Mama Lisa's World
International Music & Culture
A place for poems, songs, rhymes and traditions from around the world for both kids and grown-ups to enjoy!
French Kid Songs & Rhymes
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Over 50 French children's songs and rhymes, with translations and commentary. An iPhone/iPad App or Book starting at just $1.99! More...
Articles about 'Danish'
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Open Culture has a page of free language learning links covering 40 languages. Here are some of the languages you can find links for… Arabic, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Maori, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Swahili,...
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Hans Christian Andersen wrote many well-known Fairy Tales for children.  He was born in the city of Odense, Denmark in 1805.  In the photo you can see a statue of him in a park in Odense. We have a Danish song written by H.C. Andersen on Mama Lisa’s World called Hist, hvor vejen slår en bugt...
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Librivox just released another bunch of recordings of fairy tales in various languages, including Hungarian, Russian, German, English, Italian and Portuguese (with links to the text of each tale). This is the 3rd collection they’ve posted. Fairy Tale Collection #1 also includes recordings in Latvian, Danish, Romanian, Yiddish and French. You can also...
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Rida, Rida Ranka is a rhyme and song known to many in Scandinavia and to the families of Scandinavian immigrants in the US. Lance N. Peterson wrote to me of its significance to his family. (I added links below to the versions of Rida, rida ranka he talks about.) Dear Lisa: Words are what we...
I got these questions over two days, so I figured I may as well post them together… 1) The first question is from Dr. Mike Mruzik who’s trying to help his Mom: Hello, Any assistance (with the question below) would be appreciated… Thanks -Dr. Mike Mruzik Here’s the letter from Mike’s mother: This is what I remember of the song that...
Lori wrote: Dear Mama Lisa, I am so excited to find this website because I have been searching for many years to find out about two Danish or Swedish nursery rhymes (you can listen to them by clicking the link). My mother’s beloved grandfather, Lars Christensen, used to bounce her on his knee and recite these...
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Richard wrote to me recommending a Danish kids song site… Hi On this web page Rimogremser.dk there are several Danish kids songs with midi files. Thanks for a good a good web-site ;) Best regards Richard Thanks for the recommendation Richard. The site is nice! It has cool line drawings to go with most of the songs and tunes...
Shirley emailed me looking for different versions of The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Here’s what she wrote: I am desperately seeking 3-4-5 versions (songs) of Itsy Bitsy Spider for an around the world float. Shame on me I left that chore until last and now I am having trouble. I’ve gotten English and Spanish. Please...
Tim wrote: Can anyone help with a Danish Nursery Rhyme called “Madiesen”? I am unsure about the spelling. Apparently it is about a young boy riding a pig and falling through the ice. Thanks, Tim If anyone can help with the Danish lyrics, and/or an English translation, please comment below. Thanks! Lisa
I’ve been asked twice in the past week for free multilingual books. Here’s a link I found called Books in Multiple Languages. They have English children’s books with translations in Spanish, French, Polish, Italian, Romanian, German, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Maori, Greek, Dutch, Farsi (Persian), Afrikaans, Croatian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew,...
Doug wrote: Mama Lisa, I am in USA but our family still sings a song called hun ska leve. This is a traditional Danish song. Does anyone know where to get lyrics and music for this traditional song? Please let me know. Thanks, Doug Hansen If anyone can help out with this song, please comment below or email me. Thanks! -Lisa
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...
Julie and Beth wrote looking for the origins of two Scandinavian rhymes that are played with little kids while touching their toes. We’re wondering if anyone’s ever heard of these rhymes and perhaps knows what country they’re from and/or anything else about their origins. Here’s what Julie wrote: I have been searching for the...
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Pfeffernüsse is a traditional German Christmas cookie. Pfeffernüsse literally translates into English as pepper-nut. That’s because most traditional recipes for these cookies are spicy and call for pepper. I believe the “nut” part is because they were traditionally shaped like little balls or nuts. That’s where you get peppernut. These cookies are also...
Here’s a question I received about a game played with a pepper nut cookie called pfeffernüsse, pfeffenusse or pebernodder… I have no idea if that is the way you spell it, but it is a little spicy cookie, shaped like a ball and about the size of a pea. I think it might have originated...
David wrote me looking for a song. In the process of trying to find it, I learned a little about The Sandman. It all started when David wrote me… I REMEMBER THIS SONG WHEN I WAS A CHILD. ALL I REMEMBER IS: THE LITTLE OLEY WITH HIS UMBRELLA HE COMES ON TIPTOES THIS FRIENDLY FELLOW THAT IS ALL...
Pamela wrote me about a rhyme that I’ve been asked about many times. Here’s what she wrote… Hello, I am interested in finding a nursery rhyme in the Danish language which I learned as a child and have passed on to my children as well. I hope you can help me locate this rhyme. ...
Bill wrote me… Perhaps you can suggest a source for me to confirm or renew a bit of Danish folklore that came from my mother. Mom’s mother had been a farmer girl near Haderslav in Schleswig-Holstein, and (around 1910) taught mom a finger game poem. One counts off the fingers, from thumb, index finger, on through small...
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