Happy New Year's in Languages All Around the World!

AFRIKAANS  gelukkige nuwejaar
AKPOSSO  ilufio ètussé
ALBANIAN  Gëzuar vitin e ri
ALLEMAND  ein gutes neues Jahr / prost Neujahr
ALSACIEN  e glëckliches nëies / güets nëies johr
ARABIC  عام سعيد (aam saiid) / sana saiida
ARMENIAN  shnorhavor nor tari
ATIKAMEKW  amokitanone
AZERI  yeni iliniz mübarək
BAMBARA  aw ni san'kura / bonne année
BASAA  mbuee
BASQUE  urte berri on
BELARUSIAN  З новым годам (Z novym hodam)
BENGALI  subho nababarsho
BERBER  asgwas amegas
BETI  mbembe mbu
BOBO  bonne année
BOSNIAN  sretna nova godina
BRETON  bloavezh mat / bloavez mad
BULGARIAN  честита нова година (chestita nova godina)
BURMESE  hnit thit ku mingalar pa
CANTONESE  sun lin fi lok / kung hé fat tsoi
CATALAN  bon any nou
CHINESE (MANDARIN)  新年快了 (xin nian kuai le) / 新年好 (xin nian hao)
CORNISH  bledhen nowedh da
CORSICAN  pace è salute
CROATIAN  sretna nova godina
CZECH  šťastný nový rok
DANISH  godt nytår
DARI  sale naw tabrik
DUALA  mbu mwa bwam
DUTCH  gelukkig nieuwjaar
ENGLISH  Happy New Year
ESPERANTO  feliĉan novan jaron
ESTONIAN  head uut aastat
EWE  eƒé bé dzogbenyui nami
EWONDO  mbembe mbu
FAROESE  gott nýggjár
FINNISH  onnellista uutta vuotta
FLEMISH  gelukkig nieuwjaar
FRENCH  Bonne et Heureuse Année a tous!
FRISIAN  lokkich neijier
FRIULAN  bon an
FULA  dioul mo wouri
GALICIAN  feliz aninovo
GEORGIAN  გილოცავთ ახალ წელს (gilocavt akhal tsels)
GERMAN  ein gutes neues Jahr / prost Neujahr
GREEK  Καλή Χρονιά / kali xronia
GUJARATI  sal mubarak / nootan varshabhinandan
GUARANÍ  rogüerohory año nuévo-re
HAITIAN CREOLE  bònn ané
HAOUSSA  barka da sabuwar shekara
HAWAIIAN  hauoli makahiki hou
HEBREW  שנה טובה (shana tova)
HERERO  ombura ombe ombua
HINDI  nav varsh ki subhkamna
HMONG  nyob zoo xyoo tshiab
HUNGARIAN  boldog új évet
ICELANDIC  gleðilegt nýtt ár
IGBO  obi anuri nke afor ohuru
INDONESIAN  selamat tahun baru
IRISH GAELIC  ath bhliain faoi mhaise
ITALIAN  felice anno nuovo / buon anno
JAVANESE  sugeng warsa enggal
JAPANESE  あけまして　おめでとう　ございます (akemashite omedetô)
KABYLIAN  asseggas ameggaz
KANNADA  hosa varshada shubhaashayagalu
KASHMIRI  nav reh mubarakh
KAZAKH  zhana zhiliniz kutti bolsin
KHMER  sur sdei chhnam thmei
KIEMBU  ngethi cya mwaka mweru
KINYARWANDA  umwaka mwiza
KIRUNDI  umwaka mwiza
KOREAN  새해 복 많이 받으세요 (seh heh bok mani bat uh seyo)
KURDE  sala we ya nû pîroz be
KWANGALI  mvhura zompe zongwa
LAO  sabai di pi mai
LATIN  felix sit annus novus
LATVIAN  laimīgu Jauno gadu
LIGURIAN  bón ànno nêuvo
LINGALA  bonana / mbúla ya sika elámu na tombelí yɔ̌
LITHUANIAN  laimingų Naujųjų Metų
LOW SAXON  gelükkig nyjaar
LUXEMBOURGEOIS  e gudd neit Joër
MACEDONIAN  Среќна Нова Година (srekna nova godina)
MALAGASY  arahaba tratry ny taona
MALAY  selamat tahun baru
MALAYALAM  nava varsha ashamshagal
MALTESE  is-sena t-tajba
MANGAREVAN  kia porotu te ano ou
MAORI  kia hari te tau hou
MARATHI  navin varshaachya hardik shubbheccha
MARQUISIAN  kaoha nui tenei ehua hou
MOHAWK  ose:rase
MONGOLIAN  Шинэ жилийн баярын мэнд хvргэе (shine jiliin bayariin mend hurgeye)
MORÉ  wênd na kô-d yuum-songo
NDEBELE  umyaka omucha omuhle
NGOMBALE  ngeu' shwi pong mbeo paghe
NORWEGIAN  godt nyttår
OCCITAN  bon annada
ORIYA  subha nababarsa / naba barsara hardika abhinandan
OURDOU  naya sar Mubarak
PAPIAMENTU  bon anja / felis anja nobo
PASHTO  nawe kaalmo mobarak sha
PERSIAN  سال نو مبارک (sâle no mobârak)
POLISH Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!!!
PORTUGUESE  feliz ano novo
PUNJABI  ਨਵੇਂ ਸਾਲ ਦੀਆਂ ਵਧਾਈਆਂ (nave saal deeyan vadhaiyaan)
ROMANCHE  bun di bun onn
ROMANI  baxtalo nevo bersh
ROMANIAN  un an nou fericit / la mulţi ani
RUSSIAN  С Новым Годом (S novim godom)   Поздравления с Новым годом 2014 (Happy New Year 2014)
SAMOAN  ia manuia le tausaga fou
SANGO  nzoni fini ngou
SARDINIAN  bonu annu nou
SCOTTISH GAELIC  bliadhna mhath ur
SERBIAN  srećna nova godina / Срећна нова година
SHIMAORE  mwaha mwema
SHONA  goredzva rakanaka
SINDHI  nain saal joon wadhayoon
SINHALESE  ශුභ අළුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවා (shubha aluth awuruddak weiwa)
SLOVAK  šťastný nový rok
SLOVENIAN  srečno novo leto
SOBOTA  dobir leto
SOMALI  sanad wanagsan
SPANISH  feliz año nuevo
SRANAN  wan bun nyun yari
SWAHILI  mwaka mzuri / heri ya mwaka mpya
SWEDISH  gott nytt år
SWISS-GERMAN  es guets Nöis
TAGALOG  manigong bagong taon
TAHITIAN  ia orana i te matahiti api
TAMAZIGHT  assugas amegaz
TAMIL  இனிய புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள் (iniya puthandu nal Vazhthukkal)
TATAR  yaña yıl belän
TELUGU  నూతన సంవత్శర శుభాకాంక్షలు (nuthana samvathsara subhakankshalu)
THAI  สวัสดีปีใหม่ (sawatdii pimaï)
TIBETAN  tashi delek / losar tashi delek
TIGRE  sanat farah wa khare
TSHILUBA  tshidimu tshilenga
TSWANA  itumelele ngwaga o mosha
TULU  posa varshada shubashaya
TURKISH  yeni yılınız kutlu olsun
TWENTS  gluk in'n tuk UDMURT  Vyľ Aren
UKRAINIAN  Щасливого Нового Року / З Новим роком (Z novym rokom)
URDU  naya sal mubarak
UZBEK  yangi yilingiz qutlug' bo'lsin V
IETNAMESE  Chúc Mừng Nǎm Mới / Cung Chúc Tân Niên / Cung Chúc Tân Xuân
WALOON  ene boune anéye, ene boune sintéye
WALOON ("betchfessîs" spelling)  bone annéye / bone annéye èt bone santéye
WELSH  blwyddyn newydd dda
WEST INDIAN CREOLE  bon lanné
WOLOF  dewenati
XHOSA  nyak'omtsha
YIDDISH  a gut yohr
ZULU  unyaka omusha omuhle



These were largely taken from the following website:

http://www.wishesquotes.com/new-year/happy-new-year-in-all-languages

Also, I wrote an article in the Guardian Liberty Voice (GLV) on the history of New Year's Day celebrations, a tradition that actually dates back some 4,000 years ago. This was the last article that I wrote and published for the GLV for 2014, and it took a considerable amount of research. But I felt proud once it was done, and happy when it was published fairly quickly after I submitted it. It was a fascinating and revealing article to write, and I hope everyone will take a look by clicking on the link below:

http://guardianlv.com/2014/12/new-years-in-history/

2018 in Review

It seems that I always say this, and surely, it is a sign that I am getting old. Yet, it warrants saying anyway: it really is hard to believe how quickly this year passed.

As the winter season meted away by late March, it was incredible to think that the year was already a quarter of the way done. Then, just like that, school let out, summer was here, and half the year was gone away. Not too much later after that - and not too long ago as I write this - it was the end of September and the summer season, and the year was three-quarters done.

Now, Christmas is already past, and the countdown to the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019 had begun.

So, how was 2018? What will we remember from it in terms of news stories? How will I, personally, remember this year?

Well, obviously, Donald Trump made this year about himself to the extent possible. Despite more than two years since he "won" the election (although he lost the popular vote - Only in America!), it still both shocks and depresses me that such a pathetic man-child actually sits in the Oval Office as the elected face and voice of the nation. Let's not even bother to get into the specifics of his idiocy this year, because I would not have had the time to document all of that if I had begun this from January 1st of 2018. Suffice to say, he continued to polarize the nation, and to embarrass the nation in front of the entire world. Perhaps the most telling moment was when he was laughed at to his face while making a speech before the United Nations. He admitted that he had not been expecting that kind of a reaction, as if he believed that every audience would mirror the blind loyalty to him that he gets at his ridiculous rallies. But then, he and FOX News tried to spin this story, to make it seem that the United Nations was laughing with Trump, even though his own surprise quite clearly contradicted this. As President Trump often says: Fake News!

The war in Syria finally seemed to more or less see reduced tensions, although this seemed to coincide with increased violence, and a new humanitarian crisis, in Yemen. A Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was critical of his country's manner of conducting that war, and the horrific ramifications that it had on the people in Yemen, who were on the verge of a massive famine that was completely man-made. But Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, drawing worldwide condemnation and sanctions. It became a huge international incident, even though the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman seemed almost surprised that the incident received any attention at all, let alone such a storm of negative publicity the world over.

In November, much of the world marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. This was particularly notable, since the world seems to be sliding closer towards tensions that could see another huge war, and potentially another world war, break out. Many noted the trend towards fascism, with Donald Trump (who refused to speak honoring the soldiers during the 100th anniversary because it was raining) here in the United States, President Recep Erdoğan in charge in Turkey, President Rodrigo Duterte in charge in the Philippines, and Jair Bolsonaro, a man most often compared with Trump, winning the presidency in Brazil. 

The biggest positive news, for me, was France winning the World Cup. That was an incredible event for us, since we are Franco-Americans, and watched the final between France and Croatia all together as a family. What a game! What memories, even though it did not top actually being there the first time that they won it in 1998, when my brother and I were actually in France. Still, what a treat to see them win it again, even if they were outplayed in most of the actual final game. That was particularly true for almost the first 60 minutes, when Croatia seemingly owned every advantage, except for the scoreboard. Then, France got a small flurry of goals to effectively ice the game - a game that could easily have gone the other way. 

🏆🇫🇷⚽  On est les Champions ! 🏆🇫🇷⚽ 

Ah, some nice memories there!

Another memorable news story that helped to define 2018 was the yellow vest strike in France, which came in recent weeks, actually. Workers there were tired of the elitist President Emmanuel Macron cutting taxes on the rich and effectively making everyone else pay for it with a gasoline tax that was officially targeting climate emissions, but which French workers felt was actually his way of making up for the lost revenue with the tax cuts to the rich. Macron had to offer concessions, which was seen by most observers as a win for the protesters.



But for me, 2018 will be remembered for other things, as well. This was an up and down year, which was quite tumultuous at times. There were significant highlights and low-lights, if you will. More than most years, I would say, and this helped to define this year, at least in my personal memory. I cannot remember a year when there were such high high's, and low low's, if you know what I mean.

One of the best things was another western trip, which was the third one that my son and I have taken in the past three or so years, dating back to the Arizona trip of 2015. We visited Arizona then, including the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, the southwestern desert, Tombstone, Phoenix, and Flagstaff, with a side excursion to Nogales, Mexico. In 2016, we would visit some of these same things in Arizona again, since we had enjoyed it so much. But we had a much bigger and longer trip, making a figure 8 around Las Vegas, where we both landed and left from. We had visited Rachel, Nevada (by Area 51), Yosemite, San Francisco, the Redwoods, the Mojave Desert, the Grand Canyon (the North Rim this time), the southwestern corner of Colorado, including the San Juan range of the Rockies and Mesa Verde, and another excursion to Nogales, before heading back up to the Las Vegas lights, although we also stopped at the Hoover Dam. We even got a day in the Dallas-Fort Wort area of Texas.

This year, we went out west again, but a bit further north. We landed in Denver on August 20th, and headed straight up to Cheyenne, Wyoming that same night. The main focus of the first half of the trip was Yellowstone National Park, as well as the Grand Tetons. There were some unbelievable things that neither of us had seen anything like before! We also experienced literally freezing temperatures on that first night, which was new to the both of us. We got amazingly close to buffalo, including one that passed right next to our car as we were driving one evening. Then, as the trip shifted to concentrate on Colorado for the second half, we visited Boulder and Ward, a town with an elevation of over 10,000 feet! We ate at an old western gold mining town, Gold Hill, that has become a very interesting, modern kind of town that has retained that Old West kind of look and feel, and ate one of the best meals that I remember ever having at the Gold Hill Inn. We enjoyed the Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs, and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings nearby. We enjoyed a day in the Mile High City of Denver, and then visited the Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for the haunted hotel of Stephen King's "The Shining," made most famous by Stanley Kubrick's movie by the same name), before essentially closing out our trip by visiting the Rocky Mountain National Park. Here are some of the best pictures from that trip:

Ah, some great memories just by perusing through those pictures, which brought back some great memories from that trip!

There was one other pretty big trip that we took a few months later/ In November, we went to visit my brother, who had recently moved to the Adirondacks. We stayed at his place in Port Henry, and got a day trip to Montréal in the bargain. We also got to enjoy the first snowfall of the season, although it luckily did not inconvenience as much as all in terms of driving conditions. It did make for some spectacular mountain scenery, though:

We also took a trip to my old family town of Liberty, New York. This was where my grandparents on my mother's side resided, and it is where my aunt (my mom's sister) still lives. We enjoyed our visit, and my son got to know the town that was such an important place for our family for a very long time. He really seemed to enjoy it there! Here is a picture of him by the sign in town:

He and I went to some concerts, too:

Robert Plant, June 

Paul Simon, September

Smashing Pumpkins, August





Live and Counting Crows, August 







Deborah Bonham, Ann Wilson, Jeff Beck and Paul Rodgers, August

More great memories, these also with my son!

I went to a few signing events, including a couple with former members of the New York Giants. But the biggest signing event was an author signing event with former President Jimmy Carter:

President Jimmy Carter, who turned 94 years old this year!

My son began to actively post videos on Youtube. Here was one such instance, the "Hot Pepper Challenge:"

The Hot Pepper Challenge (make and 1 face)

My son also enjoyed his last day of 6th grade in June. We took a hike on that day, and he wore his France jersey that his grandpa (my father) got him:

Of course, he did have to return back to school in September. His smile seemed a lot more forced:

There was also some sad news in 2018, as my first dog, Max (my girlfriend had him for 13 years!) was put to sleep in August. He had lost his vision years before, but was losing his hearing, and I am almost positive that he was losing his sense of smell, as well, although there was, and is, no way to prove that. But we had a cat visiting at that point in time, something that would not have failed to draw his ire not long before, and he did not notice her at all, except for one time when she rubbed against him. But Max will be missed. Here are some pictures of him:

So, there you have it. Like all years, 2018 was a year of ups and downs, both in terms of world events, as well as on a personal level. 

But 2018 is over now, or just about. 2019 is almost here. Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year in 2019!