Dora or Kai-lan, a bilingual love triangle

August 27, 2008
By Howard Ludwig

Ni hao! That's hello in Mandarin Chinese. It's a phrase I learned last week from my 2-year-old son's latest love interest.

Bubba fell in love with "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" after only a few episodes. His latest bilingual beauty hasn't entirely supplanted "Dora the Explorer." Instead, my boy seems to be two-timing his Nick Jr. sweethearts.

It's easy to see how Bubba could fall for both Dora and Kai-lan. They share a similar body type with a football-shaped head atop a tree trunk body. If either of these gals tilts their oblong cranium to the left they'd easily be mistaken for the Super Bowl trophy.

Dora sprinkles Spanish words and phrases into her 30-minute television program. Kai-lan uses the same approach to teach viewers a bit of Mandarin Chinese - the language used by the world's largest population.

Kai-lan is relatively new on the scene. Nickelodeon debuted her show in February, while Dora's been around since 2000. Both shows attempt to break through the "fourth wall" - the term used to describe the imaginary wall between the actors and the audience.

This is achieved when the big-eyed brunettes look into screen and ask their young viewers questions such as, "Do you like to share?" Then, there's a long pause allowing the kid on the couch to answer the question.

The technique is popular with child-development experts who prefer Dora and Kai-lan's interactive approach over traditional cartoons where kids are cast as silent observers, encouraged to slip into a near coma while gobbling Goldfish crackers and chugging chocolate milk.

That's not to say this pair of pinups doesn't have their differences.

Dora's more goal-orientated. Every episode starts with a problem that's resolved in several steps. Equipped with her backpack and trusty map, she's a go-getter I'd be happy to someday call my daughter-in-law.

Kai-lan tends to focus on more social and emotional issues. This pigtailed princess surrounds herself with a group of Hello Kitty-looking companions who struggle with issues like being patient and feeling unappreciated. Kai-lan's the sensitive girl who offers a warm hug after a tough day.

Bubba can take any girl he wants to the high school prom. Until then, I have the TV remote, thus I have the power.

Two television shows is too many. "Dora the Explorer" edges out "Kai-lan" partially because I prefer the driven diva to Sally Sensitive. But there's also a language barrier. I know some Spanish but not a lick of Mandarin.

In the week we watched "Kai-lan," Bubba picked up a few of words including tuo xie (pronounced twah-sheh). That's the Chinese word for slippers. He'd walk around the basement saying "tuo xie," which I regularly misinterpreted as babble.

The Spanish words he gleans from Dora are easier to catch. Bubba will often approach a closed door and say, "abre." This means open, which falls within my limited Spanish vocabulary.

Another example of my sparse Spanish vocab: "Adios, Kai-lan."

Source: Southtown Star