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MINORITY
LANGUAGES IN
HONG KONG
PERSONAL INFO
Name: Amruth Alfred
Languages: Tamil, Sinhala and English
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Occupation: University student (The University of Hong Kong)
Years in Hong Kong: 1
TAMIL
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LANGUAGE FACTS
Major Speaking Countries (MSCs): India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia
Native Speakers: 77 million people
Second Language Speakers: 8 million people
State in MSCs:
Sri Lanka:
-
Official language
Singapore:
-
Official language
Malaysia:
-
Education medium
India :
-
One of the 22 scheduled languages (official language)
-
Statutory provincial language in Tamil Nadu State
-
A classical language
Written Forms:
Syllabic Alphabets
Tamil in Hong Kong:
SINHALA
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LANGUAGE FACTS
Major Speaking Countries (MSCs): Sri Lanka, Canada, Libya, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,
United Arab Emirates, United States.
Native Speakers: 17 million people (15.5 million in Sri Lanka)
Second Language Speakers: 2 million people (1997)
State in MSCs:
Sri Lanka:
-
Official language
Singapore:
-
Official language
Malaysia:
-
Education medium
India:
-
One of the 22 scheduled languages (official language)
-
Statutory provincial language in Tamil Nadu State
-
A classical language
Written Forms:
Sinhala alphabets
Sinhala in Hong Kong:
USAGE
"I have learnt both Tamil and Sinhala in my daily life in Sri Lanka."
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He has learnt Tamil through his family, he knows how to write it. His family communicates in Tamil.
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On the contrary, he has self-learnt Sinhara through his classmates and mass media, for instance, the words appearing in the advertisements and subtitles in TV programmes.
"I seldom speak these two languages in Hong Kong, only with friends from my own country"
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He speaks either Tamil or Sinhala whenever he meets a Sri Lankan in the University of Hong Kong.
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He thinks using his own language in a community that includes people from other nationalities is rude and disrespectful.
"In Sri Lanka, I spoke quite a lot of English already."
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Amruth studied in an English-medium secondary school. His classmates were mostly comprised of students who could only speak either Tamil or Sinhala. Therefore, he chose to speak English to his classmates in order to avoild inefficient communication.
ATTITUDE
"I really like my languages! I am fascinated by the culture and literature."
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He is willing to teach his children Tamil and Sinhala. To him, it is meaningful to spread his own culture to the next generation through the language. He doesn't want his native languages to die.
"I feel my languages are lovcd in both Sri Lanka and Hong Kong."
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He does not think both Tamil and Sinhala will be threatened in the coming future. The Sri Lankan people still want them to be their dominant languages.
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He thinks that generally the local students are quite curious and interested in his languages. He always teach them to the people around him.
In fact, it is difficult to find a Sri Lankan who can speak both Tamil and Sinhala, as most of them will just speak one of them according what their family teaches them. Amruth loved languages and therefore he learned Sinhala by himself.
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