I really shouldn't be thinking this much about some girl's video blog

Here's a fun example of how, at least for me, small amounts of information can change the way you view something. First, watch at least a little of this:

Every so often, I randomly click on videos in YouTube's most-viewed list, and on Saturday that's how I found that video. I didn't understand a word, but was intrigued by it. I watched the whole thing, trying to figure out what was interesting. Then, I realized: I had figured she's a white kid born and raised in some Asian country (because, I'll admit, I can't identify what language this is), and so the language she's speaking is probably her native one. And then I started thinking about how interesting it is that, just like there are so many American-born Asian people I know who speak English natively but don't know the language of their ancestors, there are probably a lot of American/Australian/British kids born in Asia who don't know English. And I watched this, thinking she was one of them, and was a bit taken with this idea, and the opportunity to watch this girl casually make a video blog, speaking her native language and directing her words at people who also speak that language, but accidentally instead reaching all these English speakers who will stare perplexed at her, this girl who looks like she should be speaking English but isn’t.

Then, on her YouTube profile, I found a link to her MySpace page. Turns out, she's from Florida. Knowing this, I watched another one of her videos. This time, I saw an English-speaking girl who learned another language, and is using that language to reach out, past the English that surrounds her, to another set of people -- and if the comments on her videos are any indication, somehow still reaching people who speak English. (Like, I guess, me.) It's a different experience.

And, if you aren't sick of her already, here's another thing to do: Watch one of her videos while her MySpace page is open. It'll play some dreamlike, somber song she has loaded on there, its volume occasionally rising to drown out the words she's speaking on her video. It makes the girl in the video feel detached, like in a movie when a character is far away or gone, and only this video remains, speaking from beyond, as evidence instead of immediacy.

Posted by Jason Feifer at January 18, 2007 01:54 PM