SIMULTANEOUS CONVERSATIONS

Simultaneous Conversations: Rinse and Gargle is an animated short film that explores the complexities of immigrant families and their language barriers. Due to this, code switching occurs in everyday conversations. Code switching in this context is alternating between two or more languages in a single conversation.

The film is of a conversation between me and my mother. Since our first languages are different due to my cross-cultural upbringing, I code switch to English because of my inability to conjure up the words in Cantonese. Thus also resulting in the introduction of digital translators as a tool to further our conversations. Not only am I talking to my mother on the phone but I am also simultaneously code switching and using Google Translate, creating a multidimensionality in our communication.