Baby Talk 儿语

The script of this programme 本节目台词

William: Hello! Hi! My name's William. I'm six years old and this is my best friend, Wang Fei.

Wang Fei: Er... 大家好。

William: (Yawn). I feel sleepy! It's almost time for beddy-byes!

Wang Fei: Er... William. Why are you speaking so strangely?

William: I'm pretending that I'm six years old.

Wang Fei: 你在假装自己只有6岁！怪不得你听起来比平时聪明了不少。

William: Ha ha, very funny. Well, the reason I'm talking like a six-year-old is that last Sunday, 15 May, was International Day of the Family. So I thought it might be nice to look at some language which is used by children and with children.

Wang Fei: 所以今天我们的《地道英语》说一说儿童用语。儿童用语有什么特点呢？

William: Yes, I think in English, like in any language, you wouldn't use difficult words when you are talking to young children. And probably like in any language, there are some special words that we tend to use only with children.

Wang Fei: Special words... such as?

Baby talk is not only used by babies.

William: Such as the phrase I used a moment ago, beddy-byes.

Wang Fei: Beddy-byes?

William: If I say, "beddy-byes!" that means, "time for bed". Let's listen to this clip of a father talking to his little boy. As you listen, see if you can hear some other examples of baby talk.

Example

Father: Come on Alex! Beddy-byes! Have you got your teddy? Put on your jim-jams. That's it! On they go. Jump into bed then. Sleepy time!

Shall we sing you a song? "Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are?" Nighty-night.

William: Yes, he said "put on your jim-jams". Jim-jams is a baby phrase for pyjamas.

Wang Fei: Pyjamas 睡衣。

William: And the father also made sure his little boy had his teddy.

Wang Fei: His teddy 他的毛绒玩具。And then at the end, he didn't say goodnight to his little boy.

William: No, he said "nighty-night". There was a lot of language in that clip, so let's hear it again:

Example

Father: Come on Alex! Beddy-byes! Have you got your teddy? Put on your jim-jams. That's it! On they go. Jump into bed then. Sleepy time!

Shall we sing you a song? "Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are?" Nighty-night.

William: (as a six-year-old) Wang Fei, do you want to see my teddy?

William loves his badger

Wang Fei: Er... not really.

William: Here he is!

Wang Fei: What's this?

William: He's called Badger.

Wang Fei: Wow! 它看上去很老… 也很旧！它的眼睛呢？

William: Well, he's been cuddled a lot. Do you want to see my jim-jams?

Wang Fei: No… not exactly. I think we should end today's programme there, because I can tell that William is getting ready for beddy-byes.

William: Look Wang Fei, they're blue and they've got racing cars on!

Wang Fei: 算了，算了，我不想看! 各位再见！