Little Two publishes fairy tales in plain language on Yle Arena. The stories are made especially for people who have difficulty reading or understanding general language.
Little Kakkonen will also start offering children’s programmes in plain language.
In March, a series of fairy tales in plain language will be released on Yle Arena. If they are well received, it may be possible to experiment with the use of plain language in children’s TV programmes in the future.
Because the stories are in plain English, the vocabulary is as simple as possible, the sentence structures are simple and the rhythm of speech is calmer than usual. The fairy tales also include some background sounds to enliven and support the narration, but these are used with care so as not to interfere with the understanding of the speech.
Producer Elli Murtonen says that Selkokeskus has been involved in the project from the beginning, providing support and advice. There were also test families, from whom valuable feedback was received.
Elli Murtonen says that in addition to children, fairy tales in plain language are suitable, for example, for language learners and anyone for whom common language is too difficult.
– Of course, we hope that everyone would listen to fairy tales. However, my biggest hope is that these fairy tales would be discovered by children, families and, for example, early childhood education groups, who find it difficult to listen to and understand ordinary children’s programs. That, for example, a child who gets to know the Finnish language would think that it’s wonderful, there’s enough repetition here, I recognize the words, and now the dog is barking, so thanks to the audio narration, it’s easy to follow the fairy tale, even if not every word understands, Murtonen describes.
Fairy tales in plain language will be published in Yle Areena on March 10. Producer Elli Murtonen says that a second season of the fairy tales is already being planned.