Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Film Festivals

Film festivals are a great way to bring together the work of many creative people. This short film is from the Wyllie O Hagan Saint Patrick's Day Film Festival. "Yu Ming is ainm dom" is one of the short films from March 2008. This year is the third anniversary for the Saint Patrick's Day Short Film Festival. Each year the festival is held on line at You Tube and at the Roxy Cinema in London, England.

"Yu Ming is ainm dom" is a story about a Chinese lad who decides to learn Irish. What do I like about this short film? It makes you stop and think.





You just watched the longer video. This film has two endings. The filmmaker did a shorter version of the film that ended sooner. It finished after the older man told Yu Ming that in Ireland people speak English. The filmmaker speaks Irish and said this about the shorter version, "
This is a [shorter] video I did to make a certain harsh point concerning the language in Ireland. To see the whole video and the comic punch line check out ..."

Here are two comments about "Yu Ming ainm dom".
"I was taught Irish in school from age of 6 and finished learning it at 16 and I still can't speak it. The government fails. It's taught all wrong."
"Brilliant short movie!"

It is brilliant! So, does this make you think of your own life? About experiences learning English? About experiences learning a new culture? What advice would you give Yu Ming? Did you learn something from Yu Ming?




Do you like this post? You can press "subscribe" on the right side bar.

12 comments:

Grace said...

People want to learn and speak second language in other country. That is not easy. Even you maybe make some joke that people don't understand you. Don’t worry a lot, there are some people who are very nice and helpful in around of you at all times. However, if you have more confidence and persistence with you to study hard that doesn't matter in everywhere and anytime, such as "YU MING”. Everything should better and you should be achieved your goal.

karamjit dhillon said...

Its very difficult to learn seconde language.In my country ican speak Hindi,Punjabi and English.Its good idea to learn other language because sometimes people make us fool in their own language.My younger brother can speak Italian very well but i can't understand we can learn any language at any age if we confidence to learnlike 'YU MING'.

xu said...

Yu Ming was a young person who dreamed of living in the Ireland. He studied Irish very hard. After six months,his dream came true. Unfortunately,nobody who lived in the Ireland counldn't understand him about what he said. Until one day, he met an old man who counld speak Irish and told him most people who lived in this country spoke English,not Irish. After several months, he found a work in the traditional bar and still spoke Irish. From this story I have learned that studying the second language is a hard work. I need to persist in my decision and make it bacome ture. I am wonder whether to speak a second language that only a few people can understand? If I was Yu Ming, I would prefer to study English that most people speak rather than Irish that a few people can understand. It is easy to adapt to a new country in the different costoms and culture.

Hiroko said...

It was about 13years ago when I traveled Western Europe from Germany to Paris, France, through Switzerland that I tried to use my poor Germen, which I studied a little bit in the university, and some greeting words in French. I didn’t study hard like Yu Ming, but I expected people in those countries said ‘good morning’ or ’hello’ in their languages. Actually, the hotels where I stayed were for international travelers, and they spoke English. I thought it was strange that a Japanese tourist said ‘ Guter morgen’ or ‘ Bonjour’ and native people replied ‘Good morning’ especially in France because I had heard that French people didn’t like speaking English.
Watching this film, I just thought if I had a gift to learn the other languages like Yu Ming. My husband is pretty good at learning the other languages. Learning the other language especially which is not spoken a lot now is very difficult. However, it is important in learning the history and understanding the culture. I can tell from Yu Ming that do it whatever you want and master it, then you will success. So, I should study hard like him.

Leena said...

I really feel that this is the experience of most new immigrants.I also have such experiences. One of the lessons that i learn from the film is that English is spoken by the majority of people around the world.

Anonymous said...

Immigration from home country to another country is not easy.In fact,it is travelling to another world with different language,culture,rules and regulations.
In order to overcome these problems and to do usual task of daily living,we should be able to communicate with this totally strange world.
In my opinion the most important key to success is persisting in achieving the final goal.

Jagdipa said...

It is very difficult to learn a second language. Spaciallly, when we took our education in our mother toung. We find to much difficulty in communication. We can't express our ideas, thoughts. We feel very hard time. However, I think nothing is impossible.

Jancy said...

The important lesson I learned from Yu Ming is that it is always important and helpful to learn the language of the country you are visiting.As it is in my case ,I learned english before coming to Canada that helped me a lot in communicating with the people and in performing many procedures which need skill in english.

Svetlana said...

I think this film is a good example of social evolution that happens in highly developed countries or in countries where an immigration occurs. There are two different sides of problem. One side is that people have to adapt to rapidly changing conditions of modern life. On the other hand, people forget about their culture and traditions that were passed down for centuries. In my opinion , the same proccess we can see in Canada because we all must speak English fluently, meanwhile we almost forget about our motherlanguage , own traditions and culture.

iris said...

The short film contained very deep meaning. Similar to me and my family, when we arrived in Canada, it is very hard for us to adapt to the new cultural and language. However, if we're persistent with our goals just like Yu Ming, we can achieve them over time. After some years of hard work, me and my family have adapted to the new country and enjoyed our new life.

Bonnie Ford said...

I like these comments. Everyone has their own thoughts and there are many different views here. Some talk about Yu Ming's life and others talk about their experiences. At the same time, most believe learning English requires hard work.

Tanjina said...

It's really hard to speak another language. Because every person has her own language. I'm new in Canada and now my situation is like "YU MING". I can't speak English very well and also don't understand what the people say. So,now I learn English and I hope I will speak English very well & also understand what the people say.Finally,this story make's me sad because "YU MING" made a mistake to learn the Irish language.