Questions About a Word

2024

High definition video
1920 x 1080 pixels
14 minutes 45 seconds

Questions About a Word is a video essay exploring linguistic barriers. It investigates a language learning technique that annotates English phonetics with Chinese characters, a technique that was adopted by Chinese gold miners and myself, even though we are over 150 years apart. By associating the Chinese-English linguistic ephemera from the Victorian gold fields, with my lived experience of learning English as a second language, this video essay sheds light on the enduring linguistic challenges faced by generations of Chinese immigrants. It invites audiences to join an imaginary conversation, to contemplate upon a question - In what ways can we overcome linguistic barriers, to foster dialogue and understanding on the path to a future of multicultural flourishing?
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