | Good wishes for the birthday! (Birth day good wishes) |
| Thai | สุขสันต์วันเกิด! | Happy birth day! |
| Tsonga | Siku lerinene ro velekiwa! | A good day of birth! (Beautiful day of birth!) |
| Tswana | Masego a letsatsi la tsalo! | Blessings for the day of birth! (Greetings of the day of birth!) |
| Turkish | Doğum günün kutlu olsun! | May your day of birth be blessed! (Your day of birth is blessed) |
| Ukrainian | З днем народження! | With the day of birth! |
| Urdu | سالگرہ مبارک ہو! | Blessed birthday! |
| Uzbek | Tug’ilgan kun muborak bo’lsin! | May the birth day be blessed! (Your day of birth is blessed) |
| Venda | Ḓuvha ḽa vhuḓi ḽa mabebo! | A good day of birth! (Day of good birth!) |
| Vietnamese | Chúc mừng sinh nhật! | Congratulations on the birthday! (Wish happy birth) |
| Xhosa | Minemnandi kuwe! | Happiness to you! (It’s nice for you!) |
| Zulu | Usuku olumnandi lokuzalwa! | A good day of birth! (Beautiful day of birth!) |
I’ve only randomly clicked around on some of these. So far, my favorite is Polish. “Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin!” Which seems really long for two simple words. But this long phrase apparently is how they really say it in Poland. The literal translation carries a lovely sentiment: “I wish you all the best for your birthday!”
(Phil, If you are reading this, thank you for being the spark for this idea)