One of the most useful skills a person can have is fluency in a second language, such as Spanish. One of the ways to become more comfortable speaking words in Spanish is to translate popular phrases into the language. For example, when a friend or family member celebrates a birthday, you can sing the Happy Birthday song to them in Spanish. Fortunately, the Spanish-language version of the song translates directly from the English-language version.
Step 1
Think of the melody to the Happy Birthday song in English. The Spanish version uses the same melody as the English-language version.
Step 2
Learn to pronounce the following phrase: "¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!" The phrase literally translates to "Happy Birthday to you!" The words, in order, are pronounced in the following way: "Feh-leez," "Coom-pleanyos," "Ah" and "Tee." The "y" is used to help you pronounce the accent mark -- known as a tilde -- above the "n" in cumpleaños.
Step 3
Sing the song according to the following lyrics. Add the name of the person celebrating her birthday at the end of the third line.
"¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!"
"¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!"
"¡Feliz cumpleaños a [person's name]!"
"¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!"
Tip
¡Salud!, which means "to your health," roughly translated, is the cheer to give after singing "Feliz Cumpleaños."
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Tips
- ¡Salud!, which means "to your health," roughly translated, is the cheer to give after singing "Feliz Cumpleaños."
Writer Bio
Nicholas Smith has written political articles for SmithonPolitics.com, "The Daily Californian" and other publications since 2004. He is a former commissioner with the city of Berkeley, Calif. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California-Berkeley and a Juris Doctor from St. John's University School of Law.