AFRICAN COMMUNITY in HONG KONG
School of English
University of Hong Kong
Name: Joe
Age: 33
Period in Hong Kong: Migrated to Hong Kong in 2010
Marital status: Married
No. of children: 2
Occupation: Businessman (Retail)
Language(s) : Igbo (First language), English
I. Language at workplace and interaction with his colleagues
Joe is working at a retail company in Hong Kong in which he purchases the goods from Mainland China and exports to his country. In our interview, he mentions that he is always on the phone, speaking with his colleagues and different businessmen, and the language he uses for majority of the time is his mother tongue – Igbo (this is evident as when we entered his house, he was busy talking on the phone in his mother tongue and dealing with his business).
At his workplace, he works with mainly these people – 6 Indians, 1 French, and others are some Nepalese people. He expresses that he does not feel excluded at his workplace because they all communicate with each other in English – although not all are fluent in it, they have no language barriers among themselves. Joe says only one of his colleagues in his office can speak English eloquently. All in all, Joe has not met great difficulties regarding language use and communication at his workplace.
II. Intermarriage and Family gatherings
Joe has been married to his wife, Angel for two and half years. His wife is born and raised in Hong Kong. They will go to family gatherings regularly where Joe sits together at the same table with Angel’s family, who are all local Hong Kong people.
In contrast to his encounter at his workplace, Joe has experienced some difficulties when he spends time with his wife Angel, who is born and raised in Hong Kong, and Angel’s family. We asked Joe whether he has hard feelings during those family gatherings in which he has to communicate with a group of local Hong Kong people who do not share the common language with him. Joe’s response was that he has a strong willingness and enthusiasm to communicate with Angel’s parents and her family; however, language barriers prevented him from doing so. He expresses strongly that he certainly does not feel discriminated by Angel’s family members, but neglected and bored when they sit together in a big table in Chinese restaurants during their family gatherings as they could not comprehend English. Joe says he starts to “lose appetite” as time goes by during their family gatherings because he could not share his feelings to Angel’s family throughout the whole conversation. As we can see, the fact that Angel’s family could not speak or comprehend English Language does form a language barrier between Joe and Angel’s family; hence, inhibiting language communication between them.
III. Language Preference for his wife and two children, Precious and David
a. Language preference for his wife
Regarding Joe’s language preference for his wife, when we asked him whether he would like his wife to acquire his mother tongue, his answer was positive. He further elaborated his answer in a determined tone – “Within 10 years, we would have to move back to my home country and reside there; so surely I would encourage Angel to learn my mother tongue (Igbo). She could learn little by little.”
“My kids would also need to acquire Igbo – it is our mother tongue and origin” – Joe places emphasis on the acquisition of his mother tongue when it comes to language preference for both his wife and his children. Another important language in which Joe emphasizes that his children should acquire is Pidgin English, “[Pidgin English] is important back at my home country. Back in Nigeria, Joe’s home country, everyone – ranging from youngsters to elderly, knows Pidgin English. According to Joe, Pidgin English is a vital language which acts as a lingua franca between different language families (different dialects) in Nigeria which enables and facilitates inter-ethnic communication.
Joe speaks English to his wife and both mother tongue and English to his two children.
b. Language preference for his two children
As we carried on with our discussion with Joe, his wife told us that their two children will begin to attend Meng Wai nursery – an international school starting from April 8th. Angel expresses her worries about her two children not being able to adapt to the school setting on their first day of school.
When asked what language(s) will Joe want his children to acquire, Joe says his two children must acquire their mother tongue – Igbo, Cantonese and English well. He says that letting them acquire these three languages does not only act as a good language capital for them to get a good job in the future but most importantly, the three languages assist them to communicate with Angel’s family more proficiently and effectively; hence, the languages also act as a cultural capital. He emphasizes that acquiring those three languages is not only a tool or resource for his children, but it also leads to a better life in other aspects for them and helps to enhance their relationship and bonding with Angel’s family - “It is for their own good,” says Joe.
c. His own language preference
Joe is fluent in Igbo and English. Apart from placing importance in his mother tongue, Igbo, he also sees English as a “compulsory” language. As mentioned above, he thinks that Pidgin English is a very important language in his home country because it acts as a lingua franca for the inter-ethnic communication among different dialect groups and is widely used throughout Nigeria.
He believes that 70% of the Hong Kong people could speak fluent English and they are mostly middle-aged Hong Kong people. He told us that only one of his colleagues is fluent in English. We asked him whether he has ever tried to learn Cantonese or Mandarin, he told us that he has lived in China for several years before; hence, his Mandarin is better than his Cantonese. He said he only knows a few Cantonese words.
Interview with Joe