Bonjour to a Minority Language in Hong Kong: French
The University of Hong Kong
School of English
Who Are We?
Hi there! We are Becky, Carrie, Evelynne and Jamie from The University of Hong Kong who are currently taking the capstone course LCOM 3001 Cultural Dimensions of Language and Communication coordinated by Dr Lisa Lim. All of us have Cantonese as our mother tongue, and have picked up Mandarin and English at school. Between us we also speak Thai, French, some Spanish and Japanese! Feel free to contact us or our course coordinator via email, or leave a comment below! (:
Our Linguistic Profiles
Becky
I am a native Cantonese speaker, and I started to learn English at kindergarten and become a fluent speaker when I was in junior high school. Being a Cantonese speaker, it was easy for me to acquire Mandarin when I was young because the biggest difference among the two languages is the pronunciation of words. Lately, I have started to learn Spanish, yet I cannot speak a complete sentence.
Becky
I am a native Cantonese speaker, and I started to learn English at kindergarten and become a fluent speaker when I was in junior high school. Being a Cantonese speaker, it was easy for me to acquire Mandarin when I was young because the biggest difference among the two languages is the pronunciation of words. Lately, I have started to learn Spanish, yet I cannot speak a complete sentence.
Evelynne
My mother languages are Cantonese and Mandarin. I acquired Cantonese from my parents and my family. They only speak Cantonese. In my primary school, Mandarin was used as the medium of instruction. I acquired English since I was in kindergarten. After entering to university, I have started learning French. I also studied Spanish for one semester.
Carrie
I am a native Cantonese speaker, and I acquired English when I was a kid. For Mandarin, I acquired it at home since my grandparents are native Mandarin speakers (strictly saying, should be Hubei dialect). I totally understand what they are saying and I always reply them in Cantonese (with some English words sometimes). Also, I learnt Japanese before, but then the syntax and particles of Japanese confused me a lot, which makes me do not continue.
Jamie
I am a native Cantonese speaker who has attended international schools for both my primary and secondary education. Chinese classes were taught in Mandarin since primary school so I can speak all three of these languages fluently. Since university I have started learning Thai and can communicate on a daily basis.
Course Coordinator
Dr Lisa LIM - lisalim@hku.hk
Researchers
Becky CHAU - beckycyy@connect.hku.hk
Carrie CHEUNG - cheungkasin555@gmail.com
Evelynne LAU - lauchoini@hotmail.com
Jamie LI - thisislongsang@gmail.com