In this podcast we'll teach you how to say happy birthday. That said, this isn't a lesson so much as an excuse to crow about the birthday of our very own superstar podcaster Echo. Later this evening those of us here in Beijing will stagger out and celebrate in true Chinese style with unholy amounts of cake, KTV, liquor and Xinjiang food, not necessarily in that order. We'll also be force-feeding Apple cake as well, since it was her birthday recently too. Happy Birthday!
 said on
April 3, 2009
Happy birthday Echo! Happy birthday Apple!

 said on
April 4, 2009
祝你们生日快乐。
 said on
April 4, 2009
@imron,

Thank you ! :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 5, 2009
Happy Birthday Echo and Apple. Keep up the good work and hope this year is better for you than all the last.
 said on
April 11, 2009
祝你生日快乐!你几岁 了?

阿文
 said on
April 11, 2009
@阿文,

谢谢,23,呵呵 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 15, 2009
Happy Birthday. Lession one for me!

(Its my b-day also :-)

 said on
April 16, 2009
Happy Birthday, Avram. And good luck getting started. It's well worth it.
 said on
April 17, 2009
@Avram,

Late Happy Birthday !

迟到的生日快乐,但是真的希望你快乐啊 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
December 16, 2009
When we sing happy birthday in American the word order is differnt so to sing in Chnese is this correct?

祝你生日快乐

祝你生日快乐

亲爱Echo生日快乐

祝你生日快乐

 said on
December 16, 2009
> 祝你生日快乐

Dead on Bill, and we can swap out 生日 and replace it with any other holiday, as in 祝你圣诞节快乐 zhù nǐ shèngdànjié kuàilè (Merry Christmas) too.
 said on
December 16, 2009
@Bill,

Actually I'm still not so sure what the third line should be after so many birthdays. I think some people just repeat four times 祝你生日快乐, or replace "你" with the person's name.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
December 16, 2009
@Echo

I am familar with four lines of the same verse but I feel out of place have sung the song so many times with "Dear Echo" it seems to lose the warm personal feeling. Maybe I whould not try to be so literal in translation but more understanding of Chinese culture, which I have found to be very practical yet enduring and suits me well. Like we say in America, "IF it's not broke, don't fix it," or "When in China do as the Chinese!"

Thank you for the most excellant lessons and 圣诞节快乐

Bill
 said on
December 17, 2009
@Bill,

Oh, I mean you can sing "祝(person's name)生日快乐!" as the third line, not all four lines :)

也祝你和全家圣诞快乐!Hope Santa has already prepared a big great gift for you little angel :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
December 18, 2009
People I know also like to turn it into 猪你生日快乐 here, with a long and extra emphasis on the first character (pig). I like to hit them and then diving in for the cake while they're off balance.

 said on
December 18, 2009
@orbital

We like to say that too. 范晓萱 has a song called 猪你生日快乐. Also a Taiwan Singer 康康 has a song called 快乐鸟日子, which has a upper tempo.
 said on
March 30, 2012
@apple

生日快乐

aloha
 said on
April 3, 2012
@ECHO

生日快乐

hau'oli la hanau

happy birthday

aloha
 said on
April 3, 2012
@hitheo2,

谢谢你!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
November 19, 2013
生日快乐 !! 我在练习一点