I'm happy for you

[Silverobama]

I was chatting with Thomas, an old friend of mine. We haven't chatted with each other for a long time. He used to work in a primary school, and then taught English in a kindergarten. And now he's working in one of the universities here in my city. When he told me "I now work in Southwest University in Beibei now", I was very happy because I know he's been working so hard to find a decent job. I said to him:

I'm happy for you.

Would native speakers of English express it like I did? If not, could you please suggest an alternative?

 

[Tarheel]

That's fine. However, I would say, "We hadn't chatted with each other in a long time." Why? Because you just did. Therefore, "haven't" doesn't apply now.

 

[emsr2d2]

Recently/Last week/Yesterday, I was chatting with Thomas, an old friend of mine. We haven't hadn't chatted with each other for a long time. He used to work in a primary school, and then taught English in a kindergarten, and now he's working in one of the universities here in my city. When he told me "I now work in Southwest University in Beibei now", I was very happy because I know he'd been working so very hard to find a decent job. I said to him:

I'm happy for you.

Would native speakers of English express it like I did? If not, could you please suggest an alternative?

Note my changes above. Your sentence is perfect for the situation.

 

[Skrej]

If you're feeling overly sentimental or mushy, you could even say "I'm so very happy for you."

 

[Silverobama]

Note my changes above. Your sentence is perfect for the situation.

Is there another natural expression for the situation? I ask this because Skrej said it might sound sentimental or mushy.

Please also help me with this question but with a bit different context:

"Yesterday, I was chatting with Thomas, an old friend of mine. We hadn't chatted with each other for a long time. He used to work in a primary school, then taught English in a kindergarten, and now he's working in one of the universities here in my city. I know he'd been trying very hard to find a decent job even though he never told me this but I could deduce from his previous words with me and now he'd finally found one. What can I say to him when he told me "Silver, I work in one of the best universities in Chongqing now". I think "Good to hear that" or "Congratulations!" are both okay, but I wonder if there's a better alternative."

 

[5jj]

Is there another natural expression for the situation? I ask this because Skrej said it might sound sentimental or mushy.

They said that of "I'm so very happy for you," not of your original words.

 

[Silverobama]

How about my second question in #5? Please enlighten me.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Yesterday, I was chatting with Thomas, an old friend of mine. We hadn't chatted with each other for a long time. He used to work in a primary school, then taught English in a kindergarten, and now he's working in one of the universities here in my city.

That's fine - I would say that because it's what I suggested!

I know he'd been trying very hard to find a decent job even though he never told me this but I could deduce from his previous words with me and now he'd finally found one.

Blue part: That makes no sense. You can't say you know he'd been trying hard to find a decent job unless he or someone else told you that.
Green part: That doesn't work. You could try something like "but I'd deduced that from something he'd said to me before". (Bear in mind that that negates the blue part.)

What can I say to him when he told me "Silver, I work in one of the best universities in Chongqing now". I think "Good to hear that" or "Congratulations!" are both okay, but I wonder if there's a better alternative."

Both of those are OK. They don't mean the same thing but they're just as appropriate as "I'm happy for you". Here are a few more:

That's great!
Great news!
Fantastic!
Splendid! (One of my favourite words.)
Fab! (If you want to sound like a British person from the 1970s.)
Groovy! (If you want to sound even more like the above.)
I'm really pleased for you.
Can you get me a job there? (I'm joking about this one.)

 

[Skrej]

If you're looking for something a bit more subdued, then a simple "Good for you" or even just "Congrats" would work.

'Congrats' is more informal and slightly less emphatic than 'congratulations'.