Bonjour to a Minority Language in Hong Kong: French
The University of Hong Kong
School of English
Evelynne, an HKU undergraduate minoring in French
Our interviewee, Evelynne Lau, confirmed that French has a prestige and high status nowadays in Hong Kong. Loving the French culture, she decided to learn French and studied French in HKU as a minor. However, there has been a declining number of people who are eager to learn French since 2000. Talking about the decline, Evelynne attributed to the phenomenon of people learning Mandarin in recent years. More and more people choose to learn Mandarin rather than other foreign languages.
Regarding the lives of French people in Hong Kong, Evelynne believes that they may face some challenges, such as communication barrier. For instance, French people tend to use English to communicate in Hong Kong. They seldom speak French, their native language, at work place in every day basis. They may face some difficulties when they try to communicate with local Hong Kongers which might affect their lives in Hong Kong to some extent that they may not be able to learn the local culture truly and deeply.
Although there seems to be a descent of passion about learning French of Hong Konger, Evelynne still believes that the attractiveness and the beauty of French culture and language itself will appeal to many Hong Konger and encourage them to dive into it.
Candy, an HKU undergraduate minoring in French
Our interviewee Candy Lee, is a current year-four undergraduate at HKU. Candy has always had the perception that French is a beautiful language. French also has a prestigious status in Hong Kong. Candy personally likes the French language, because she wants to travel to Paris and cities in France. Learning French and being able to speak the language will facilitate communication with French people during trips. This might be the biggest motivation for her to learn French.
French culture also attracts Candy very much, such as the delicate food, architecture etc. Among all the foreign languages, the chances of using French would be the highest in Candy’s life as she revealed. French language has become popular in Hong Kong because people want to gain a global perspective, from her point of view. "People may want to acquire third language, apart from English, Cantonese or Mandarin", Candy said.
Speaking of possible difficulties that French people may face in Hong Kong, Candy share some thoughts, too. The biggest challenge Candy predicted that French people may face is the language barrier. Recognizing the fact that most local people in Hong Kong are only able to speak Cantonese, only younger generations can speak English, and Candy assumed that French people may only speak French or English and thus there might be difficulties in communication with local people.
