2006年VOA标准英语-Sesame Street Translated into Arabic

By Gini Sikes
New York
10 May 2006

 
Sesame Street in Egypt
  
Since its debut¹ in 1969 in the United States, the children's television show Sesame Street has spread around the world, reaching youngsters in 120 countries.  Now the colorful, furry² puppets known as the Muppets will educate and entertain in even more of the world's 22 Arabic-speaking countries. The show's Egyptian version is being dubbed⁴ into Simplified Classical Arabic. 

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"Ahlan, ana ismey khokha. Wu di awel marah liyah fi Amrica. Wu mishtaah aabel Elmo. I said, 'my name is Khokha and this is my first time here in America and I cannot wait to meet Elmo!'"

That is the voice of Khokha, 4, an Egyptian girl who lives in "Alam Simsim," or "the World of Sesame" as it translates in Arabic.

The outgoing, bright-orange Muppet with purple hair speaks an Egyptian colloquial⁵ form of Arabic. Recently she visited New York City at the invitation of the Mosaic⁶ Foundation, a non-profit organization formed by the wives of Arab ambassadors to the United States. The group is providing a grant to dub³ Khokha in Simplified Classical Arabic, the form of the language used throughout Arab media. This way her show can reach the broadest possible audience of Arab-speaking children.

But will things that are culturally appropriate in Egypt be accepted in, for example, Saudi Arabia? Producer Nalia Farouky does not foresee any cultural conflicts.

"The things that we stay away from when we do our shows is we do not talk about religion, we do not talk about politics, we do not ram⁷ things down people's throats. It is not fishing for controversy⁸," she said.

Nonetheless, Sesame Street's co-productions go beyond teaching the alphabet or counting to ten. Often they address the specific needs of children in a given region. On South Africa's  "Takalani Sesame," an HIV-positive Muppet named Kami is helping⁹ reduce the stigma¹⁰ of AIDS. And in Egypt, a country with a high illiteracy¹¹ rate among women, Khokha goes to school, does not wear a veil and dreams of doing things that in some countries only boys are allowed to do.

"There are a lot of things I want to do," she said.  "I want to be an astronaut. And I also want to drive a big truck. I also want to be, um, um maybe I can help people who cannot do many things. Like there are a lot of children who are very sick and I want to help them, and maybe be a doctor. And many, many other things these are just some for now."

Khokha's voice and puppeteer¹², or Muppeteer, is Dina Al-Saleh, who is confident that this message of girls' goals will not offend new viewers.

"It really helps that they are puppets," she explained.  "Because sometimes when they are human, they are like, 'Well, I do not know if we dress that way, and this is too short for a four-year old or this is, you know, this is too fancy or oh no she has make up on!' and you know? A lot of these things might bring up controversy, but as far as puppets are concerned, the sky is the limit."

Arab children are not the only ones who will come to know Khokha. The Mosaic Foundation is also funding an upcoming project to introduce Khokha to the American pre-school crowd, explains producer Nalia Farouky and Khokha. 

FAROUKY:  "It is two hours, hosted by Khokha in English and she would be addressing American kids, and it is basically to provide a window for American children to see a day in the life of an Arab child."

KHOKHA:  "I want everybody to know, like all the kids in America, that we are all the same. Maybe we have different kinds of foods and we have different kinds of weather and maybe we have different animals as well. Other than that we are the same."

From Dubai to Detroit, the universal appeal of Sesame Street seems the same in any language.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

3 dub   

vt.（以某种称号）授予，给...起绰号，复制

参考例句：

• I intend to use simultaneous recording to dub this film.我打算采用同期录音的方法为这部影片配音。
• It was dubbed into Spanish for Mexican audiences.它被译制成西班牙语以方便墨西哥观众观看。

4 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 colloquial   

adj.口语的，会话的

参考例句：

• It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
• They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。

6 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

7 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

11 illiteracy   

n.文盲

参考例句：

• It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。
• We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。

12 puppeteer   

n.操纵木偶的人，操纵傀儡

参考例句：

• Mr. Sullivan is a professional puppeteer.沙利文先生是一位专业的木偶戏表演者。
• One puppeteer controls the doll's head,face,and right hand.一个表演者控制木偶的头部，面部和右手。