Comments on: American culture that warms my expat heart

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:18:54 +0000

Pumpkin,
If you go to youtube.com and type in Scooby Doo, they have several episodes that your children can watch, in English. They will hear that Shaggy is really Shaggy. Both my boys love Scooby Doo. My brothers and I hated the ones in the 70s when Scrappy Doo came along. We much preferred the original ones. Just like we prefer the Tom and Jerry episodes from the 40s, can tolerate them from the 60s and HATED the ones from the 70′s with computerized music and where they were “friends”. Way too sappy. We also have Dora DVDs in English, and one Dora DVD from France – my younger boy watches both. It is funny to hear the voices.
Maybe the next time you’re in the states, you might be able to pick up some of the cartoons on dvd at Wal-mart or Target- they’re fairly cheap now (some around $5). If you burn a copy of them when you get home, it will lift the restriction and you can watch them on your dvd player. (if you don’t have a dvd burner, you’re stuck, though, to watching them on the computer)

By: Cathy Y.

Cathy Y. — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:40:58 +0000

Pumpkin, thanks for clearing up for me what the names “Babouche” and “Chipeur” mean. :-)

By: Tanya

Tanya — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:43:26 +0000

LOL, that was so cute to hear Dora in French! I had no idea! Thanks :)

By: expatraveler

expatraveler — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:20:46 +0000

I just laugh at those dubbed voices. They are wrong and should be in English. You have every right to be so excited! It happened to me all of the time while living in Switzerland.

By: Pumpkin

Pumpkin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:05:24 +0000

Tanya, It is like Cathy stated. Dora l’exploratrice talks in French but teaches the kids English.

My girls watched Dora ALOT while we were in the States so they know that she speaks English in the States and French over here. :)

You can listen to a French version of Dora singing in French and then translating in English at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzHUps74nEc&feature=related

Boots is Babouche in French meaning Arab slippers.
Swiper is Chipeur which is French slang for someone that steals.

By: Cathy Y.

Cathy Y. — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:05:00 +0000

Tanya – I can’t answer for Pumpkin, but we are in the States and our DVDs have a French language option, and in the French version, Dora teaches the kids English! So sometimes our little one watches Dora speaking English and teaching Spanish, and other times Dora speaking French and teaching English!

By: Tanya

Tanya — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:50:34 +0000

A little piece of home all the way over there! So, do you get Dora trying to teach the French kids spanish too, or is that just here?

By: Pumpkin

Pumpkin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:22:28 +0000

Bleeding espresso, It is all about the attitude! The ‘way’ it is said. :)

Christina, I know that my kids are going to miss out on “kid talk” that a mother can never do with her kids. I am happy when my oldest daughter visits us because she fills in the kids on all those sayings in English that only kids say. She teaches them songs and chants I forgot about. It is wonderful.

I have recently found a ton of songs and mini cartoons on youtube.com. The kids love watching and singing along. We have been throwing in Spanish as well. It is amazing how quickly the kids are singing along even in Spanish. :)

I hope that the cartoons in English continue. It’s great for my kids to make a connection to English other than through me.

It is too bad that you can’t get Cartoon Network in English anylonger! We do watch cartoons on DVDs in English which is nice. We choice the language as English and then the kids watch it again in French.

By: christina

christina — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:30:14 +0000

When my kids were little we also had Cartoon Network in English (they have since encrypted so we no longer get it, unfortunately) and they learned SO much from it. There were so many different accents and tones of voice and they were really able to increase their vocabulary at an astounding rate. The cultural references were important as well. It was a great addition to what I was giving them as the only English speaker in their lives.

So three cheers for cartoons in English. I miss Johnny Bravo. :-(

By: bleeding espresso

bleeding espresso — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:19:29 +0000

I don’t have kids yet, but when I see “our” cartoons in Italy, it really just isn’t the same without “our” voices and words…I hear you ;)