The Muzzy Foreign Language Teaching System for Children: How the BBC Muzzy System Works

The BBC Muzzy foreign language system is the most popular foreign language teaching kit for children in the United States and Western Europe. Muzzy is a giant, furry alien, who lands in Gondoland, a kingdom which contains a king, a queen, Princess Sylvia, Bob the gardener, and Corvax, the king's right-hand man.

The premise behind the animated Muzzy foreign language program is simple: show a cartoon to children in their native language, and then show the same cartoon again in the foreign language the children's parents want the child to learn. Repetition is key. In between short, twenty minute sequences in the plotline, the Muzzy foreign language series shows vocabulary and grammar-building snippets, designed to reinforce concepts and language for time, movement, money, manners, and daily life settings.

As the plot line develops, Muzzy meets Bob. Bob befriends the alien. Bob is in love with Sylvia, who son declares her love for Bob as well. However, Corvax is in love with Sylvia, setting up comic situations that allow for intrigue, capture children's attention, and broaden the range of words and phrases the children can be exposed to in the foreign language they are learning.

The Muzzy foreign language kits are available in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian. A Japanese version was tested in the 1990s but it no longer in production, though copies appear on eBay from time to time. A new Mandarin Chinese version debuted recently. The Muzzy foreign language series is available on VHS and DVD. In addition to the videos, the kits include audio lessons and workbooks for writing reinforcement.

The Muzzy foreign language kits retail for approximately $200 for DVD versions, $170 for VHS versions. The videos are designed to be used repeatedly, and the kits can readily be resold on eBay when the family no longer needs the kit. Many families working on a foreign language use the Muzzy series first, and then move on to Rosetta Stone, a more advanced foreign language learning system.

This writer's experience using the system in German, for two boys living in a home with an English speaking mother and a German and English speaking father, shows that the boys acquired vocabulary and the ability to understand more German, though that have not (yet) spoken more German other than one and two word sentences. Repetition, however, is key; immediately after watching more of the German component, the boys speak far more German.

"Ich bin Muzzy. Der grosse Muzzy!" "I am Muzzy. The big Muzzy!" is a great introduction to a foreign language for any family.