COMFORT LANGUAGE

Language is a form of evolutionary adaptation that gives us humans a distinct survival advantage. However, not every language is created equal. Some are simpler to learn than others, and some are hard to even wrap your head around. 

Similarly, to properly integrate in Hong Kong, learning how to read, write, speak and understand Chinese is super helpful, especially since group projects get done faster when you can speak the ‘comfort language.’

“It's harder for you, yeah, but not for them, so if you speak like them, it's the best, since I’ve noticed that some locals have a hard time speaking in English.” The fourth year Filipino student recalled her most recent experience with her group mates in University. I agreed with her statement, because I too had to learn Cantonese in order to make more friends. I found out in Secondary School, that my Cantonese skills were insufficient, so bad that extra applied classes for fashion that were conducted in Cantonese were too tough for me. I couldn’t catch up, nor get a translator, and it didn’t help that the instructors spoke too fast. I had to pour my heart out onto gridded pages in order to get my writing skills perfect and listen to different Cantonese podcasts to understand their speed and tone.

“I studied in a local school, so my Cantonese is all right. It's not that hard for me, but I can imagine there being a big language barrier for many others that didn’t study in local schools,” she continued, answering my question about her experience studying in University. 

“Academically, we all use English, but socially, Cantonese is superior. People often think you’re a burden when you don’t speak Cantonese, but they’re quick to snatch you up when an English project comes around, so they can free-ride (make no contribution to the project, but still get an okay grade.)” She made a face, remembering how most of her now-close friends in University steered clear of her on her first day of the first year, all because she had tan skin and the stereotypical ‘Filipina’ look. However, as soon as she whipped out her fluency in Cantonese in class, the students were quick to flock to her, showering her with compliments for knowing the language, like it was the greatest show they’ve seen. 

“嘩!你識講廣東話？好正呀！{Waa1! Nei5 sik1 gong2 gwong2 dung1 waa6? Hou2 zeng3 aa3 - Wow! You can speak Cantonese? Cool!}“ The mere fact that she could speak Cantonese was something of a sight in an amusement park for the local classmates she had. She vividly remembered her groupmates sighing collectively, as if a big burden had been taken off their heavy shoulders. 

“I’ve made friends with them, but it still feels a bit upsetting to know that they probably wouldn’t even have attempted to befriend me, let alone approach me if I didn’t know Cantonese.” She looked back on a moment in her life that she wasn’t so sure she was making the right friends, but also somehow wanted to fit in with her new surroundings.

Her own principal, at the young age of 7, told her to drop out of primary school because her Chinese wasn’t strong enough. She thought back to when she was not able to afford tutoring, so she resorted to asking help from strangers on the street with her Chinese homework. There was a need to prove herself after the words the principal spewed, so she simply dedicated her entire childhood to learning the language, growing up too fast and missing the small luxuries childhood afforded. But it got her to where she is now; a fluent, high-functioning Cantonese speaker in the Hong Kong society. However, I feel like this might have caused some sort of internalized dislike for people who undermine her. I feel bad that she had to grow up so fast in her single parent household, wanting to do the best for her mother, making it the sole reason why she accelerated her learning at such a fast pace.

“They don’t see it this way: We learn Cantonese for you, You learn English for us. They see it as: You live here, you speak here. I wish they did.” She sighed with a shake of her head, conveying her discontent with some locals in Hong Kong that didn’t seem to understand that “for us, English is our comfort language.” In fact, for a number of ethnic minorities, English is the ‘universal’ comfort language.

I then asked her how she felt about living here, and she just gave me a confused smile. “I love it here, I prefer living here, because there is a lot more freedom, but I wish there was more done to make life and living here more better” she shrugged before adding “I consider myself to be a Hong Konger.” I do too deem myself to be a Hong Konger, but I find it really angering that Hong Kong-ness is defined by a person's ability to speak Cantonese. A locals identity is constructed mainly through Cantoneseness, for if you do not speak at least conversational Cantonese, you cannot truly “‘belong’ among the locals.”