Saturday, November 28, 2015

Dora The Explorer in Germany

No, this is not some double-length episode available only on DVD coming in 2006! It's one of the things we saw during a trip to Germany. J was sick on the last day, so we stayed at the hotel and watched some TV. They have a German Nick Jr. channel and on it is Dora the Explorer, simply called Dora.

Anyone who has seen the English version of the show knows that a central element is Dora's bi-lingual life. She speaks English and Spanish, as do some of her friends. A few only speak Spanish, notably the transportation guru Tico the Squirrel. If Dora needs a boat, car, or hot air balloon, Tico is sure to show up in the nick of time to help her out.

The odd thing about the German version of the show is that Dora speaks perfect German. Even odder was the part of the episode where they needed some transportation and Tico showed up spouting the perfectly English phrase, "Hi guys, I can take you where you need to go!" Hearing Tico speak English was flabbergasting to me and my wife. The children were unphased by this shocking turn of events. English is clearly the second "bi-lingual" language in the German version.

To see a list of the international versions of Dora with their language pairs, go here.

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