In Poland when it is your birthday, people wish you “sto lat” which means “100 years”–a wish that you may live to be 100 years. And the “birthday” song they sing has the same greeting:
Sto lat, sto lat,
Niech żyje, żyje nam.
Sto lat, sto lat,
Niech żyje, żyje nam,
Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, niech żyje, żyje nam,
Niech żyje nam!
That roughly translates to:
A hundred years, a hundred years,
May he (she) live, live with us.
A hundred years, a hundred years,
May he live, live with us.
Once again, once again, may he live, live with us,
May he live with us!
If you’d like to hear it sung, try this link: http://www.polishamericancenter.org/Sto_Lat.mp3.
And if you’d like to read just a bit more, try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sto_lat
There, now you know how to wish a Polish person a “happy birthday” in Polish!
sto lat sto lat niech żyje Częstochowa nam,
sto lat sto lat niech żyje, żyje nam, jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz , niech żyje żyje nam, niech żyje nam
niech jej gwiazdka pomyślności nigdy nie zagaśnie,
a kto z nami nie wypije, niech się pod stół skryje.
tak, to już jutro!