LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY
OF
AFRICAN COMMUNITY WORKERS
IN HK
By Lord Yeung, Samson Wong, Koy Kwong & Sarah Macbride
We are a group of students from the University of Hong Kong working on our course LCOM3001: Cultural Dimensions of Language and Communication instructed by Dr Lisa Lim. In this website, we are glad to share our insight(s) on some language and identity issues regarding African community workers in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, please join us in exploring some interesting aspects about Africa.
Sit back and RELAX. Let's begin with some COOL African Music : )
WHO WE ARE?
ABOUT our Research
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Methodology
To take a closer view to the African Community, our group has adopted a qualitative approach in studying the relationship between language and identity. We are glad to invite two senior executive members from the African Community Hong Kong (ACHK) in participating in our interviews. We carried out in-depth interviews in the office of ACHK, which is located in Tsim Sha Tsui near Chung King Mansion. Each interview took about one and a half hour long. Our interview questions can be categorized into 8 parts, including basic information, linguistic profile, mother tongue, learning Cantonese, language choices in different domains, cultural identity, language barriers in Hong Kong and Chung King Mansion. Indeed, we have collected a wide range of information from our interviewees, and eventually we deiced to put our research focus on the relationship between language and identity, which struck us most!
GENERAL INFORMATION
1. What’s your name?
2. How old are you?
3. What is your occupation
4. What is your educational level?
5. What is your marital status?
6. Where were you born?
7. Where did you grow up?
8. How long have you been living in Hong Kong for?
9. What made you come to Hong Kong?
LINGUSTIC PROFILE
1. What languages can you speak?
2. How competent you are in different languages?
3. What languages do your parents speak?
MOTHER TONGUE
1. What is your mother tongue ?
2. How important it is to speak your mother tongue in Hong Kong?
3. How important it is to maintain your mother tongue in Hong Kong?
4. Do your kids speak your mother tongue?
5. Are you proud of your mother tongue?
LEARNING CANTONESE
1. What is your competence in Cantonese?
2. How did you acquire this competence?
3. a. (if the interviewee do speak Cantonese) In what domains do you use Cantonese?
b. (if the interviewee do not speak Cantonese)
Do you think you will benefit from fluency in Cantonese as a foreign language?
4. Have you ever encountered African residents in Hong Kong who speak fluent Cantonese?
5. From the people you have met, what are the motivations for Africans to pick up Cantonese?
LANGUAGE CHOICES IN DIFFERENT DOMAINS IN HK
1. What language do you use in your workplace?
2. What language do you use when you communicate with your family?
3. What language do you use when you speak with your children, if you have any?
4. What language do you use when you socialize with your peers?
5. What language do you use when you communicate with other Africans?
CULTURAL IDENTITY
1. How do you perceive your cultural identity?
2. Do you think the speaking mother tongue is a symbol of your identity?
3. Do you think the ability of speaking “Cantonese” shift your identity to “HongKonger” 4. Do you think fewer chance of speaking mother tongue in Hong Kong makes you feel less connected to your identity?
LANGUAGE BARRIERS
1. Have you encountered Africans in HK who are facing language barriers?
2. What are those barriers?
3. Do you think the HK society have enough respect for minority languages and enough policy support for speakers of minority languages?
4. Do you think learning Cantonese can alleviate the cultural barriers facing Africans in HK?
5. If you have a children, which language would you prefer to teach him/her as first language?
Chung King Mansion
1. Do you think English is a common language at Chungking Mansions?
2. Do you have a chance to speak your native language in ChungKing Masions? If yes, under what circumstances?
3. How often do you come across communication problems at Chungking Mansions?
4. Is Chung King Mansion a major place for you to socialize? (To meet friends and working partners)
The questionnaire is as follows:
