This is a really fun Russian animated series, and our 3 year old can't get enough. In fact, our daughter's antics reminds us of Masha all too often!
You don't need to know Russian as the series generally keeps dialogue to a minimum. All the episodes are presented FREE on YouTube by the company that makes the show, so it's easy to give it a go and see if you'll like it. Some of the episodes are real classics and a crack up to watch.
The only downside is the recent English version. It's horrible. Masha is only about 3 or 4 years old in the show, but the English dialogue makes her sound like she's 8 years old. All the charm is lost, the English dialogue is just too mature and poorly written -- it does not suit an innocent three year old. Not only that, but the voice acting isn't great and sounds stilted. Although that could be a result of the poor lines. Now Masha sounds more like an annoying school-age kid in a Disney movie.
Some of the Russian episodes have English subtitles, and even they are more charming to read than watching the botched English version.
Occasionally Masha sings a Russian song, and again the English translation is a real mess, they could've done a much better job translating the lyrics.
Bottom line: Don't let the English version taint your experience, go see the original episodes. Your young children will love it.
