Are you looking forward to Christmas?

[Manuel]

Is this a correct translation: "Estás esperando la Navidad con anticipación?" ?

[poli]

Commonly you will hear ¿Estás esperando la navidad? If you're really panting for it, you may use ansiar instead of esperar.

[Manuel]

Thanks for the response , poli. Hmmm, I wonder why my dictionary translates "looking forward to" as "esperar con ilusión/anciosamente/con anticipación" then, if people don't say this!

I have to say, I often get the feeling that dictionaries give translations that aren't very colloquial, to say the least. I wonder why that is. What is the point of learning a translation that might be correct in the purest form perhaps, but a form that nobody actually uses in day-to-day speech?! Seems kind of stupid to me!

Do Spanish speaking people actually use the combinations I have written above or does that sound too "formal" or something like that?

[poli]

I don't think the dictionary gave you bad advise, but the info they give is less ambiguous than it needs to be in common speech where inflection plays a role. As far as I know, to look forward to is a term that really doesn't translate completely to Spanish, but remember esperar means to hope as well as to wait. Wishful hoping seems close to looking forward to something.

[Rusty]

'Anhelar' is also very popular.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Con anticipación" means before its natural time.

But I think people I know would ask:

- ¿Te hace ilusión la Navidad?
- ¿Esperas con ilusión/fe/emoción la Navidad?
- ¿No te emociona la Navidad?
- ¿No quisieras que ya llegue la Navidad?
- ¿Verdad que ya queremos que llegue la Navidad?
...


"Anhelar" is a good option, but for me the wish must be a very strong emotion to merit such verb.