The kids will have fun learning a little Mandarin Chinese and
greeting their friends and family with Happy New Year...
greeting their friends and family with Happy New Year...
Here's how to say it in Mandarin Chinese
which literally means,
"Congratulations, may you be prosperous."
which literally means,
"Congratulations, may you be prosperous."
"Xin [sing] Nian [nee-an] Kuai [kwai] Le [ler]"
The Cantonese, "Gong Hey Fat Choy" is the most popular and probably the easiest for the kids!
Even though the pronunciations are a little different, both are written the same way
in Chinese characters.
Here's the Chinese Symbol for Happy Chinese New Year:
(恭禧發財)
(恭禧發財)
Please keep in mind that there are more than 150 dialects in China so there are many different greetings that mean the same thing. When I was in China, people in Northern China didn't understand people from other provinces in China!
The kids might also have a lot of fun trying to draw the Chinese characters for "Happy Chinese New Year"... just do a search online and print out the characters. If you have a light box, it's really fun for them to trace them and then go over the characters with a colored marker! All great learning experiences as we teach our kids to take a glimpse into other cultures and learn what little friends around the world are celebrating.
May you all have a happy and prosperous Year of the Snake 2013!
Gong Hey Fat Choy!
Jan McCracken, Kids Culinary Coach