Korean Translation Tip: Use a Korean-Style Holiday Greeting; Don't Just Translate Your English One

Today I want to help you get ready for the holidays...

You know how those Chinese fortune cookie messages can sound a bit quaint when translated into English? Don’t you think a Korean fortune cookie (if such existed) translated into English might sound funny, too?

The same thing happens when translating other culture-laden messages.

For example, English greeting cards...

Toward the end of the year, Koreans are a whole lot more focused on the New Year than they are on Christmas (though modern greetings -- especially involving non-Koreans -- often do work a Christmas message in). And they phrase things on greeting cards differently than we do in English.

Best Practices Tip - If you are looking for a good end-of-year greeting for your Korean clients or other contacts and are willing to depart from the text of your English card, then use or adapt a greeting from one of these two posts:

• A Whole Slew of Korean Holiday Greetings for Christmas and New Year, and for the Lunar New Year Holiday

• More New Year's Greetings in Korean