Dear reader,<\/p>\n
For some weeks now, the air has been filled with greetings and good wishes: “Happy Holidays”, “Merry Christmas,” “Season’s Greetings” and, for a few days yet, “Happy New Year”. In Spanish: Felices Fiestas, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Año Nuevo.<\/em><\/p>\n There’s one Spanish greeting, though, that English can’t quite reproduce: “¡Felicidades!”<\/em><\/p>\n Many English speakers (and even some native Spanish speakers) confuse this interjection with the similar-sounding “¡Felicitaciones!” <\/em>English routinely expresses both ideas by the single word: “Congratulations!”<\/p>\n The felicitaciones\/felicidades<\/em> pair offers a beautiful example of the subtle shades of meaning that a language (in this case, Spanish) can express.<\/p>\n The distinction is significant: felicitación<\/em> is an act of praise or congratulation, while felicidad<\/em> refers to that sublime and blessed state of the human heart, happiness.<\/p>\n Thus a graduation, a promotion, an award, indeed any achievement or victory, merits a congratulatory“¡Felicitaciones!”<\/em> (An alternative particularly common in Spain: “¡Enhorabuena!”<\/em>)<\/p>\n On the other hand, transcendent moments of the human condition, the annual cycle, or the great life passages—the birth of a child, a birthday, a wedding, or, indeed, a New Year—inspire the warmer and more elevated“¡Felicidades!”<\/em>: a wish for much happiness.<\/p>\n It’s fascinating to speculate on the cultural source of this distinction, absent from English. Is Spanish more emotive? Perhaps. We propose, instead, that the answer lies in a stronger sense of ritual and ceremony in the tongue of Cervantes.<\/p>\n ¡Buenas palabras… y felicidades!<\/em><\/p>\n Pablo<\/p>\n Copyright ©2013 Pablo J. Davis. All Rights Reserved. This essay was originally written for the January 6, 2013edition of La Prensa Latina<\/em> (Memphis, Tennessee), as part of the weekly bilingual column Mysteries & Enigmas of Translation\/Misterios y Enigmas de la Traducción.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear reader, For some weeks now, the air has been filled with greetings and good wishes: “Happy Holidays”, “Merry Christmas,” “Season’s Greetings” and, for a few days yet, “Happy New Year”. In Spanish: Felices Fiestas, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Año Nuevo. There’s one Spanish greeting, though, that English can’t quite reproduce: “¡Felicidades!” Many English speakers (and even some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[95,190,161,58,277,59,30,278,279,10,11,45,280,281,36,126,47,12,48,39,51,52,17,54,55,19,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-interflows-language-culture-blog","7":"tag-pablo-j-davis","8":"tag-certificado","9":"tag-certified","10":"tag-comparative","11":"tag-congratulations","12":"tag-cultura","13":"tag-culture","14":"tag-diferencia","15":"tag-difference","16":"tag-english","17":"tag-english-spanish","18":"tag-espanol","19":"tag-felicidades","20":"tag-felicitaciones","21":"tag-hispanic","22":"tag-hispano","23":"tag-ingles","24":"tag-interpreter","25":"tag-julian","26":"tag-latino","27":"tag-pablo","28":"tag-pablo-julian-davis","29":"tag-spanish","30":"tag-traduccion","31":"tag-traductor","32":"tag-translation","33":"tag-translator","34":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n