Teletubbies in China

Whether you love or hate these four little people toddling around on fake grass in spacesuits is not the point of this blog post. Whether or not you think the purple one is gay is also not the point. Today I want to ask if anyone, besides me, has watched Teletubbies in Chinese.

I don't even know the names of the English-version Teletubbies. But I know them in Chinese: Ding Ding, Deci, La La, Xiao Bo.

We hadn't pulled out the Teletubbies DVD's in absolutely years. But yesterday, while choosing a coloring page off the internet, Anna saw a Teletubbies picture she had to have. So, this morning, when it was time for my shower and her usual morning show, she fished out the forgotten Teletubbies DVD.

I heaved a great sigh, but I put it in for her. Sophie loved it. She saw the sunshine baby and immediately clapped her hands. Although they're not my favorite, I have to admit that watching Teletubbies in Chinese is a great language-learning tool for those of us who aren't fluent. (I'm about at that preschool level in my language acquisition, I guess, as embarrassing as that is to admit ... after eight years!)

What amuses me most in this Chinese version is the rendition of the theme song. Not only does the singer miss his cue, coming in much too early on the second verse of the song, but he's completely off key.

I can only imagine what went on in the recording studio when the theme song was taped.

I think the singer is the same person who narrates the episodes. Maybe he's a big TV or radio personality and the people in the studio didn't want him to lose face by telling him he is TONE DEAF.

Or maybe the poor guy just couldn't hear the background music and didn't realize he was too early and that the second verse is in a different key than the first.

Either way, nobody seemed to care, so it's now on the DVD for all the Chinese-speaking world to hear, lending an even more bizarre quality to an already (let's face it) bizarre show. The kids love it, so we still watch it.

And I'm thankful for a little giggle on a rainy Thursday morning.