AS a monoglot I’m always embarrassed about not being able to converse with the locals and wish the world a Happy Christmas in their language.
Not that I haven’t tried.
My school French got me as far as getting the French fille up on the dance floor and asking her about the weather.
And I wondered why I didn’t get any l’amour from that post-school camping trip in the French Riviera.
While my years of conversational Italian classes and Rosetta Stone learning didn’t save me from putting my foot in it with la famiglia a Roma.
When I wished the concierge buona notte e sogne d’oro.
Which my aghast teacher Donata told me on my return was only something that you would say to your lover.
As in ‘good night and dreams of gold’.
An Irish Christmas
All of which tangential Ronnie Corbett peregrinations brings me to the point.
Which is that no matter how limited we are with other languages we can all master the greeting at this time of year.
And I’m indebted here to one of our community, polyglot Mondly by Pearson, a blogger friend I didn’t know I knew but do now.
Merry Christmas or its more informal Chrimbo in English-speaking parts.
Or Nollaig Shona Duit as I learned in my Dear Old Mum’s homeland of Ireland or Nollaig Shona Daoibh if it’s more than one.
Saviour of the world
While French people, and I dare say Saint-Raphael fille would welcome a Joyeux Noel even if they would all pick us up on our accents.
While Buon Natale to the poor concierge who had to endure my overfamiliar greetings might make up for previous gaffes.
We’re also indebted to Jose Feliciano for teaching us Feliz Navidad, which with the Portuguese Feliz Natal covers a good chunk of the world.
And seeing that we inherited most of what we know as a British Christmas from Germany we really ought to be able to reciprocate with a Frohe Weihnachten.
Russian to make friends
Of course, this is a time of year where we are encouraged to put our past differences behind us.
So here’s a Schastlivogo Rozhdestva to our Russian friends with a hope that 2026 may be a more peaceful year for us all.
Particularly as it is Herself’s bucket list to visit.
