Peppa Et Moi - Watching Children's Programming To Learn A Foreign Language
Why should a childless middle aged couple sit around watching a children's program? Are they intellectually challenged? Are they trying to recapture their lost youth? Are they just too drunk or stoned to watch Game of Thrones or The Wire?
Well... maybe? But the real reason we do it, once in a while, is to polish up our rusty high school French.
When @adjs20 posted about watching Yo Gabba Gabba with his kids it reminded me of how much The Wife and I enjoy unwinding on occasion with an episode or two of Peppa Pig -- in French.
We're pretty grateful that so many of these clips are available in so many languages. It's perfect for beginning and occasional speakers, because the language is simple, and they're concentrating on basic, important every day concepts for children. At the same time, the characters speak at a rapid pace - actually much closer to regular speech than what you hear on language-learning tapes. With episodes that are only five minutes long, we can watch the same one a few times in order to get comfortable with the pronunciation.
Only problem is, if we ever actually do go to France, I'll have to be careful to stop myself from grunting between my sentences.
I must admit there's something endearing about Peppa Pig, her family, and all their animal friends. There's a lot of honest laughter going on, and you really get the sense that this is one cartoon family that's going to stick together through thick and thin. This is one kid's show I wouldn't mind watching with my kid, if I had a kid.
We carried a lot of Peppa Pig merchandise in the children's department of the bookstore when I worked there. The staff was pretty amused to find me speaking to the plush toys in a foreign language. "Bonjour, Peppa. Et voila! Ton petit frere, Georges!"
I was approaching the end of my stretch as a manager, and I think they just took it as another sign that another one of their fearless leaders was cracking up. One night my friend tossed me a stuffed pig and said, "Hey, here's another one of those Peppa things you like so much."
Oh man, was he ever wrong! I just said, "Es-tu aveugle? C'est Olivia, ton idiot!"
That's a good method to learn or brush up on a language. When you and the Mrs. are a bit older maybe you'll be allowed to watch videos on Youtube - that's how my son learned English...
Hi there :)
Thanks for mention me in your post.
You know what? I think the only problem with the "Yo Gabba Gabba" crap i wrote about is that I let my children to watch it in thier native language.
Maybe I shoul let them to watch it in another language such English or maybe Spanish or something.
I can use this piece of crap for an educational purpose.
Thanks you for the idea :)
And dont worry about having kids, It will come one day :)
Thanks for inspiring my post. I hope you can find some benefit from the torture of children's programming!
I had 4 years of French in high school, but I barely remember a word. A couple years ago, I tried listening to music from French language channels on Pandora and AOL Radio to see if I could start picking it back up, but I couldn't find any stations where I really enjoyed the musical style (one station actually gave me a head-ache if I listened through earbuds). Consequently, it didn't hold my interest, and I didn't dedicate enough time to make any real progress.
This approach seems like it might be easier to stay interested. I might give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion!
Yeah, a few five minute cartoons aren't too big a commitment. My friend, who actually has children, has seem them all a million times in English, so when she switched to French it was like she already knew what they were saying. I know your kids are older now but maybe there's a French dubbed thing on Youtube that they watched when they were younger. (Provided it's not Barney. That would drive me bonkers.)
If you do give it a try let me know how it works!