I have learned so much reading these boards and allearsnet so here is my (hopefully useful) contribution. I wanted to teach my 4 year old grandson how to say hello, how are you, I am fine, thank you and goodbye in all the languages of Epcot. Quite a challenge. (Note that I omitted arabic because that looked a little too hard.) He is really good at remembering song lyrics, as most children are, so I wrote a song. The melody is basically the bones song, as in, "the finger bones connected to the hand bone". Words in parentheses are pronunciation clues- not part of the song lyrics.
Here it is:
FRENCH
Hello in French is Bonjour
Goodbye in French is Au revoir
How are you is Como allez vous
Singing in French how smart are you?
Thank you in French is Merci
Can you sing this song for me?
I am fine is Tre Bien
Now lets sing this song again!
GERMAN
Guten Tag means hello
You speak German know you know
How are you is vee gates
Speak some more now I cant wait
Say I am fine Mir geht (gate) es gut
Speak some more now if you would
Say thank you as danke shane
Then you say Aufwiedersehen (aw feet er sayn)
SPANISH
Hello in Spanish is Hola
How are you is como esta
I am fine is estoy bien
You can say that to a friend
Gracias is thank you
What more than that can you do?
Adios is goodbye
Lets give it just one more try
JAPANESE
Konnichiwa is how you say
Hello in Japanese today
Sayoonara means goodbye
Why dont you give it a try?
How are you sing tra la la
And say O genki desu ka
Genki desu is I am fine
And domo is thank you one more time
CHINESE
Hello in Chinese is Nee HA-oh
You can say that now you know
How are you is nin hao
So I guess you know that now
I am fine is xie xie nin (she she nin)
You can say that once again
Thank you is said xie xie (she she)
That is what to say to me
Say goodbye then zei jian
There you go then
now youre done
ITALIAN
Hey hey hey now did you know
Hello in Italian is Buon pomeriggio
Goodbye in Italian is Addio
What else in Italian do we know?
Thank you in Italian is Grazie.
Please keep singing just for me
How are you is como sta?
One more line then ta da
I am fine is Sto bene
Thanks for singing just for me
NORWEGIAN
Hi in Norwegian is Hei
That is too easy to try
Hvordan står det til? (voor-dahn stor de teel)
Really means how do you feel!
Ha det bra (haa de braa) means goodbye
And Takk means thank you no lie
Jeg har det bra means I am fine
Sing this song just one more time