[sarasi]

While I think I understand where you are coming from, Sashimister, I don't think it's really that heinous a thing to want to greet or express gratitude to someone in their own language, even if you don't speak/write the language yourself.

As a similar example, my parents will soon meet my Japanese mother-in-law for the first time. They have asked me to teach them a couple of appropriate greeting phrases in Japanese- would you also see that as odd/wrong? My parents are also "complete noobs to the Japanese language", but they just thought it would show some respect towards my mother-in-law to greet her in Japanese when they meet her.

My mother-in-law speaks very little English and I can imagine she has been practicing phrases to greet my parents with as well- she does it to me occasionally, busting out an English phrase when I least expect it!

Surely there are much worse things that people can do than attempt to write a card in a language they don't know well/at all. I don't think it's really something to criticise or even spend a lot of time thinking about.