How to Say Happy Birthday in French

The French language is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Now how did that happen? Well, my belief is due to France's aggressive colonization of several parts of the world, the French language was imposed on many people in many parts of the world. And while France had a little colony here and there in all parts of the world, their most important colonies were in Northern Africa which was their biggest stronghold.

Even today, we see traces of the French culture in these countries, (notice how the country Ivory Coast has a French name - Côte d'Ivoire?) and a lot of their names are still French. Add to that, the French language remains one of the most widely taught languages in the world, due to their impeccable education system, and the French culture remains one of the most looked up to cultures as well.

But yes, let's not lose sight of our goal here. My point is that you will come across a French person or someone who speaks French at least at some point of time in life.

Happy Birthday in French Language

Now I have some good news and some bad news. Good news is that learning the words to 'happy birthday' in French are remarkably easy. The bad part is pronouncing them can be a teeny-weeny bit of a hassle.

Now if you've seen the Pink Panther movie starring Steve Martin, you'll realize that the French have particularly wonky pronunciations. So while it will be quite a task to learn to speak the language like a 'Pierre'.

So the words are:

Joyeux Anniversaire!

Twisted isn't it. It'll take you a good part of an hour to wrap your head around these words. And at the end of it, you'll end up saying something ridiculously different. I'm sure that at the end of it, you're going to say 'jaw ey yux anni ver sae re' which is completely wrong. Now this will confuse your French friends to no end and make you look pretty silly in front of them. So a little tutorial on how to say that mind-numbingly complicated looking phrase for such a simple enough pleasantry.

jho yu ani ver say

Wow that looked tough! A little crazy tip. If you want to really get the right twang in your French pronunciations, just picture Jacques Clouseau or Arsene Wenger (if you're into English soccer) speaking! But for now, here are a few more ways on how to say and pronounce happy birthday in French.

• Bonne Anniversaire! ~ bahn anni ver say
• Bonne Fete (Canadian French) ~ bahn fet

Go the whole distance! Learn how to sing the happy birthday song in French!

Bon Anniversaire a toi,
Bon Anniversaire a toi,
Bon Anniversaire (name of your friend),
Bon Anniversaire a toi

~ bahn anni ver say aa twa.

As you can see, the French language is one which is pretty difficult to learn. It is also one which is delightfully rich in those little regional variations in grammar and composition, colloquialisms and pronunciations, which makes the language more fun to learn and explore. And as is the case with any language, it is also a very enriching experience. Learning a new language, a new culture, and about new people, really gives a lot of satisfaction to a lot of people. So are you one of them? If you are, French is the language for you!