NORAD Santa tracker: How Saint Nick's journey is offered in different languages
It's a Christmas Eve routine throughout the United States, Canada and beyond: Tracking Santa Claus' journey across the globe as he delivers presents to children everywhere. And then, as he seems to be approaching, rushing those kids to bed, lest St. Nick pass over their house because they're still awake.
NORAD ‒ North American Aerospace Defense Command ‒ tracks Santa each Christmas Eve using a combination of radar, satellites and aircraft from the United States and Canada. Families can follow Santa and his eight tiny reindeer (nine if you count that lead guy with the glowing nose) as they make their way from the North Pole on a desktop computer, through a smartphone app, or on the phone at 877-HI-NORAD.
And they can do it even if English isn't their native language, thanks to Interpreters Unlimited Inc., and its network of more than 10,000 interpreters. They are available to "bridge gaps in language and culture," said Shamus Sayed, vice president of Interpreters Unlimited, which is based in San Diego but has an office in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where NORAD is headquartered.
"When the kids see where Santa is, they can see it in their language," said Sayed. "Inclusion and visibility are so important."
How long has NORAD tracked Santa Claus?
According to its website, NORAD, a U.S.-Canadian agency that monitors the skies above North America, started tracking Santa because of a misdialed phone number. In 1955, a child dialed a number thinking they'd get a department store Santa, but instead, reached Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental Air Defense Command (NORAD's precursor) at its operations center in Colorado Springs.
Shoup, the commander on duty at the time, soon realized more calls would come in because the phone number was a misprint from a newspaper ad. He assigned a duty officer to answer any incoming calls from children and a tradition, one that continued with NORAD's formation in 1958, was born.
Millions of children each year check in on Christmas Eve to see where Santa and his reindeer are. They come from more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Volunteers answer more than 130,000 calls through the hotline; families can also track Santa through Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
"Santa tracking is a worldwide effort," Becky Farmer, a NORAD spokesperson, said. "So we know it's very important to make the tracker accessible to people all over the world."
Seeing Santa 'brings a smile, every time'
Interpreters Unlimited services NORAD's Santa tracking for free, providing interpreters and voiceovers for Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese speakers.
"There are 101 reasons kids want to see a Santa" who represents them and their culture and language, said Sayed, a father of two. "This is a feel-good thing."
Seeing Santa "brings a smile, every time," he added. "It's an escape for the kids and parents, and it brings the spirit of the holidays home and makes it tangible."
The interpreters are happy to help NORAD, too: "It's not just the right thing to do, it's actually a lot of fun for us," Sayed said. "The team on the NORAD side is awesome, and they share the same passion we do and have just as much fun."
Many interpreters return year after year, Sayed said, with voiceover work happening at NORAD's location in Colorado and other interpreters working remotely. The human touch in interpretation is important, too, he said, because online tools and artificial intelligence "do not provide the cultural nuances that matter so much right now."
For parents whose kids are excited about Santa on Christmas Eve, he said, "Go visit the site. Enjoy it, whether you're adults, kids, old, young, everyone. Go to the site or make the call, and use this as an excuse to smile."
Reach Phaedra Trethan at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on Bluesky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tracking Santa, across the globe and in multiple languages
