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Mind your language

Kids from non-Hindi speaking homes are picking up Hindi from cartoons and speaking it with a felicity that leaves their families baffled, finds Yogesh Pawar.

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For a three-year-old, Harsheet Srinivasan has strong likes and dislikes. He grabs the remote and switches channels only to hit one with static. His father Manohar, 32, asks him what he wants in Telugu, their mother-tongue. “Chhota Bheem lagao,” lisps Harsheet with a grin.

“He replies in Hindi even to what we ask in Telugu, often using big words that surprise my wife and me,” says Manohar, ruffling his son's hair. “Iss waqt mujhe pareshan mat karo,” protests Harsheet, pushing his hand away. He can’t be disturbed while watching his “favalit” show on the laddoo-chomping Bheem.

A few kilometres away, in Malad, a crisis is unfolding at the Sequeira family home. The cable is off and Danielle, the youngest member of the family, is checking every few minutes if it has returned. Her mother's entreaties to lie down fall on deaf ears. “What if Doraemon comes on when I sleep?” Danielle wants to know.

Not only the family, but neighbours in this almost entirely Catholic enclave are amused by the six-year-old’s prowess over Hindi. “We speak English all the time. It not like we have Hindi speaking neighbours or that she has friends in school who talk Hindi. Even if they do, it's toota-foota. So we were surprised with the way she speaks,” says Danielle's mother Andrea.

The little girl has picked up most of her Hindi from her daily-fix, Doraemon. The show, a huge hit with kids, follows the (mis)adventures of a school kid Nobita and his blue robotic cat from the 22nd century.

Incidentally, Danielle’s older sister Dione, 14, struggles with her Hindi. “I grew up on Tom & Jerry, which is just music, while Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck spoke English. My later favourites like Hannah Montana were in English so I never got as comfortable with Hindi,” says Dione. Feeling left out, Danielle butts in saying, “Hannah Montana is my favourite too.” Shooed into silence, she reacts saying: “Aisa hamesha mere saath hi kyon hota hai”, a common refrain in Doraemon.

HINDI RULES THE ROOST

Harsheet and Danielle are not isolated examples. Increasingly, kids from non-Hindi speaking homes are picking up Hindi from cartoons and speaking it with a felicity that leaves their families baffled. “This is an age when children grasp things around faster.

Unlike their lessons, they do not find this boring and want to emulate their favourite characters even in language,” says psychiatrist Pavan Sonar.

But surely the shift from English to Hindi by kids’ networks was not merely to help popularise Hindi.
Krishna Desai, senior director & network head — Kids, South Asia for Turner International India Pvt.
Ltd that owns Pogo and Cartoon Network laughs, calling it an interesting by-product. “We knew that as basic strategy, tapping the local market was important. Our global brand, though only in English, could exponentially increase coverage by going Hindi,” he says.

A 1998 survey with 8,000 adults and kids across 23 cities revealed Hindi, Tamil and Telugu (in that order) were preferred languages helped while making this decision. After the launch of Toon Tamasha in May 1999, The Flintstones and Dexter's Laboratory were also dubbed in Hindi. While this led to the channel’s share jumping in the Hindi-belt, it shot up in Kerala and Goa too.

Devika Prabhu, director (programming), Kids Network, Disney UTV, agrees that stories with rich narratives and a universal appeal engage young viewers. She feels that content on children’s networks has gone far beyond mere translation. “While keeping the essence of the show intact, they are given voiceovers that bring alive the character and milieu that kids and families can relate with. Mickey & Friends, Doraemon, Jake & the Neverlands, Phineas and Ferb are all extremely popular."

Desai says he encourages writers to watch English shows on mute and write “locally” to the visuals. “Often hilarious, crazy and different, these can sometimes lead to cracker shows.”  

Harsheet’s favourite show is a product of such churning. “Chhota Bheem is a result of our push towards original desi content which we are co-producing. It is interesting to see how the Indian diaspora has taken Chhota Bheem, Ramayan and Vikram aur Vetaal to the West too.”

Animated content in Hindi and regional languages for kids is growing, says Bangalore-based media-planner Neha Katrikeyan. “It's grown from zero to 300 crore in just over a decade and this is such a large market that there's still room for lot more growth,” she said. “Recently I was amazed to hear of plans to create original content based on Tenali Rama’s exploits in Tulu, a dialect popular in coastal Karnataka. Given the huge disposable incomes among the speakers of this dialect this seems like a strategically thought-of move.”

While linguistic dividends of animated content is lauded, parents like Andrea worry about the harmless way in which violence is portrayed. “We keep a close watch on what Danielle watches. Though she understands this is make-believe, it is worrying to think of how much kids get exposed to negative values and images these days.”

Sonar recommends such supervision. “We've seen how Shows like Shin Chan had abusive language and content. If it is not possible to let children watch only monitored, pre-recorded shows, one should bring up instances that seem problematic and discuss them with the kids.”

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