If you travel to an Arabic nation, chances are that most of the people are Muslim and do not celebrate Christmas. The Arabic way to say Merry Christmas is Milad Majid. People who speak Hebrew usually are Jewish, but they still might wish you Mo'adim Lesimkha.
In China, there are two ways of expressing holiday greetings. The Cantonese say Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun, and the Mandarin say Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan. The Japanese say Shinnen omedeto or Kurisumasu Omedeto. In Korea, the appropriate greeting would be Sung Tan Chuk Ha, and in Thailand you would say Sawadee Pee Mai or souksan wan Christmas.
In Russia, you would hear Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom, in Estonia, Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi, and in Lithuania, Linksmu Kaledu. In Romania the greeting is Sarbatori vesele and in Macedonia it is Sreken Bozhik.
In Finland, you might hear Hyvaa joulua. In Sweden, the greeting is Ett Gott Nytt År. The Icelandic way to greet someone is Gledileg Jol. In Hungary you would hear Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket. The Irish say Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat.
Czechs say Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok. In nearby Germany, you might say Fröhliche Weihnachten, and in Poland the appropriate greeting would be either Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie. The French say Joyeax Noel. When traveling in the Netherlands, you would greet people with Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar.
If you visited southern Europe, you would tell Italians Buone Feste Natalizie and Spaniards Feliz Navidad. In Greece you would hear Kala Christouyenna, and in Portugal, Feliz Natal.
Depending on where you travel in Africa, you might hear Melkin Yelidet Beaal in Amharic, Naya Saal Mubarak Ho in Urdu, or Milad Majid in Arabic, among others.
Most South Americans would either greet you in Spanish (Feliz Navidad) or Portuguese (Feliz Natal). Haitians speak Creole, and would say Jwaye Nowel or to Jesus Edo Bri'cho o Rish D'Shato Brichto. If you traveled to Alaska, the Eskimo way to express Christmas greetings is Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo. In Hawaii, the greeting would be Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou.
While Latin is not spoken any where anymore, a trip to a Latin class or back in time would leave you saying Natale hilare et Annum Faustum. No matter where you go at Christmastime, you might be able to find someone speaking Esperanto, a constructed language spoken all over the world, and you can tell them Gajan Kristnaskon.
Christmas is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians around the world in different ways. People express holiday greetings in their native languages. Here are some typical Christmas wishes you might hear while traveling, and information on the customs of different countries.
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