Tracking Santa across the globe and in multiple languages

On By Littum

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It’s a Christmas Eve routine across the US, Canada and beyond: following Santa’s journey across the globe as he delivers gifts to children everywhere. And then, as he seems to approach, he rushes the children to bed, so that St. Nick should not go past their house because they are still awake.

NORAD – the North American Aerospace Defense Command – tracks Santa every Christmas Eve using a combination of radar, satellites and aircraft from the US and Canada. Families can follow Santa and his eight tiny reindeer (nine if you count the lead guy with the glowing nose) as they make their way from the North Pole on a desktop computer, through a smartphone app or by phone at 877-HI-NORAD.

And they can do it even if English is not their first language, thanks Interpreter Unlimited Inc., and its network of more than 10,000 interpreters. They are available to “bridge language and culture,” said Shamus Sayed, vice president of Interpreters Unlimited, which is based in San Diego but has an office in Colorado Springs, Colo., where NORAD is headquartered.

“When the kids see where Santa is, they can see it in their language,” Sayed said. “Inclusion and visibility are so important.”

How long has NORAD been tracking Santa Claus?

According to its website, NORAD, an American-Canadian agency that monitors the skies over North America, began tracking Santa because of a misdialed phone number. In 1955, a child called a number thinking they were getting a department store Santa, but instead it reached Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental Air Defense Command (NORAD’s predecessor) at its operations center in Colorado Springs.

Shoup, the commander on duty at the time, quickly realized that more calls would come in because the phone number was a typo from a newspaper ad. He assigned a watchman to answer all incoming calls from children, and a tradition that continued with NORAD’s formation in 1958 was born.

Millions of children every 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,” said Becky Farmer, a spokeswoman for NORAD. “So we know that making the tracker available to people all over the world is very important.”

Seeing Santa ‘brings a smile every time’

Interpreters Unlimited Services NORAD’s Santa Tracker free, providing interpreters and voiceovers for Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese speakers.

“There are 101 reasons why children want to see a Santa Claus” 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 kids and parents, and it brings the holiday spirit 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 great and they share the same passion as we do and have just as much fun.”

Many interpreters return year after year, Sayed said, with voiceover work at NORAD’s location in Colorado and other interpreters working remotely. The human touch in interpretation is also important, he said, because online tools and artificial intelligence “don’t provide the cultural nuances that matter so much right now.”

To parents whose children are excited about Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, he said: “Go and visit the place. Enjoy it whether you’re adults, children, old, young, everyone. Go to the website or call and use this as a excuse to smile.”

Reach Phaedra Trethan at [email protected], on Bluesky @byphaedra or on Threads @by_phaedra.