Birthday wishes in English and other languages
Birthday wishes in English
You can use English birthday wishes for practically any international friend. Everyone probably knows Happy Birthday. However, there are many other ways to send birthday wishes in English to your friends in person or via WhatsApp. You can keep your English birthday wishes short or even write a long birthday card in English.
Below are some suggestions to help you give your English friends a happy birthday. You can use the short birthday wishes in English if you send English birthday wishes via Whatsapp or social media. The longer birthday wishes are more suitable for birthday cards or letters.
List of English birthday wishes
Short birthday wishes in English
| Happy birthday! |
| Wishing you a fantastic day! |
| Have a great birthday! |
| Sending you best wishes! |
| Enjoy your special day! |
| Happy birthday and many happy returns! |
| Have a blast on your birthday! |
| Cheers to another year! |
| Wishing you joy and happiness! |
| May all your dreams come true! |
Long English birthday wishes
| May this birthday be just the beginning of a year filled with happy memories and wonderful moments. |
| Cheers to a fabulous birthday and a year filled with blessings. Happy birthday! |
| Wishing you a day filled with love, laughter, and joy. Happy birthday! |
| Cheers to another year of adventures, laughter, and beautiful memories. Happy birthday! |
| It's your birthday! Time to celebrate and enjoy the day to the fullest. |
| May every moment of your birthday be as wonderful as you are. Happy birthday! |
| Happy birthday! May your day be as bright as the sun and as special as you are. |
| Sending you my warmest wishes on your birthday. Have a wonderful day filled with love and happiness. |
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Birthday greetings in the rest of the world
The most widely spoken languages in the world (according to a 2022 study by Ethnologue) include some European languages such as English and Spanish, but also many Asian languages. Mandarin Chinese, for example, is spoken by more than a billion people, Hindi by more than 600 million. How do you say "Happy Birthday" in these two languages? In Chinese you say "shēngrì kuàilè" (spelled 生日快乐) and in Hindi "janmadin kee shubhakaamanaen" (spelled जन्मदिन की शुभकामनाएं). One of the most widely spoken languages is Arabic, with over 270 million speakers, where you can say "eid melad sa'eed" (or عيد ميلاد سعيد) to wish someone a happy birthday.
Among the languages whose writing system differs from the one we are familiar with, Japanese (お誕生日おめでとう, which is pronounced "otanjoubi omedetou") and Korean (생일 축하 해요, which is pronounced "saeng-il chugha haeyo") stand out alongside Chinese. In the region of Bengal, there is also Bengali in which one can write শুভ জন্মদিন and say "Śubha janmadina". In Pakistan and India, people also speak Urdu (सालगिरह् मबारक), and in the Maldives they use Dhivehi (އުފާވެރި އުފަންދުވަހެއް). If you want to wish a Thai person a happy birthday, you should say in Thai สุขสันต์วันเกิด, which is pronounced "S̄uk̄hs̄ạnt̒ wạn keid".
Birthday traditions in different countries around the world
In European countries, birthday customs do not differ greatly. The candles of the birthday cake are blown out, cakes and pies are served and birthday songs are sung. But is it the same on other continents? Every country has its own traditions and its own way of celebrating, and in some cases even the way people think about birthdays can change. Traditional food also differs from country to country. For example, in Australia people eat fairy bread, in Brazil brigadeiros and in China special noodles called yī miàn.
In Japan, the birthdays of 3, 5 and 7-year-olds are particularly important compared to others and are celebrated in religious temples on 15 November. In the Caribbean, celebrants are often covered from head to toe in flour, while in Nepal, yoghurt is smeared on their foreheads. In Mexico, children have to smash the piñata with a blindfold to get sweets. In China, on the other hand, a child's first year is celebrated with a big party where friends and relatives bring objects to put in front of the child.
As you can see, birthday customs differ all over the world. That is why it is so exciting to travel to a foreign country and learn about the birthday customs there. Would you like to travel to a foreign country yourself and learn about its culture? Then a language study trip is just the thing for you!
Happy birthday in other languages of the world
| Language | Birthday greeting | Language | Birthday greeting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | gelukkige verjaarsdag | Lao | ສຸກສັນວັນເກີດ |
| Albanese | Gëzuar ditëlindjen | Latvian | daudz laimes dzimšanas dienā |
| Amharic | መልካም ልደት | Lingala | mbotama elamu |
| Arabic | عيد ميلاد سعيد | Lithuanian | su gimtadieniu |
| Armenian | Ծնունդդ շնորհավոր | Luganda | amazaalibwa amalungi |
| Assamese | জন্মদিনৰ ওলগ জনালোঁ | Luxembourgish | Alles Guddes fir däi Gebuertsdag |
| Aymara | aski mara phuqhawi | Macedonian | среќен роденден |
| Azero | Ad günün mübarək | Maithili | जन्मदिनक शुभकामना |
| Bambara | sanbε sanbε | Malayalam | ജന്മദിനാശംസകൾ |
| Basque | Zorionak | Malaysian | selamat Hari lahir |
| Bengali | শুভ জন্মদিন | Malagasy | tratry ny tsingerintaona nahaterahana |
| Bhojpuri | जन्म दिन के शुभ कामना | Maltese | għeluq sninu |
| Belarusian | З Днём Нараджэння | Māori | hari huritau |
| Burmese | ပျော်ရွင်ဖွယ်ရာမွေးနေ့ | Marathi | वाढदिवसाच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा |
| Bosnian | sretan rođendan | Mizo | piancham Chibai |
| Bulgarian | Честит Рожден ден | Mongolian | Төрсөн өдрийн мэнд |
| Catalan | feliç aniversari | Nepalese | जन्मदिनको शुभकामना |
| Czech | Všechno nejlepší k narozeninám | Norwegian | Gratulerer med dagen |
| Chichewa | tsiku labwino lobadwa | Odia (oriya) | ଜନ୍ମଦିନର ଅଭିନନ୍ଦନ |
| Chirghiso | туулган күнүң менен | Dutch | van harte gefeliciteerd |
| Chinese (semplificato) | 生日快乐 | Oromo | baga guyyaa dhaloota kee geesse |
| Chinese (tradizionale) | 生日快樂 | Pashto | کلیزه دی نیکمرغه |
| Korean | 생일 축하 해요 | Persian ano | تولدت مبارک |
| Corso | felice anniversariu | Polish | Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin |
| Haitian Creole | bòn fèt | Portuguese | feliz Aniversário |
| Croatian | sretan rođendan | Punjabi | ਜਨਮਦਿਨ ਮੁਬਾਰਕ |
| Kurdish (Kurmanji) | rojbûna te pîroz be | Quechua | punchawniykipi kusikuni |
| Curdo (sorani) | یادی لەدایک بوونت پیرۆز بێت | Rumeno | la multi ani |
| Danish | Tillykke med fødselsdagen | Russian | С днем рождения |
| Dhivehi | އުފާވެރި އުފަންދުވަހެއް | Samoan | manuia asofanau |
| Dogri | सालगिरह् मबारक | Sanskrit | शुभं जन्मदिनम् |
| Hebrew | יום הולדת שמח | Sepedi | matswalo a mabotse |
| Esperanto | Feliĉan naskiĝtagon | Serbian | срећан рођендан |
| Estonian | palju õnne sünnipäevaks | Sesotho | letsatsi le monate la tsoalo |
| Ewe | dzigbe zã nyuie na wò | Shona | bhavhadhe rinofadza |
| Filippino | Maligayang kaarawan | Sindhi | جنم ڏينهن مبارڪ |
| Finnish | hyvää syntymäpäivää | Singalese | සුබ උපන් දිනයක් |
| French | Bon anniversaire | Slovak | šťastné narodeniny |
| Friesian | lokkige jierdei | Slovenian | vse najboljše |
| Scottish Gaelic | co-là | Somalo-dhalasho Wacan | breith math |
| Galician | feliz Aniversario | Spanish | feliz cumpleaños |
| Welsh | penblwydd hapus | Sundanese | Wilujeung tepang taun |
| Georgian | გილოცავ დაბადების დღეს | Swedish | Grattis på födelsedagen |
| Japanese | お誕生日おめでとう | Swahili | furaha ya kuzaliwa |
| Javanese | Sugeng tanggap warsa | Tagico | зодрӯз муборак |
| Greek | χαρούμενα γενέθλια | Tamil | பிறந்தநாள் வாழ்த்துக்கள் |
| Guarani | vy'apavẽ | Tatar | Туган көн белән |
| Gujarati | જન્મદિવસ ની શુભકામના | German | Alles Gute zum Geburtstag |
| Hausa | barka da ranar haihuwa | Telugu | పుట్టినరోజు శుభాకాంక్షలు |
| Hawaiian | hauʻoli lā hānau | Thai | สุขสันต์วันเกิด |
| Hindi | जन्मदिन की शुभकामनाएं | Tigrinya | እንኳዕ ተወለድካ |
| Hmong | zoo siab hnub yug | Tsonga | siku lerinene ro velekiwa |
| Igbo | ezi ncheta ọmụmụ | Turkish | doğum günün kutlu olsun |
| Ilocano | naragsak a panagkasangay | Turkman | Doglan günüň bilen |
| Indonesian | Selamat ulang tahun | Ukrainian | З Днем Народження |
| English | Happy birthday | Uyghur | تۇغۇلغان كۈنىڭىزگە مۇبارەك |
| Irish | lá breithe shona duit | Hungarian | boldog születésnapot |
| Icelandic | til hamingju með afmælið | Urdu | سالگرہ مبارک |
| Italian | buon compleanno | Uzbek | Tug'ilgan kuning bilan |
| Kannada | ಬೂನ್ ಕಂಪ್ಲೀನ್ನೊ | Vietnamese | chúc mừng sinh nhật |
| Kazakh | бұл толық емес | Xhosa | ndikunqwenelela usuku lokuzalwa |
| Khmer | រីករាយថ្ងៃកំណើត | Yiddish | גליקלעך דיין געבורסטאָג |
| Kinyarwanda | Isabukuru nziza | Yoruba | o ku ojo ibi |
| Konkani | जल्मदिसाची परबी | Zulu | Usuku olumnandi lokuzalwa |
| Krio | api batde |
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