Have you ever thought about what Christmas would be like without translators? Many of the ancient Christmas traditions would never have reached your country were it not for the intervention of translators.
Bible translations
Let’s start with the Biblical account of Christmas. The traditional Christmas readings from the New Testament were written in Greek, penned by the gospel writers who translated the words of Joseph, Mary et al. from Aramaic. Though modern versions of the Bible are translated directly from the Greek text, early translations into European languages were translations of the Latin Vulgate Bible. So the Biblical account of the first Christmas went from Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English.
Traditional carol services also include readings of Old Testament prophecies. Although modern translations were translated directly from the original Hebrew, some early translations into European languages were translated from the Latin Vulgate, which itself was strongly influenced by the Greek translation known as the Septuagint.
Roman decrees
You could argue that the first Christmas wouldn’t have happened in Bethlehem without the intervention of translators. The Gospels recount that Caesar Augustus issued a decree that everybody had to return to their home town for a census. Assuming that Joseph didn’t speak Latin, he wouldn’t have known that he had to return to Bethlehem if the Roman decree had not been translated. Perhaps the antepenultimate line of verse 1 of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing would have been “Christ is born in Nazareth”.
Christmas carols
Speaking of carols, the traditional repertoire of English Christmas carols comes from a heavenly host of languages. O Come All Ye Faithful comes from the Latin carol Adeste Fidelis and Silent Night from the German Stille Nacht. Even Good King Wenceslas, though not a translation, is known to English speakers because the tale of the Bohemian duke (he wasn’t actually a king) spread across borders, from language to language, before reaching the shores of England.
The carols O Holy Night and O Christmas Tree are not, strictly speaking, translations, but they are adaptations of the French carol Minuits Chrétiens and the German carol O Tannenbaum, respectively.
Messiah
And then, of course, there’s the opus magnum of Christmas music: Händel’s Messiah. You might assume the original was written in German, since Frideric Händel was German-speaking. But he actually wrote it in English. If I were writing a carol in another language, I’d probably get someone to proofread it first. But Händel didn’t need a that. He composed the entire libretto by taking words verbatim from the King James Version of the Bible (another translation!) and the Coverdale Psalter.
The opus magnum of this opus magnum, the Hallelujah chorus, is so revered that in the United Kingdom and some other countries, audiences traditionally stand up while it is performed.
Other Christmas translations
One of the most heart-warming Christmas stories is that of the Christmas Day truce in World War I. Could it have happened without the involvement of some makeshift German, English and French interpreters?
Cheesy and classic Christmas movies are subtitled, dubbed and voiced over into a myriad of languages.
Annual Christmas speeches by presidents and monarchs of bilingual and multilingual countries are simultaneously interpreted or subtitled into other languages spoken by their respective citizens and subjects. The Pope’s speech is probably the most widely translated. It appears on the Holy See’s website in nine languages, but is broadcast in many others by media around the world.
If you’re celebrating Christmas, remember the vital role translators have played over the centuries in making Christmas what it is. Christmas wouldn’t be the same without us!
Did I forget anything?
In the comments, let me know any other ways that translators have shaped Christmas.