Jeringonza – A Spanish Word Game Like Pig Latin, with Portuguese and Italian Versions

Jeringonza is played in Spain and throughout Latin America. It's also found in Portuguese speaking Brazil and even in Italy. It's a secret language for kids – just like the English word game Pig Latin. (I'm going to make all the changes to the words in bold below to help you learn [...]

Mama Lisa Now Has a Facebook Group

We'd love it if you'd join the Mama Lisa Facebook Group. You can post anything you'd like about your culture. You can post your own musical recordings or YouTube videos… Links to culture and musical sites… Photos of your country… Questions about songs or cultural issues… Anything related to World Culture and [...]

Can Anyone Help with a Portuguese Nursery Rhyme?

Cyndi wrote asking about a rhyme from her grandmother… Lisa, My grandmother always said the same nursery rhyme. She has recently passed away and I would love to know what it means. Words (I am not sure of the spelling), this was not an English rhyme. It is believed to have been Portuguese, but I am not [...]

Can Someone Help with a Song Called “Sambalale”?

Ellen wrote: I'm looking for the origin of a song entitled “Sambalale.” It's about a boy who is a show off and is trying to get a mango out of a tree. Raffi credits it to Brazil but I can't find anything on this. It's one of my preschool favorites. E. Harold-Stein If anyone can [...]

Does Anyone Know of a cd with Portuguese Kids Songs? Or would someone like to sing a couple of songs for us?

Teresa wrote: I would love to buy a cd with all those Portuguese nursery rhymes. I have been trying to search on the net and I just can not find anything. Any ideas on how to get the cd with songs featured in your home page. Thanks Teresa I found a couple of Portuguese Children's cd's on CD Baby. [...]

Looking for a Portuguese Saying or Nursery Rhyme for a Baby Shower

I received this note yesterday: Hi, I was wondering if anyone could suggest a nursery rhyme, song or quite from a classic children's book that is in Portuguese. I am doing my sister-in-law's baby shower invite and would love to put something like this on there, in her language. Thank you If anyone can help out, please comment below. Thanks! Lisa Share [...]

International Scouting Campfire Songs – “Can you send us one from your country?”

Larraine wrote to me looking for Scouting Campfire Songs from around the world. Here's what she wrote, followed by my response with some suggested songs and sites to go to for help: Dear Mama Lisa, It has been suggested that I contact you with my request. I am the sketch producer of “The Live Wyre [...]

How to Find Sheet Music, Tunes and MP3's on Mama Lisa's World

In addition to this blog, I also host Mama Lisa's World. Mama Lisa's World is a large collection of children's songs and rhymes from countries all around the globe. Matt, a music teacher from Rhode Island, wrote a question to me, the other day, about Mama Lisa's World: Hey Mama, I love the concept of your site. [...]

Free Online Language Dictionaries

While I have this link at hand, I'd like to recommend www.freedict.com. It's a site devoted to free online language dictionaries. You can translate between English and the following languages: Afrikaans Danish Dutch Finnish French Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Latin Norwegian Portuguese Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish I find that it can usually succeed at translating the words I need. Feel free to recommend other language dictionaries that you like in the [...]

Mama Lisa's World News and Multimedia Features

A significant part of the Mama Lisa sites is a large collection of songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. We currently have about 750 songs from around 90 countries and cultures. When you consider how many languages there are in those cultures – that's a lot of information! In order to make [...]