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I was initially having trouble finding something that was fully in another language that did not contain subtitles on youtube. I used google translate and typed in “Short film”. I initially tried to translate this into a language that I did not know the country of origin, but the results in youtube were unsuccessful. I tried a more common language, Punjabi, and I was able to get the following video:
ਛੋਟੀ ਉਮਰ ਚ ਬੁੱਢੇ ਨਾਲ ਵਿਆਹ । New Punjabi Short Movie 2023 । Toni Filmy
https://youtu.be/K_zkSC63NF8?si=2n1L4K2O-Jhj3Ewf
The search term I used in youtube was “ਛੋਟੀ ਫਿਲਮ”.
I know basically nothing about Punjabi as a language. I have some familiarity with the musical culture through my world music studies, but that’s about all.
Because of the nature of this class, I want to try to make an effort to comprehend what is being said. In order to do that I’m going to write down phonetically what I think I’m hearing so that I can refer to it.
At the very beginning of the video, a man says “se parsal ma”. With context clues we can assume that he might be saying something along the lines of “open the door” or “is anyone there?”, but there are a lot of phrase possibilities still within this understanding achieved through context clues.
The 2 men continue their conversation. It seems like the first man is perhaps complaining about something or asking the second man for a favor or something.
Because I am trying to absorb this in the context of a film, there are a lot of context clues to absorb in the conversation. It seems like the men come to an agreement of some kind, or the 2nd man decides he wants to help out the first man. Eventually they leave and go to a second location. A 3rd man opens the door in surprise. The context clues of the movie indicate that there is now a conflict between the first 2 men and the 3rd man. It seems like the 2nd man is a man of greater power than the 3rd man, and he is intimidating the 3rd man.
They enter the house and encounter a woman, who is also intimidated by the 2nd man. The first man tells her something in a sorrowful tone. Perhaps it is the case that this woman has wronged the first man in some way. I find some of the body language the actors are using to be very unintuitive, which maybe prevents me from associating context with their gestures.
At the end of this scene, the 2nd man says to the 1st man “Chal chal chal!” and indicates with his body language that they should leave the premises. It could be that he said something like “let’s go”, “it’s time to leave”, or “come with me”. Again there are a lot of possibilities even within this very understandable context. We see that the 3rd man has an injury in his right hip area. The scene ends there.
Watching this movie mirrors my own experiences being in places where people are all speaking in another language that I cannot understand. Even when you think you have learned something with context clues, you still do not properly understand the words that are being spoken. If I were now in a situation where I was with a Punjabi speaker I could easily repeat what has been said in the movie: “chal chal chal!”, but I will not know precisely what words I have uttered. This is such a crucial point to remember when you are interacting with people that do not speak in English. Even if you explain a phrase to a non-English speaker and they understand your explanation, this does not mean that they have understood the words that construct the phrase. The inverse of this situation is also true.
When I listen closely to this movie, I feel like I can hear the words, but there are often not enough context clues to associate meaning with the words. For example, in the next scene I heard the following words/phrases: “aspirina”, “chen carji”, “o kera payi”. But I do not know what meaning to associate with these words, even though I have heard them. If I am able to hear them in a future situation, I may be able to remember them and put together meaning on a future rewatching of this scene.
As I continue to watch this, it becomes more difficult to keep my focus on the language that is being spoken, because it becomes easier to make assumptions about what is happening in the plot. For example, in the next scene, the woman comes to visit the 2nd man, and it appears like she is offering some kind of deal or trade for whatever conflict she may have been responsible for. It is easy to get wrapped up in the drama of the film and not listen carefully to each individual word as it is uttered.
If a single conversation goes on for too long without any context clues to assist, it becomes impossible to parse meaning for anything that is being said. When the woman goes to see the first man, they have a very long conversation, and it is clear that he is upset with her and whatever proposal she is offering, but as the conversation continues, there is little to grab onto to decipher the meaning.
I’m not perceiving any words or phrases being repeated. This also makes it difficult to associate meaning with the words. If you can perceive words that are repeated in different contexts it can help you to associate meaning with the word.
Around 14’ the woman says “hal bapoo” a few times. Although at this point in this film I have lost track of what is happening and so I don’t have any guesses about what their conversation might be about. Maybe this is the name of a character in the movie?
The rest of the film does not provide any additional context for me for the earlier portions of the film.
This reminds me of another phenomena that I have experienced many times. I have a rudimentary grasp of Spanish, and I have spent a lot of time hanging out with friends that only speak in spanish. Sometimes there would be a conversation happening, and I would think I understood what was being said. Someone would crack a joke and everyone would laugh, and at the time I believe I understand the joke and I laugh along with everyone else. However, as the conversation continued, I would realize that I had not accurately understood what was being said. This could be for many reasons. For example, explaining a story as I have done in this paragraph required the use of a conditional past tense. A complicated verb tense such as this is hard for any person to understand who is not very fluent. Also, when friends are hanging out, there is a high propensity for sarcastic and ironic statements to be made. Which means that what is being said is not always what is being meant. For a person with only a rudimentary understanding of the language, these subtleties can be easily lost in a conversation.
It is important to revisit all the complexities of language learning that can emerge by revisiting the process yourself. There are even more social dynamics that can be difficult to navigate. It may be the case that a language learner wishes to try to be brave and practice the skills they have learned thus far by ordering food in a restaurant only to find that the person they are attempting to practice with recognizes their primary language and speaks only in that language with them. I have experienced this phenomenon myself, with spanish and bulgarian, but also I have witnessed this phenomenon with my spanish speaking friends that are trying to learn English.
All of these complexities are very important to keep in mind when you are trying to interact with children that are trying to learn English. Being aware of all the challenges can help you assist your students in their journey towards fluency.