No Béarla

[misterpatrick]

http://www.manchan.com/pb/wp_f4b21f7c/wp_f4b21f7c.html

An interesting little series. Here are some clips and a summary:


NO BÉARLA

No Béarla, is a four part series in which Manchán Magan attempts to live his life (eat, travel, socialise, find accommodation, shop, etc) through Irish. It is a journey to find out whether the 1.6 million people who claim they can speak Irish in the national census really can and whether one can survive in Ireland today without speaking a word of English.

In the course of his travels Manchán gets kicked out of bars, served the wrong food, given the wrong directions, the wrong clothes, the wrong haircut. He gets abused, insulted, treated as an imbecile. When his car breaks down he finds he can’t get a mechanic - directory enquiries simply laugh at him. Likewise, he gets jeered at trying to chat up girls in a nightclub in Donegal. On the Shankill rd, he is warned that he’ll end up in hospital if he continues speaking the language. In Galway he tries busking, singing the filthiest, most debauched lyrics he can think of to see if anyone will understand - old ladies smile and tap their feet merrily as he serenades them with filth. In Killarney he stands outside a bank, promising passers-by huge sums of money if they help him rob it, but again no one understands. He may as well be speaking Kling-on.

In short, No Béarla is a thousand mile road trip around Ireland involving a lot of pointing, miming and desperate gesticulation. It casts a cold eye on the state of Ireland’s first official language - watch it and weep, or laugh . . .

A Dearg Films production for RTÉ
Sundays, from January 7th, 9.30pm TG4, repeated Wednesdays 7.30pm.

[brianc]

Is this part of the same?

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=46759

[misterpatrick]

And along those lines, sort of:

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/name_yu_ming.jsp

A young Chinese clerk decides to move to Ireland and so sets about to learn the native language. Upon arrival he gets a bit of a suprise.

[Redwolf]

And along those lines, sort of:

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/name_yu_ming.jsp

A young Chinese clerk decides to move to Ireland and so sets about to learn the native language. Upon arrival he gets a bit of a suprise.

Of course, you'll note, he moves to Dublin. When he moves to Connamara, he finds his Irish skills to be of more use.

I'm sorry, but I KNOW people in Ireland for whom Irish is their daily language...and I also know plenty of Irish learners who go there and have no trouble using their cúpla focal. I think this guy hand-picked areas with a low percentage of Irish speakers (Shankill Road, for God's sake! He's lucky he DIDN'T get killed!) and edited his experiences to prove a point.

Redwolf

[brianc]

And along those lines, sort of:

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/name_yu_ming.jsp

A young Chinese clerk decides to move to Ireland and so sets about to learn the native language. Upon arrival he gets a bit of a suprise.

Of course, you'll note, he moves to Dublin. When he moves to Connamara, he finds his Irish skills to be of more use.

I'm sorry, but I KNOW people in Ireland for whom Irish is their daily language...and I also know plenty of Irish learners who go there and have no trouble using their cúpla focal. I think this guy hand-picked areas with a low percentage of Irish speakers (Shankill Road, for God's sake! He's lucky he DIDN'T get killed!) and edited his experiences to prove a point.

Redwolf

ROFL- yeah, he says he was treated with "more civility" on the Shankill... they promised him a hospital visit! I guess that's more than they'd do for locals? Yikes!

[djm]

I suspect they realized he was an outsider looking to make trouble in an infantile sort of way and politely showed him the way out. The sort of nastiness and hatred that goes on there is not shallow or unintelligent, nor likely to be taken in by such a childish stunt. It is malevolent and focused, and very much directed depending on who you are and where you fit in to their scheme of things.

Yu Ming was a great little film. And now I know the words to the filthiest song in Irish! Hurray!


djm

[Redwolf]

I suspect they realized he was an outsider looking to make trouble in an infantile sort of way and politely showed him the way out. The sort of nastiness and hatred that goes on there is not shallow or unintelligent, nor likely to be taken in by such a childish stunt. It is malevolent and focused, and very much directed depending on who you are and where you fit in to their scheme of things.

Yu Ming was a great little film. And now I know the words to the filthiest song in Irish! Hurray!


djm

You know, looking at how some of those people looked at him when he was singing, I have no doubt they understood exactly what he was singing. A couple of the women looked pretty shocked.

Maybe they didn't turn him in because they thought he was some poor foreigner who had been taught the filthy lyrics (and they ARE filthy!) as a joke. That's another thing we see occasionally...people being sent some rather nasty phrases in Irish and being told that it's an "ancient Gaelic proverb."

Though I did find myself wanting to coach the poor lady looking at the sheep on his flashcards. "Caora...a stór! Is caora sin!"

Redwolf

[Nanohedron]

I suspect they realized he was an outsider looking to make trouble in an infantile sort of way and politely showed him the way out. The sort of nastiness and hatred that goes on there is not shallow or unintelligent, nor likely to be taken in by such a childish stunt. It is malevolent and focused, and very much directed depending on who you are and where you fit in to their scheme of things.

Yu Ming was a great little film. And now I know the words to the filthiest song in Irish! Hurray!


djm

You know, looking at how some of those people looked at him when he was singing, I have no doubt they understood exactly what he was singing. A couple of the women looked pretty shocked.

Maybe they didn't turn him in because they thought he was some poor foreigner who had been taught the filthy lyrics (and they ARE filthy!) as a joke. That's another thing we see occasionally...people being sent some rather nasty phrases in Irish and being told that it's an "ancient Gaelic proverb."

Though I did find myself wanting to coach the poor lady looking at the sheep on his flashcards. "Caora...a stór! Is caora sin!"

Redwolf

I wanted to see the lyrics also printed as Gaeilge, not just translated to English.

[djm]

I wanted to see the lyrics also printed as Gaeilge, not just translated to English.

That is a very reasonable request, Nano. I'm sure Redwolf would be more than happy to oblige. Redwolf?

djm

[Redwolf]

I wanted to see the lyrics also printed as Gaeilge, not just translated to English.

That is a very reasonable request, Nano. I'm sure Redwolf would be more than happy to oblige. Redwolf?

djm

I think that might violate forum policies (at least I sincerely hope so!)...who knows...there might be Gaeilgeoirí beaga ag éisteacht!

If you seriously want them as Gaeilge, I caught most of it...drop me a pm. But I'm not posting it here!

Redwolf

[brianc]

Post removed, with thanks to Redwolf for setting me straight.

[misterpatrick]

Is this part of the same?

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=46759

Opps, I searched the boards for "béarla" and got zero results so figured it was new. Teach me for wandering over the the pub. Back to the uilleann forum where I belong.

[Redwolf]

The more I hear about this Yu Ming film, the more I wonder if this Manchan fellow didn't simply steal the ideas and some of the situations from Mr. Ming's movie. Some of the situations seem to be quite similar.

Not entirely. In a nutshell, Yu Ming is a young Chinese shopkeeper who's bored with his life in China. When in a library one day, he spins a globe and his finger lands on Ireland. He decides that's where he wants to move. In a book on Ireland, he sees that the official language is "Gaelic" and sets about teaching himself. After six months he's reasonably fluent, and so he flies to Dublin. He's initially pleased to see that the signs are all written in Irish (and English, of course), and he doesn't understand when people don't seem to understand him. They're very nice about it, but they think he's speaking Chinese. He has the one encounter with the Australian fellow in the hostel, and another with a bartender at a place where he goes to look for work...in both cases, the people are pleasant enough, but simply don't understand him. Finally, at the bar, he enounters a person who DOES speak Irish (played by the guy who plays Fr. Jack on Fr. Ted!). One of the funniest scenes in the film is when the bartender turns to another patron and says "I didn't know Paddy could speak Chinese!" Yu Ming laments that his Irish must be no good, because no one understands him. The Gaeilgeoir explains that pretty much everyone in Ireland speaks English. The next thing you see is Yu Ming working in a bar in the Gaeltacht, and happily speaking Irish.

It's available on-line in various places...you ought to see it! It's short, and has English subtitles. Another good one is "Fíorghael."

Edited to add: Here's Yu Ming is Ainm Dom:

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/name_yu_ming.jsp


Redwolf

[brianc]

ROFL --- that was GREAT!

"Hey - did you know Paddy could speak Chinese?" ROFL...

[dubhlinn]

For reasons above and beyond my little mind, it took an age to download.

Well worth the wait though.

Somewhat contrived in places but a fine little fillum

Lovely moment or two at the Paddy Kavanagh bench...

Nice one Red, I owe you one there.

Slan,
D.