By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
BBC Studios will be translating seven Sleepy Time Stories on CBeebies into an African language, from Isizulu, Sesotho, Tsonga to Afrikaans this Heritage Month.
The dubbed episodes will air on CBeebies, DStv channel 306, between 2nd September – 29th September every day from 7pm.
CBeebies is BBC Studios’ dedicated pre-school channel on DStv, providing children aged six years and under a range of programming designed to encourage learning through play. Sleepy Time Stories will help little ones wind down after a day of excitement and get ready for bedtime.
Kids’ shows such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Magic Porridge Pot and The Elves and the Shoemaker are among those to be translated.
Pierre Cloete, the Commercial Director at BBC Studios in Africa says “To mark heritage month and celebrate the diversity of our nation, we wanted to shine a spotlight on some of our African languages with the help of our pre-school channel, CBeebies. As CBeebies is for little learners, translating a selection of the Sleepy Time Stories to 4 languages will allow our little viewers and parents to learn or develop their language skills while enjoying the shows throughout September”.
The British channel isn’t the first to accommodate language diversity in their kiddies programming. Earlier this year, Nickelodeon had SpongeBob SquarePants in Afrikaans and isiZulu.
This is part of SpongeBob SquarePants’ 25th anniversary and the Nick In Your Language initiative aimed at promoting local languages.
SpongeBob SquarePants is based on the life of the yellow sponge character, SpongeBob, who enjoys being a cook at Krusty Krab restaurant and lives in the Pacific Ocean in Bikini Bottom.