USAGE

"Although I am an Indian by race and an Indonesian in terms of nationality, I am not very good at Indian and Indonesian."

• She speaks English the most frequently as her family uses English instead of Indian languages to communicate. She learned Hindi, Indonesian and Mandarin in school.

• Born and grown up in Indonesia, she then studied secondary school in Mainland China and came to Hong Kong to study HKU. 

"In Hong Kong, I basically just speak English, and only in very rare cases do I speak Hindi and Indonesian, maybe with friends."

ATTITUDE

"Usefulness is the most important factor that determines whether a language should be spoken or not."

• Her perception of languages lies heavily in their utility value.

• Language serves as a means to facilitate communication bewteen people. 

"I don't think I will ever teach Hindi or Indonesian to other people in Hong Kong, no one wants to learn it!"

• Nevertheless, she believes learning a new language is always a good thing as she holds the view that languages are a part of one's identity and can enhance communication.

• She thinks that learning English differentiates her from her people. With the ability to speak English she has been receiving more opportunities to help her to live a better life.

• She tends to be more outgoing and have a stronger sense of propriety as she learns to speak English. Yet, her friends always blame her of saying "thank you" for too many times.

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"I will let my children choose whatever language they want to learn."

• She is willing to teach her children Hindi, Indonesian, but of course other languages as well.