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Contents
Posts
Link of Spanish Kids CD’s
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009I stumbled upon this page today: a list of some musicians who have recorded children’s music in Spanish.
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
French Hello Song “Bonjour” with MP3
Monday, June 8th, 2009Hello songs are a wonderful way to help children who are learning a foreign language. It’s also nice for children to always sing the same song at the beginning of a class. Hello songs are great for this.
The song below is called “Bonjour”. It’s a French hello song written and sung by Alain Le Lait. Sit back and enjoy the song by clicking the MP3 below. You can read along with the lyrics in French, followed by an English translation by Alain…
Bonjour
(French Lyrics)Bonjour, bonjour
Comment ça va?
Bonjour, bonjour
Très bien, merci
Je suis content d’être ici
Avec tous mes petits amis
Bonjour, bonjour
Comment ça va?Merci, merci
Merci d’être ici
Merci, merci
Écoutez
Aimez-vous cette chanson?
J’espère que je suis dans le ton
Merci, merci
Merci d’être iciHello
(English Translation)Hello, hello
How are you?
Hello, hello
Very well, thank you
I am happy to be here
With all my little friends
Hello, hello
How are you?Thank you, thank you
For being here
Thank you, thank you
Listen up
Do you like this song?
I hope that I am in tune
Thank you, thank you
For being here.The French and English lyrics to this “Bonjour” song are © 2003 Alain Le Lait.
Alain Le Lait is a French native who grew up near Paris, France. He moved to the United States in the 1970s and now lives in Colorado. Alain writes and performs easy to learn children’s songs in French, Spanish and English. Check out his site www.Yadeeda.com to hear samples of his music and to buy his CD’s or mp3’s. Soon we’ll be posting Alain’s version of Alouette!
Merci Alain!
Mama Lisa
PS Here are some other Hello and Goodbye Songs…
Radio France Podcasts
Saturday, March 14th, 2009
Radio France has French news podcasts that are spoken a little slower than normal for people who don’t speak French as a first language. I found them reasonable to understand. Check it out if you know some French and would like to practice!
If you’re fluent in French, up to a challenge, or just want to listen to their music, check out Radio France’s podcast directory page, featuring music and news.
Danish Kids Songs Sites plus a Danish Children’s Song
Thursday, February 19th, 2009Richard 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 – though no English translations.
I picked one of the songs on the site that’s in the public domain (possibly 100 years+ old) and tried my hand at translating it. Below you’ll find the lyrics in Danish, the illustration from the site, a link to the midi and my translation…
Når vi sejler op og ned
Når vi sejler op og ned,
ser vi fisken svømme.
Ære, være, du er min.
Lise, Lise, hvor vi elsker dig.Når vi sejler op og ned,
ser vi fisken svømme.
Ære, være, du er min
Michael, Michael, hvor vi hader dig.Midi of Når vi sejler op og ned
Rough English Translation:
When we sail up and down,
We see the fish swim.
Glory, be, you are mine,
Lisa, Lisa, we love you.When we sail up and down,
We see the fish swim.
Glory, be, you are mine,
Michael, Michael, we hate you.I welcome improvements to my translation!
I searched around some more and found another nice Danish site called Dansk Folkemindesamling (the link here is for the kids song section of the site). This one had a different version of the same song (also in Danish only). This one also had a Quicktime recording of children singing it. It’s where I learned that the song goes back to at least 1900. It’s a circle game. One goes “swimming” under the “circles” raised arms. At the end of each verse one joins the circle. One joins them to walk around so that together they form a chain which gets longer and longer.
Here’s the second version of the song…
1 Når vi sejler op og ned
så ser vi fisken svømme
ære være vi er her
for Mia, Mia hvem elsker du?2 Når vi sejler op og ned
så ser vi fisken svømme
ære være vi er her
for Per, Per hvem elsker du?3 Når vi sejler op og ned
så ser vi fisken svømme
ære være vi er her
for Ebbe, Ebbe hvem elsker du?This version is friendlier. Here’s the English translation I came up with:
1 When we sail up and down,
We see the fish swim.
We are honored to be here
For Mia, Mia, who loves you?2 When we sail up and down,
We see the fish swim.
We are honored to be here
For Per, Per, Who loves you?3 When we sail up and down,
We see the fish swim.
We are honored to be here
For Ebbe, Ebbe, Who loves you?Once again, I welcome improvements to my translation!
Mama Lisa’s World also has some Danish kids songs with English, French and Spanish translations and midis. We always welcome more songs if anyone would like to contribute any and also if anyone would like to sing any for us… Feel free to comment below or email me!
Mama Lisa
Pili’s Spanish Language Podcast
Saturday, January 24th, 2009Guest blogger, Monique Palomares works with me on Mamá Lisa’s World en español. Monique grew up in a multilingual family in southern France. Spanish is one of the languages she spoke growing up.
If your parents or grandparents had a different mother tongue from yours and if you lived your childhood in such a multicultural context, you sure know how I feel.
I was happy when in August 2007, Pili, a Spanish student of Fine Arts in Salamanca, Spain, posted a comment on this blog to tell us about her podcast. It aimed to help improve people’s abilities in the Spanish language.
I listened to Pili’s podcasts as they came out. Throughout the podcasts, Pili would tell her American friend Lucy about her life in Spain.
I particularly enjoyed…
-Her stories about Spanish cultural events like La San Fermín in Pamplona, and hearing about customs like eating tapas, and learning about Spanish movies.
-The fact that she would speak clearly and a little more slowly than the very fast Spanish speech you normally hear.
-The fact that she now and again used colloquial idioms (not naughty ones!) that you might not find in dictionaries and that keep your language up-to-date.Pili posted until December 2007 and her old podcasts are still available on her site.
Now she’s coming back with a renewed version including free podcasts and more extended material that’s available by subscription. You can check the guide to the podcasts on her website dpili.com, it’s in pdf format, so you can download it for free!
Well, to make a long story short, I’m glad she’s back.
Online Spanish Songs – Recordings and Spanish Lyrics
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008I just found a treasure trove of online recordings of Spanish kids songs and the Spanish lyrics in PDF form in an online book called CANTAR, TOCAR Y JUGAR – Juegos musicales para niños (Sing and Play – Musical Games for Children) by Pilar Posada Saldarriaga.
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
Some Noteworthy Language Tools
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008Here are some new and old language tools worth mentioning…
Speech Accent Archive – If you’d like to hear or study accents in English check out this site. People from all over the world recite a paragraph in English.
Internet Slang Dictionary & Translator – also translates internet acronyms like lol
Nice Translator – Uses the Google translator, but displays text in a way that’s easier to read.
Verbix – Conjugates verbs in many languages
WordReference.com – online translation dictionaries translates words from English to: Spanish, Italian, Russian, German and French (translates in both directions).
Hello World – language resources for Kids
LanguageGuide.org – Visual Dictionaries in various languages
Feel free to mention any language tools or sites you like in the comments below.
-Mama Lisa
“Chanson d’Automne” – Autumn Song – A Poem by Verlaine
Monday, November 26th, 2007Here is one last poem about Autumn before I focus on the topic of the upcoming December holiday season.
I came upon this poem while looking for French podcasts to brush up on my French in anticipation of a trip to France in the Spring. There’s a whole podcast in French devoted to this poem that you can listen to. It inspired me to come up with my own translation, which you can read below.
Chanson d’Automne is a very sad poem that was written by Paul-Marie Verlaine in 1866. Most French people are familiar with this poem as it’s taught in school. French children are often required to learn it by heart.
Chanson d’Automne
Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon cœur
D’une langueur
Monotone.Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l’heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure;Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m’emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.Autumn Song
The long tears
Of Autumn’s
Violins
Wound my heart
With a monotonous
lethargy.All suffocating
And pale when
The hour strikes,
I remember
The old days
And I cry…And I am going away
On an ill wind
That carries me
Here, there,
Just like a
Dead leaf.Follow the link to hear Chanson d’Automne recited
Announcing Mamá Lisa’s World en español!
Monday, October 1st, 2007We’re very excited to make an important announcement – Mama Lisa’s World, our collection of children’s songs from around the globe, is now available in Spanish!
Mama Lisa’s World features almost a thousand kids’ songs from more than a hundred countries and cultures. Many are available in the original languages, with translations into English, French and now Spanish. It’s a great resource for parents, teachers and anyone interested in multicultural childhood culture.
I’d like to thank my friend and colleague, Monique Palomares, for her translations and my husband, Jason Pomerantz, for his programming. And, of course, I’m especially grateful to the many contributors who have made this great resource possible!
If you’d like to sing a traditional children’s song for us in Spanish, we be happy to post it!
Come on over and visit Mamá Lisa’s World en español!
A New Rosetta Stone!
Sunday, September 9th, 2007I found an interesting feature in Webster’s Online Dictionary at http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org . If you set it to “Non-English” and type in a word – it will give you that word in all of the languages it has for the word, with the definition. That’s pretty interesting to see.
For instance, the word “okay” exists in many languages. If you set the dictionary to “Non-English” and type that in, you can see all the languages for which they have information, that have the word “okay”. (Of course, “okay” is originally an English word, but it’s spread all around the world.)
The Quack Project – Animal Sounds Around the World
Monday, July 30th, 2007Do ducks quack in the same way all over the world? Of course the answer is, No! English ducks say, “Quack! Quack!“, French ducks say, “Coin-coin!“, and so on…
Discover the different sounds that ducks, horses, pigs, cows, frogs and roosters make in different languages at The Quack Project. They let you hear some of the sounds for free. If you want to hear a more extensive list of animal sounds, you have to pay for a CD-ROM version.
Otherwise, you can check out Derrick Abbot’s Animal Noise Page for a list of what animals say in 17 languages. If there’s a lot of interest out there in this topic, let me know and I can work on adding this feature to my site in the future.
-Mama Lisa
Raising a Bilingual Child
Thursday, June 14th, 2007WineMama has an interesting discussion on her blog about her determination to raise a bilingual child and the difficulties she faces.
International Children’s Digital Library – ICDL
Saturday, April 14th, 2007The International Children’s Digital Library is a wonderful site to visit with children where you can read online books in many different languages. You can choose to browse books by country, by age group, and by language. They have picture books for young kids, and chapter books for more advanced readers.
You choose the book you’d like to read. Then you click the arrows to turn the pages of the book.
So head on over there and check it out. You’re in for a treat!
-Lisa
Can Anyone Help with Spanish Pronunciation?
Friday, March 16th, 2007Tracey wrote:
Lisa
Are you able to assist me with how to pronounce the Spanish words? I’d like to teach my grade the nursery rhymes.
Thank you,
Tracey Morand
Hi Tracey,
There are some recordings of Spanish songs on my site. You can find 3 on the Mama Lisa’s World Mexican Children’s Song Pages and more on the Mama Lisa’s World Spain Children’s Song Pages. They’re the ones with MP3’s.
We like the internet page called Spanish Pronunciation Key to help learn the Spanish pronunciation of different letters.
There’s also Languageguide.org’s Spanish pages. There you can click on pictures of different words and hear them pronounced.
If anyone would like to record any of the other Spanish nursery rhymes or songs that are on Mama Lisa’s World, I’d be happy to post more recordings. That way people would know how to pronounce them.
Thanks! -Lisa
Great Link for Language Learning
Monday, December 4th, 2006If you’re trying to learn a new language, I’d recommend checking out LanguageGuide.org.
Users visit different theme related pages (i.e. about insects, the family, the farm). Each page has images related to the theme. You place your cursor over the images and hear their names pronounced and see them spelled out in the language you choose.
Because it’s visually based, these pages can be used by anyone in the world, regardless of your native language.
Here are the languages they have:
English (English)
Italian (Italiano)
Arabic (عربي;)
Spanish (Español)
Portuguese (Português)
Mandarin Chinese (普通话)
French (Français)
Russian (Русский)
Japanese (日本語 Nihongo)
German (Deutsch)
Hebrew (עברית)So if you’re interested in learning any of these languages, or improving your skills, check it out!
-Lisa
“The Bath Song for Kids Learning English as a Second Language”
Tuesday, September 12th, 2006Check out the video of The Bath Song over at Super Simple Songs. Your kids and/or students will get a kick out of it!
-Lisa
Are you thermometer impaired?
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006The other day I was reading a post on a blog called French Word-a-Day. Kristin Espinasse, who writes it, was talking about an incident where her child was sick. Her French friend was present and there was a certain uncertainty about the “correct” way to take her child’s temperature. Kristin was using one of the new mercury-free stick thermometers, after a digital ear thermometer had already failed her.
I am totally bewildered by thermometers! Even after trying umpteen varieties and brands over the soon to be 12 years I’ve been parenting.
First I tried a digital thermometer “stick” that could be used rectally, orally or under the arm. Now, to me, using a thermometer rectally sounds like a torture device. I’ve only been able to get myself to do that when my child was much younger and feeling very hot. I took a rectal temperature one time. My son was feeling so lousy. I have to say that it wasn’t making him feel any better taking his temperature that way. He got hysterical crying, so I decided that was a bad idea. Wouldn’t that make his temperature rise more? So I got rid of that one.
Next I tried the digital ones that go in the ear. That doesn’t seem too unpleasant.
They seem to work in the beginning. Though you’re supposed to insert them at some weird angle pointing to the front of the opposite ear. The mind takes some time wrapping around those instructions. Once I figured out how to use it, it actually seemed to work for a while. Eventually though, it starting reading temperatures that were always off the charts.
The next one I tried to use under the arm. It kept beeping at me at odd times, which made me think it wasn’t working. What’s more, you’re supposed to add a certain number of degrees to the result, and I could never remember what that number was.
Of course in the middle of all this, whenever I’d take my kids to the doctor, the nurse would ask for a temperature. Sorry, I don’t have one, my thermometer broke! Sorry, I don’t have one, it kept beeping at me weirdly. Sorry, the dog ate my thermometer!
Of course, the nurse always looks at me like I’m nuts!
Finally, I decided to buy an expensive ear thermometer again. It worked beautifully for about a month. What a blissful month that was! Until it broke.
Next I decided I should try the old fashioned way – mercury. Just like Mom used to do! But it turns out that they no longer sell mercury. It’s a hazard to the environment.
So I decided to try the non-mercury variety stick thermometer. It worked once and after that it consistently read 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Even after I ran it under cold water for 5 minutes!
I’m starting to give up on taking temperatures again. As Kristin said, as a mother you can pretty much tell when your kid is sick by feeling his or her forehead with the back of your hand.
Of course, my kid’s doctor doesn’t agree with this and he wants the hard scientific facts. What’s your kid’s temperature?
I sort of slink down, and come up with another lame excuse as to why I don’t have an actual number – my kid’s been warmish for a couple of days…
So if there’s anyone out there who has good thermometer advice, please feel free to comment below. Then maybe I (and who knows how many countless other parents) won’t have to suffer the nurse and doctor’s disapproving glances anymore!
Podcasts Are a Great Way to Improve Your Foreign Language Skills
Friday, June 30th, 2006There are a lot of new tools on the internet to help you keep up with a second language. You can learn new vocabulary, keep your ears in tune, and perhaps even start to learn a new language from scratch!
Podcasts are one of these tools. Podcasts are audio recordings that are available over the internet. You can either download them in mp3 format and then listen to them from your computer or iPod, or you can listen to them “live”, streaming right from the net.
I’ve been working on improving my French. One new French podcast I’ve found is called Learn French by Podcast. The podcast is “moderated” in English, but a native French speaker talks for a minute or so in French. Then, what was said is often clarified in English. Then it’s repeated in French.
This works well for me as I understand most of what they say, but there might be a word or two I don’t remember. It gives me a chance to recall it myself and sometimes it’s clarified later in the program. They also have a PDF document you can download that goes along with the podcast.
Devon, who works at Knock Knock English, has a podcast that’s geared for Japanese children who are learning English. In the podcasts, Devon speaks in English, and his co-worker Ayako, speaks in Japanese. My guess is that these podcasts would also work well for an English person who’s learning Japanese, as almost everything seems to be said in both languages.
Last, but not least, my husband, Jason Pomerantz of Fiddle and Burn, recently finished recording a podcast of the classic children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This is a great tool if you’re trying to learn English. You can download the book at Project Gutenberg and read along while you listen to the story. It’s broken down by chapter, so you don’t have to listen to the whole book all at once!
It’s a great book in its own right, so even if your first language is English, you’ll probably enjoy hearing it.
Feel free to recommend any podcasts you like in the comments below.
Happy listening!
Lisa
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