Language Appreciation

In the context of the set of interview questions given, questions 7-10, 12, and 14 were used to obtain information on whether the interviewee appreciates his/her language(s) and why he/she does or doesn’t.

Question 7 asks whether the interviewees’ children speak the language, or whether the interviewee will let his/her children speak their native language. The extent of appreciation of one’s native tongue may be seen from this since if one truly takes pride in speaking one’s native tongue, surely one expects one’s children or will teach one’s children to speak his/her native tongue.

In this respect, Ms. Y replies that she would surely teach her children to speak Japanese for ease of communication as well as to allow her to fully express her motions in a way that English can’t. From this, it can be seen that Ms. Y sees her native tongue as the most effective tool for communication and for self-expression, despite having lived in Hong Kong for 20 years and probably having an improved mastery over English. It can be agreed upon that this is a salient form of language appreciation.

On the other hand, Mr. A attributes his daughter’s proficiency mostly to her cousins, while his son is somewhat of passive speaker, though not possessed of a native-like comprehension of the language as Mr. A clarifies that his son speaks a little. It is thus obvious that Italian is not the usual or preferred vehicle of communication in Mr. A’s household. From this we can further infer that Italian does not serve the same purpose for him as it does for Ms. Y.

Seedera however says that she would teach her children to speak in Urdu to facilitate intergenerational communication (between her parents and her children), and to serve as a constant reminder of their “place of origin”. First, her willing to teach her children to speak Urdu already is testament to how important Urdu is to her. Furthermore, Seedera states that the function of language as a bridge of communication between her parents and her future children as well as a symbol of their ethnic identity highlights how she appreciates her native tongue.

To further assess or confirm the interviewees’ feeling towards the native tongue he/she speaks, a hypothetical future scenario was set up in Question 8, which asks how the interviewee would feel if future generations no longer speak the language. The reason why one appreciates his/her native tongue may also be revealed through this question. This allows us to reach a more definitive conclusion as to the extent of appreciation linguistic minorities in Hong Kong show to their native tongue.

Indeed, Question 8 was able to serve its function of confirming how the interviewees felt about their own native tongues. Ms. Y felt it tragic that her “scolding” won’t be as “effective” in a language other than Japanese. Seedera, likewise, continues to associate speaking Urdu with the identity of being Pakistani. Contrastingly, Mr. A feels indifferent to such a scenario and instead has a more utilitarian mindset. He feels that “they have to speak the languages they need”, be “they” not inculde Italian. Though it may be too early to conclude that Mr. A has no appreciation for his language, we can presume that Italian, to Mr. A, does not hold the same meanings as Japanese and Urdu do to Ms. Y and Seedera respectively.

Question 9 was intended to aid in investigating how the interviewer would promote/discourage other people from learning his/her language. However, given the brief responses of the interviewees, it may seem that the question is not phrased well-enough and some answers will be difficult to analyse.

Ms. Y gives a straightforward approval to anyone interested in learning Japanese, though that maybe because her profession involves teaching Japanese itself. It is more likely though that her passion for teaching Japanese influenced her career choice rather than the other way around.

Mr. A though discourages learning Italian for any reason other than for one’s own passion. It is believed that Mr. A’s experience in learning languages may have shaped his view on learning languages based on practical reasons. Nevertheless, his answer cannot accurately reflect whether he appreciates Italian or not.

Seedera this time, despite being proud of her native tongue initially, admits that learning Urdu is difficult. Again, to try to extract information about the extent to which she appreciates Urdu from her response seems like a futile endeavour.

Following up to Question 9 is Question 10 which looks at how much pride the interviewee has in his/her own language; or rather, how much the interviewee wants to promote his/her own language. A simplistic way of thinking of it is that one who takes pride in his native tongue would wish to impart knowledge of the language to other people given the means and resources. This is especially because expertise and resources (or the lack thereof) are most usually the factors that hamper the success of language programs.

Ms. Y, teaching Japanese herself, gives an expected affirmative answer. It seems self-explanatory itself hence no further analysis is to be done.

Au contraire, Mr. A gives a simple outright no. This resounds with the earlier analysis on not appreciating Italian in the same way the other two interviewees, although again due to the briefness of the answer, nothing conclusive can be inferred.

Similarly, Seedera’s reply was in the negative due to the aforementioned difficulty or inherent complexity of the Urdu language itself. One may presume that Seedera does not seem to appreciate Urdu as much as Ms. Y appreciates Japanese as evidenced by Seedera’s hesitation in spreading the language even when provided the expertise and resources (hypothetically).

From the answers in question 12, other than being able to see how aware the interviewee is of how Hong Kong locals perceive their native tongue, we are also able to envisage possible scenarios wherein the interviewees would feel proud or ashamed of their mother tongue, or being associated with the stereotype of people speaking said mother tongue.

For this question, Ms. Y gives an accurate portrayal of how Hong Kongers perceive Japanese. The global spread of Japanese culture through animation (anime), comics (manga) as well as games (ACG) has instilled in enthusiasts worldwide not merely an awareness, but moreso a fervor for learning Japanese and Japanese culture so as to fully appreciate the increasingly-popular ACG genre. Of course, Hong Kong youths have not missed out on this ACG craze. With mangas (Japanese comics) such as Naruto, Bleach and One Piece garnering a massive following from all around the world, as well as the widespread distribution of Nintendo game consoles (in the past, Tamagochi), it is no wonder that Ms. Y’s son who reads and speaks Japanese is treated as a ‘hero’. This worldwide acknowledgement of one’s language is a definite cause for one to appreciate one’s language much more.

n the case of Italian, the accents and tones associated tend to evoke a sort of romantic notion of the language which Mr. A points out. Moreover, the contexts in which Italian continues to be used, such as in religion (Roman Catholicism), in music (opera), and in fashion (Milan fashion shows) perpetuates this romantic view of the language. More often than not it is these three factors that spur people to learn Italian. As such, the use of Italian in these three contexts can be said to be a source of pride and appreciation of the Italian language among Italian speakers.

Urdu unfortunately does not enjoy a similar reputation as Japanese and Italian in Hong Kong. This can mostly be attributed to negative examples of Urdu-speaking, or rather, Pakistani people in Hong Kong who perpetuate the false stereotype that Pakistanis are “rude and abusive”. This in turn might be a source of shame and embarrassment for other speakers of Urdu who do not share the same maladjustments.

Lastly, in question 17, we inquire what special place one’s mother tongue holds in one’s heart. This is a very outright and explicit question on how the interviewees themselves view their language and we expected it to help us conclude to what extent the interviewees appreciate the language.

The Japanese language, to Ms. Y, is her identity, as she says. Although not much more elaboration is made, it is presumed that she is both proud to be Japanese and to speak Japanese, and that speaking Japanese is a reminder for her that she is Japanese. In conclusion combining all her other responses to the other questions pertaining to language appreciation, Ms. Y can be seen to highly value her native tongue (Japanese) and she continues to see its relevance even after 20 years of residence in Hong Kong. She still uses Japanese as the language of communication with her son, actively takes part in spreading Japanese knowledge and culture, and is constantly reminded of her identity as Japanese through speaking the language.

Being a polyglot himself, Mr. A states that no language that he has learned (including his mother tongue, Italian), is uniquely special to him. Again, it is inferred that this is associated with his experience in learning multiple languages. Perhaps it maybe because he is a polyglot that he holds a different view of languages in totality rather than just single languages or just his native tongue, and that he is able to appreciate the diversity and the culture woven intricately behind every word or letter of each language. If so, then it cannot be said that he completely does not have a modicum of appreciation towards his native tongue. Instead, he appreciates his native tongue in a different manner compared to Ms. Y and Seedera. He appreciates it simply as a language, not according it any special position among the other languages he speaks.

Seedera restates what makes Urdu important to her. Urdu, to her, is a reminder of her motherland, Pakistan, as well as her identity as a Pakistani. Despite this, she demonstrated reluctance in spreading or teaching others Urdu despite provided hypothetically with the expertise and resources. Moreover, the negative perception held by Hong Kongers of Pakistani people may have slightly influenced to what extent she appreciates Urdu in the macroscopic context. Thus, in terms of extent of appreciation of one’s native tongue, Seedera does not show as much appreciation as Ms. Y does for Japanese.