On Monday December 3, 2012, I had the chance to attend the Film screening and discussion with Trinh T. Minh-ha and Sarah Bouyain. It took place at 7:30pm in 2435 North Quad. I didn’t actually have time to stay for the discussion part, but I watched the two clips from the two films.
The first clip we watched was the ending of a film that had both French and Dyula languages spoken in it. I couldn’t understand the name of the movie, I apologize. It was about a girl named Emmy who is of mixed race. She lived in France with her father but is originally from Burkina Faso. She had learned the language Dyula, of Burkina Faso, as a child when she lived in Burkina Faso with her mother. However, upon going to France to stay with her dad, she learned French and forgot Dyula. She decides to come back to Burkina Faso and she stays with her aunt. Neither understands the other’s language and mostly communicate through hand gestures.
I thought their form of communication was a great demonstration of how people actually try to communicate when they don’t speak the same language. They also used another girl as a translator because she spoke both languages. It was interesting to see that even though they didn’t understand the words spoken to each other, they seemed to understand the emotion of the words. It was more of a translation from sounds to emotion. I think that though they don’t understand each other’s language, they can hear the emotion of the words which can convey similar meaning to the original words themselves. There was also the element of silence which sometimes makes scenes more dramatic because it makes you focus on other aspects.
The second film, which I also did not catch the name of, was about 2 girls and a boy that were having adventures through different places. This film kind of confused me, though it might have been because we watched different scenes through the movie and fast-forwarded through parts as well. This had a less serious mood as it had some magic and things in it. I felt that this one depicted translation through imagination. It seemed like imagination coming to life in each different adventure the kids went through because it visualizes something that another person sees. This isn’t really a type of translation I saw mentioned this semester and found it to be interesting.
Although I couldn’t stay for the discussion part of the event, I still feel like I learned about translation in a new way than before. It was a fun event to attend.
-Sasha Kenkre
