Sharing Our Stories

Choose a language and a story below:

Arabicعربى
Arabic
عربى

A rabbit begins to appreciate what he already has.

The Angry Rabbit
Chinese中文
Bosnian
Bosanski

The five part tale of Hedgy the Hedgehog.

Hedgehog’s Little Home
Japanese日本語
Chinese
中文

Explore Chinese with three short stories.

Three Short Stories
KlingontlhIngan Hol
Finnish
Suomen kieli

A two part story of the disagreements between a man and his wife.

The Reluctant Wife
MayanMaya
Japanese
日本語

A girl’s incredible furoshiki (wrapping cloth) saves the day.

The Marvelous Furoshiki
SpanishEspañol
Klingon
tlhIngan Hol

Learn or practice the Star Trek Language with various stories.

Browse Stories
KlingontlhIngan Hol
Hindi
हिंदी

The story of a red kite named Laalii, which means redness in Hindi.

Laalii’s One Day
Hawaiian
Hawaiian
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi

Two Hawaiian stories share both language and culture.

View the stories here
Hebrewעִברִי
Hebrew
עִברִי

A young girl gets in trouble for upsetting the chickens.

And it was Evening
PortugesePortuguês
Latin
Latine

A city mouse and a country mouse gain new perspectives.

The Country Mouse and the City Mouse
SerbianСрпски
Mayan
Maya

Ancient Mayan Tale of how birds got their names, told in Spanish.

The Clock Bird
Ukrainianукраїнська мова
Portuguese
Português

Tale of Iara the Mermaid and her adventures under the sea.

Lenda da Iara
YorubaÈdè Yorùbá
Serbian
Српски

Tale about the Emperor, collected by Vuk Karadzic (1874).

The Emperor Trojan’s Goat’s Ears
Yu’pikЮпикские народы
Spanish
Español

The story of a special doll and her pet with yellow eyes.

Mi Mascota de Ojos Amarrillos
Your Language?
Ukrainian
українська мова

Explore Ukrainian with various folktales.

Browse Folktales
YorubaÈdè Yorùbá
Yoruba
Èdè Yorùbá

Yoruba folktales about nature and family.

Browse Stories
Yu’pikЮпикские народы
Yup’ik
Yup’ik

Story about extreme weather.

Hail in June
Your Language?
Your Language?

Interested in sharing a story? We welcome your contributions.

Share Story

This project grew out of a request for multilingual storytelling as part of the Gaithersburg, Maryland Book Festival. The idea was for individuals to share their love of language by telling children’s stories in a variety of languages. Since that event has gone virtual, we have begun to collect audio and video stories in many languages to share with you here. We welcome your contributions. Use our Contact Form to offer your own storytelling talents.

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Fanni is Radnóti's wife
Located near the Tang capital city of Chang’an, site of the modern city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province, in central China.
Soldiers of that time commonly wore a white head cloth, similar to what is still worn by some peasants in China today.  The implication is that the conscripts were so young that they didn’t know how to wrap their head cloths, and needed help from elders.
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
The area of Guanxi, meaning “west of the passes”, refers to the area around the capital city of Chang’an.
This is an alternative name for a province in western China, now known as Qinghai, which literally means “blue sea”.  Kokonor Lake, located in Qinghai, is the largest saline lake in China.  
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
Oulart Hollow was the site of a famous victory of the Irish rebels over British troops, which took place on May 27, 1798. The rebels killed nearly all the British attackers in this battle. (Source: Maxwell, W. H. History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798. H. H. Bohn, London 1854, pp 92-93, at archive.org)
The phrase "United Men" is elaborated upon in the Notes section below.

Ghetto

An Italian word meaning “foundry.” It originally referred to a part of the city of Venice where the Jews of that city were forced to live; the area was called “the ghetto” because there was a foundry nearby. The term eventually came to refer to any part of a city in which a minority group is forced to live as a result of social, legal, or economic pressure. Because of the restrictions placed upon them, ghetto residents are often impoverished.

"You’re five nine, I am do-uble two"

A reference to the year 1959 and the year 2020.

"The Currency"

Meaning US dollars - this is drawing attention to the fact that Cuba is effectively dollarized.

"Sixty years with the dom-ino stuck"

This sentence is a reference to the Cold War notion that countries would turn Communist one after the other - like dominos. Cuba was the first domino, but it got stuck - no one else followed through into communism.

رحلنا

رحلنا, or "rahalna," means "we have left."

Habibi

Habibi means "my love."

Ra7eel

Ra7eel, or "raheel," means "departure."

3awda

3awda, or "awda," means "returning."

أهلاً

أهلاً, or "ahalan," means "welcome."

a5 ya baba

a5 ya baba, pronounced "akh ya baba," means "Oh my father."