My favorite ebay seller (where I buy my Dora the Exploer in Mndarin) had new dvds starring this little girl character I’ve never heard of before: a Japanese animation called Chibi Maruku. She has them in Japanese and Mandarin. 樱桃å°ä¸¸å (Yingtao Xiao Wanzi in Chinese)
So I looked them up. They only seem to have the same tv show in live action on youtube, but I found them on a similar Chinese video sharing site:
http://www.youku.com/playlist_show/id_584943.html
They are just beyond beginner chinese. I find them quite understandable… though I don’t know all the words. They have the characters beneath as subtitles (traditional, not simplified) so they are good practice and I think good for kids to watch. On youku, they seem to have complete episodes as they are about 20 mins long each.
If you are interested in buying the dvds, you can go to Bogeji’s ebay store:
http://tinyurl.com/yeymss2
I think this is what I’ll get my son after Dora in Mandarin.
Thanks for the tip wenjonggal. I watched this cartoon series in chinese when I was a kid. I was looking for similar stuff to buy for my daughter here in the U.S. However, the item is described as having simplified chinese subtitles rather than traditional on the seller’s page. I will ask the seller to clarify. Thanks!
Yes, do ask her re the dvds for sale.
If it says simplified, it probably is.
When I wrote traditional, I mean the ones online for free at youku.com
Personally I prefer the simplified, but it is good practice for me (knowing simplified) to read the subtitles online in trad.
Let us know what she says about the dvds for sale. thanks!
Oh yeah you’re right. I misunderstood your earlier post. :laugh:
I learned traditional in school but can now read both traditional and simplified. I would prefer my daughter first learn traditional though (for personal reasons). The problem is it is quite difficult to find chinese learning products in traditional chinese here in the U.S. I would LOVE to have Dora in traditional…
That’s funny, re not finding traditional characters materials in the States… most if not all of my stuff comes from the states and it is quite a chore finding simplified… I find there is a lot of traditional: a lot comes from Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, which all use traditional. I have my adult “learn characters” book in traditional (I see it is also available in a simpl. edition), our flashcards are in traditional (from Childbook.com), and the Baby Learns Chinese dvds and flashcards have both but trad is dominant. Our Bob the Builder dvds are trad. Lots of other dvds give the choice between the two. Other than mainland China, most places read trad, so most commercial dvds have both.
Most of the picturebooks I have are traditional (a lot printed in HK or Taiwan) and a lot of the children’s learn chinese textbooks at childbook.com are available in both versions.
Our Dora dvds, I am not even sure they have subtitles, so it really makes no difference… we just listen to them.
Anyways, just to say, you really should look around. Esp at places like http://childbook.com, http://asianparent.com, http://chinabooks.com … there are so so many trad resources, for babies, toddlers, children and adults.
I just looked and there are Dora learning materials in trad characters at asianparent:
http://www.asianparent.com/Doras-Chinese-Character-Writing-Workbook.aspx
Best of luck!
Hello,
I’m trying to teach my little one chinese as well. Could you give me your insights on traditional and simple chinese characters?
Personally, since my son is adopted from China, and that is where they use simplified characters, I am learning simplified. I do practice recognising traditional characters from time to time, both in children’s books and subtitled dvds, as I would like to be able to understand materials from Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong etc.
But I am only learning the characters in depth in simplified myself: stroke order, radicals, writing them etc. And they ARE simpler. Sometimes easier to recognise, certainly easier to see on the page when printed small, most definitely MUCH easier to write, and to count strokes in order to look them up in a dictionary.
Others who have their origins in other countries or areas which use traditional, or who want to be able to read the widest, or who have philosophical reasons for learning traditional will have a different take on them than I do.
There is a whole thread on this:
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-signing-speaking-foreign-languages/teaching-chinese-language-traditional-or-simplified-chinese/
If you put “traditional characters” into the forum search, you will get other discussions as well.
Thank you wenjonggal. The discussion thread was very helpful for not only addressing my question but also for providing other helpful links!
Thanks for all the links wenjonggal! I really like childbook and asianparent’s selections. Those are my main sources of chinese educational materials, along with www.chinesetapes.com. 
Thanks for the chinesetapes.com tip! I hadn’t heard of it before. Some fun stuff like puzzles and posters. Lots of classic animation dvds (foghorn leghorn, popeye, little mimi, daffy duck, tweety and sylvester) but not sure how the translations are… the english printed on them is horrid and missing a lot of letters! ;D Anyways, great to have another good site to order chinese materials. It is also a good place for those who want to learn Cantonese.