Giving Thanks Around the World

Giving Thanks Around the World
Giving Thanks Around the World

Thank you, gracias, je vous remerci, grazie, danke, mahalo, dank je; it doesn’t matter how you say it, as long as you say it. From friends, family and coworkers to store clerks and strangers, saying “thank you” is a vital part of what makes any community and culture great. As such, many cultures around the world have a special day of Thanksgiving where they look back on all the good of the past year.

This week America will celebrate Thanksgiving. Many families will sit down to a turkey dinner, play a game of backyard football and devise Black Friday shopping strategies. It’s a day to reflect on one’s blessings and enjoy being with family and friends. In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated much the same way, with delicious food and cherished time with family. The only difference, however, is that Canadians celebrate in early October. Another country with similar celebrations as America is Liberia. As a young country founded by freed American slaves, the holiday is almost exactly like what you’d find in the U.S., except they celebrate on the first Thursday of November and enjoy mashed cassavas instead of potatoes.

According to an article by The Week, some other countries that celebrate a holiday like Thanksgiving are China, Korea and Ghana. The Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is one of the most celebrated holidays in the country. Like America, Chinese citizens gather with family and friends in September or October to enjoy each other’s company and feast on things like mooncakes, pumpkin, river snails and duck.

In Korea, people celebrate Chuseok, a three-day festival dedicated to spending time with family and honoring loved ones who have passed away. Typical celebrations include a memorial service, trip to the cemetery and a meal featuring Songpyeon – a traditional rice cake filled with beans, chestnuts or other ingredients. Koreans also honor their heritage by dressing in traditional costumes, dancing and even wrestling.

Ghana celebrates the Homowo Festival, a yam harvest celebration. It’s a unique way to honor Ghana’s past history of famine and overcoming hardships to cultivate the country’s staple crop. During the harvest season, sometime between May and August, women dig up the best yams for the festival dinner, the food is blessed by local chiefs and after the feast, people celebrate by singing, dancing and playing the drums.

No matter where you celebrate, it’s important to be able to accurately communicate your thankfulness for each of your clients and business partners. Here at ASTA-USA Translation Services, Inc. we want to say thank you. We treasure our partnerships with companies both here at home and abroad. We have enjoyed every second of translating contracts, websites, paperwork and other written business documents for some of the country’s top companies. From corporate business, legal and finance to marketing, technical and government, our clients have helped make us the leading document translation company for over 70 industries. Our accredited translators are native speakers of whatever language you need, like English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Japanese, Portuguese, Hawaiian and many others.

Thank you for your continued business and we look forward to many more successful years helping you connect with your non-English speaking audiences and international business partners. Contact us today for a free quote and let us help you increase your global business presence.