Plot
Bored with his life in China, shop worker Yu Ming decides to visit a random country and picks Ireland by spinning a globe. He goes to the library where an atlas informs him that the official language of Ireland is "Gaelic". Consequently he learns and becomes perfectly fluent in Irish before his trip.
The film follows his adventures in trying to be understood in Dublin, where most of the population has little or no grasp of the language. For example, when he arrives at a Dublin hostel, Yu Ming says, "Ba mhaith liom leaba anseo" ("I would like a bed here"). The Australian receptionist assumes that Yu Ming is speaking Chinese, and explains that he doesn't understand.
Yu Ming then heads to a bar in order to seek work and again his Irish lets him down. He asks the barman, "Tá me ag lorg oibre" ("I am looking for work") and the barman stares blankly at him, not understanding a word. An elderly Irish-speaker at the end of the bar listens in awe as the Chinese man can speak the mother tongue Irish fluently, and he invites him for a drink and explains the misunderstanding.
Yu Ming is later shown working as a bartender in the Irish-speaking Connemara.
A phrase that recurs throughout the film is "An bhfuil tusa ag labhairt liomsa?" ("Are you talking to me?").
Read more about this topic: Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom
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