BBC Studios Africa will be dubbing some of its children’s content on CBeebies (DStv 306) into several South African languages, in addition to English, for September. This includes isiZulu, Sesotho, Tsonga, and Afrikaans.
From the 2nd to the 29th of September, CBeebies will air popular shows in isiZulu, Sesotho, Tsonga, and Afrikaans daily between 19:00 and 21:00.
The shows being dubbed for children to watch in their home languages include Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Enormous Radish, The Fox and the Hen, The Magic Porridge Pot, The Ugly Duckling, and Three Little Pigs. Additionally, an episode of the popular show Bluey, from its second season, will be dubbed into isiZulu.
BBC Africa will also make the dubbed episodes available on its BBC Studios Africa YouTube channel.
This move by BBC Africa to dub kids’ content follows similar initiatives by Paramount Africa, which has been airing shows like Spongebob Squarepants with isiZulu and Afrikaans dubs.
CBeebies is a pre-school channel on DStv that offers a range of programming focused on encouraging learning through play for children aged six and under.
Pierre Cloete, BBC Studios Africa commercial director, expressed, “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.”
“Translating a selection of the Sleepy Time Stories into four languages will allow our little viewers and parents to learn or develop their language skills while enjoying the shows throughout September,” he added.
