Sing Happy Birthday in Gamilaraay!

Next time you have a birthday in the family, why not try singing it in language?

To download a printable pdf file of the words to “Your Day”, a Gamilaraay version of the “Happy Birthday” song, click here.

This translation only has four words, and they include some of the special sounds of Gamilaraay, so you can have fun practising your pronunciation.

Yaadha (day) rhymes with father. The ‘dh’ is like English ‘d’ with the tip of your tongue between your teeth.

Nhalay (this) rhymes with away. The nh’ is like English ‘n’ with the tip of your tongue between your teeth.

Gaba (good) rhymes with rubber.

Nginu (your) rhymes with emu. The ‘ng’ is like English in ‘singing’, but we don’t have it at the start of English words. One way to get around this is just to join it together with the previous word, as though you are saying ‘singing emus’. Try it:  ‘nhalay nginu’!

To listen and download a sound file of the song sung by Winanga-Li staff member Tarryn Noble, click here.