Happy New Year! This month’s cartoon is appearing in 47 languages, all suggested by readers!
In this post you will find:
- All 47 cartoons, in alphabetical order
- One blank cartoon (see the last cartoon) in case you want to fill in a language.
- At the very bottom of the post: Answers to questions you may have! (Scroll, scroll, scroll down!)
All the cartoons are also over on my Hedger Humor Facebook page. So without further ado, let’s do this!
Here’s a list of all the languages, then the cartoons appear below.
Afrikaans
Arabic
Arabic Option 2
Bangla
Cantonese
Catalan
Chinese (Mandarin)
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Farsi
Filipino
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean (It’s January)
Korean (It’s 2023)
Latvian
Lithuanian
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Sinhala
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Tagalog
Taiwanese Mandarin
Tamil
Thai
Ukrainian
Urdu
Vietnamese
Welsh
Blank Cartoon
Download this cartoon and add your own language! I don’t have directions for adding the text, but I’m hoping one of the many programs and apps available today will allow you to add words to this blank cartoon. Then you can share it with friends and family!
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
How did you choose the languages?
After posting a few translations for the “It’s December” cartoon I got suggestions from readers about other languages to include in January. So all of the languages you see here were suggested by fellow readers — I didn’t pick the languages myself.
I worked with more than 60 people to figure out the translations. We communicated through emails and direct messages on Facebook and Instagram. In some cases, multiple people were helping with one language.
Can I add a language to the January 2023 roundup?
I’m not going to be adding any more languages to this one because I need to move on to other work, but I am providing a blank version in case you want to add your own language. I’m hoping that today’s programs and apps will make it easy to add words to this blank cartoon — and then you share it with family and friends!
Will you be doing this again in February?
Not in February or in the near future. However, I might do another translation later this year. If I do, I will announce it ahead of time.
How can I get a language added for the future?
If I decide to translate this monthly cartoon again, I will post ahead of time to let you know. You can also email me anytime at adriennehedger[at]me.com and let me know which language you would like in the future. I will file all the ideas away for next time!
I don’t think you translated my language correctly.
You could be right, and if I made a mistake, I’m very sorry! I tried so hard to get everything correct! Just email me at adriennehedger[at]me.com and I’ll correct anything that’s wrong and post the correct version here on my website.
Also, in many cases, I worked with several people to get the translations, and different options were suggested so I made choices about which option to pick. So if the translation is technically correct, but not what you would have suggested, it could be that other people suggested something slightly different.
Why is the art on some of the cartoons flipped?
Those are languages that are read from right to left, so the art is flipped to reflect that.
Why do some cartoons give the translator credit and some don’t?
Honestly, it’s because this project became extremely (and sort of hilariously) complicated very quickly. I was so fun, but I was working with a lot of different people and in the beginning I wasn’t taking good enough notes! In some cases people directly asked me if I would put their name on the cartoon, and I happily did.
If you helped me translate and would like your name on the cartoon, email me and I will add it! In no way was I trying to slight anyone! I just didn’t do a good enough job keeping track of everything. I’ve learned a lot by doing this translation project. So next time I’ll be more organized. My email is adriennehedger[at]me.com if you want to email me.
I’m offended by something in this post.
My apologies. My only goal was to have fun celebrating many languages in this world.
How long did this project take you?
Around 20 hours.
What was fun about it?
I loved talking to so many people, and it was really cool to see how the emotion of surprise is expressed in different languages. I feel like I learned a lot. Also — it was so awesome to see how helpful everyone was. I feel like this was a group effort, and I appreciate everyone who helped!
I think it’s so awesome that no matter where we are in the world or what language we speak, we can relate to the universal feeling that time is moving fast! Let’s appreciate each day.
In the December cartoon, the mugs had kicking toasts on them, but in this cartoon, they don’t. What happened?
The kicking toast mugs are in the dishwasher, so the characters had to use different mugs.
Do you have an image that captures all the languages?
Yes.
Do you have an image that captures all the reactions in one place?
Yes.
