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Introduction

Where in the world would you find a potty training rhyme about a monkey’s bottom and the weird and wonderful shapes its poo makes? For me, it could only be Korea. This is just one of many rhymes that capture a childlike side to Korean culture that is fun-loving and original.

Many of the rhymes I have chosen involve children singing together or with their parents. For example, “Here, There” is a lovely rhyme for a mother and child to sing to each other. Others, like “Our House” and “Little One” get children up and moving, with so many of these rhymes involving collaboration, some even ending with a “Rock, Paper, Scissors” game to decide who will be out or in for the next round.

I also found beautiful lullabies in Korean. One of my all-time favorites is “Island Baby,” which speaks to the modern reader, yet is steeped in history. Others, like “Spring in my Hometown,” carry a theme common in many international collections of nursery rhymes – a love for what we call “the green grass of home.”

Lovely young voices sing all the songs in both Korean and English on the accompanying CD. For the Korean language versions, we have kept the focus on the language itself, but the English language versions demonstrate the call-and-response nature of many of the rhymes.

The Korean national writing system is called Hanguel and is written with spaces between words, a feature not found in Chinese or Japanese. Traditionally, Korean was written in columns, but now is usually written in rows—from left to right, top to bottom.

Recently, I read a sign on a blackboard outside a café in Auckland with the words: “We all smile in the same language.” North and South Koreans also share the same spoken language, although each calls it by a different name—Hangungmal in South Korea, and Chosŏnmal in North Korea. Hopefully, this common language bond and the rhymes they once shared as children will, one day, bring them together again.

I hope you enjoy reading and listening to these favorite Korean rhymes.

With best wishes,

Danielle Wright

www.itsasmallworld.co.nz