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What language is Christmas in?

 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3


Iversen
Super Polyglot
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Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6703 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
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 Message 25 of 26
10 December 2011 at 8:19pm | IP Logged 
In Denmark the old Christmas songs in Danish from the 1800s are still alive, and many people sing them while walking around the Christmas tree. Some are old translations (such as "Glade jul" from German "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht"), while others are original Danish (such as Peter Faber's "Højt fra træets grønne top"). Although we have dropped the obligatory singing of charols in my own family I have a special relationship with one song text (Grundtvig's "Dejlig er den himmel blå" - 'Pretty is the sky blue'), on which I long ago wrote a ultradark travesty which actually was performed as a rock anthem at a 'julefrokost' at a local cultural institution. I won't quote the text here because it is in Danish, but let me just say that they are somewhat less polyanna-happy than the original sugary version.


Edited by Iversen on 10 December 2011 at 8:23pm

1 person has voted this message useful



ember
Triglot
Groupie
CyprusRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5403 days ago

63 posts - 101 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English, German
Studies: Spanish, French, Greek, Polish

 
 Message 26 of 26
10 December 2011 at 9:07pm | IP Logged 
In Cyprus (and I guess, in Greece, too) most of the traditional Christmas songs have been
translated into Greek. So, you would rarely here "Jingle Bells" here (unless you go to a
British store, like Hamleys), but rather "Τρίγωνα κάλαντα...". There's a whole lot of
original Greek songs as well.

Edited by ember on 10 December 2011 at 9:16pm

1 person has voted this message useful



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