Ni Hao, Kai-lan The Mandarin Dora
Feb 7th, 2008 by alyoung
If you have kids under the age of 5, you know who Dora the Explorer is. For those who don’t know, Dora is a children’s cartoon, with Dora the Explorer teaching kids about the Spanish culture and language. I’ve been watching Dora for the past 5 years with my kids. Dora is not as big as the Wiggles, but it is still very popular among the 2-5 year olds. Thanks to Dora, my kids probably know more Spanish than Chinese.
Countless times over the past five years, I have remarked that I should introduce a Chinese version of Dora. There are more Chinese any other race in the world, so it should do at least as well as Dora. Well, put that idea on the long list of ideas I thought of and let someone else beat me to. Nick Jr has just introduced Ni Hao, Kai-lan, a Mandarin version of Dora, highlighting Chinese culture and the Mandarin language. Gee, that idea sounds familiar. The Mandarin Dora has been described as Dora without all the yelling. If you have watched Dora before, you know what I mean.
The review in the San Francisco Chronicle gave the show high marks, and predicts it will be popular with the millions of kids across the country. The creator of Ni Hao, Kai-lan is a first generation Chinese-American. It could have been me. If you have any good ideas, don’t wait to act on them, or you will have regret it later. I will now be reminded every time Ni, Hao, Kai-lan comes on TV 3 times a day of what could have been.
