Bonjour to a Minority Language in Hong Kong: French

Our interviewee wishes to remain anonymous throughout this article. The pseudonym of “Tom” will be used.

Having arrived in Hong Kong in 2010, Tom has embraced the local culture since, describing Hong Kong as “dynamic”, “multicultural” and giving much praise to our diverse city.

Tom first moved here to pursue a career in finance, as he studied both International Business and French and saw Hong Kong as a good place to start his career with a well established financial market with global connections. He feels that as a French person, he has been welcomed in every part of the world he has been to - that people “welcome with a smile and are always curious about France”.The image of a good country and a beautiful language has created a very positive impact on the places he has been to but he also shrugs and adds he “doesn’t know what his country has done” to establish such a good image! With image, culture and status so inherently linked to language, it is no wonder that French is such a popular language to learn. Tom comments that because France still upholds a prestigious status of culture and has a long cultural heritage, parents would want their children to learn French as a gateway to culture, just like learning the piano. As for adults who learn French, he feels that it is for them to “take a break from their extreme lifestyles in Hong Kong”. It fuels them and keeps them dreaming - about the image of a country which is less commercial and into human values - by learning French,  they are “kind of balancing with the lives they have in HK”.

As for his own cultural identity, Tom interestingly states that he “doesn’t feel particularly French - I was just an individual raised as a French person and 'programmed’ to be French" (laughs). Tom says he is happy to be influenced by new ideas and culture and gives the example of a dim sum restaurant vs a French restaurant: in a dim sum restaurant he is happy to behave differently than he would in a French restaurant. It is more casual and he can just forget that he is a French and behave in a Hong Kong style. It is cultural difference that has Tom so mesmerized by Hong Kong or Asian culture in general - it is just so different from European culture! That said, Tom adds that he happily embraces Asian culture. He “enjoys being in a place where not everything is understood” and it is this guessing and curiosity which makes a place charming. Sometimes it’s just better to not understand everything. Yet, Tom is also grateful that almost everyone speaks some English here and he can survive easily in Hong Kong. He knows enough Cantonese phrases to help him get by, such as saying “please” and “thank you” and “yau lok” to ask the minibus driver to stop. The charm of Hong Kong, he elaborates, is that it not only has the mysteriousness of the far east and a culture exotic for a foreigner, but that it is so easy to adapt into, compared to other Asian countries. The balance of being in a foreign place vs the ease of communication is perfect, and this is exactly why Tom is so attracted to Hong Kong.