Methodology 

 

Our project on the minority languages in Hong Kong is based around the interviews on 5 people living in Hong Kong whose native language is not Cantonese or English. Their mother tongues are Punjabi, Tamil and Sinhala, Korean, Hindi and Indonesian, and German. Three of them have stayed in Hong Kong for 1 to 2 years, one has lived for 5 years , and one has lived here since birth, for 18 years. Except Tim (German speaker) is a professor, others are students.

 

All interviews were carried out in person, face-to-face. Under our interviews’ permissions, the interviews are recorded. An intergraded version of the interviews is cut and posted on the analysis page.

 

In the interviews, we would like to know more anout 1) the interviewees’ use of language, and 2) their attitudes towards the languages.

 

For the language usage part, we wanted to:

1) examine the language’s status in Hong Kong,

2) understand the practical priority that the interviewee would give to which language, native language or English, in Hong Kong, and

3) learn more about the nature and background of the language.

 

The questions we asked are: (‘you’ refers to the interviewee)

1) Under what circumstances wil you use your mother tongue?

- Are the speakers limited to your race/nationality?

- Will you use the language outside your community?

- Do you have more or less opportunities to use your language in Hong Kong as compared to your homeland?

2) What are your second/third languages?

- Do you speak your first language more or second/third languages more?

3a) Do you write it?

- Is there any written form of your language?

- In Hong Kong, do you often come across materials written in your language?

3b) What are the main differences bewteen your language and English?

 

For the attiude part, we wanted to: 

1) know the interviewee’s attitude towards the native language,

2) know whether it is voluntary for the interviewee to learn the language,

3) evaluate whether the interviewee think it is worthwhile to advocate the language, and

4) evaluate the interviewee’s attitude towards the status of the language in Hong Kong and what the interviewee may think what the others think about the language

 

The questions we asked are: (‘you’ refers to the interviewees)

1) Do you like your language?

- Why/ Why not?

2) How and where you learn the language?

- Did your schools teach the language?

3a) Would you like to share your language with the others?

- Have you tried to teach your friends the language? What were their reaction?

3b) Would you like your children to learn the language as the mother tongue?

- Why/ Why not?

4) How do you feel when you speak the language in public area?

- Do you feel uneasy/ hesitant/ comfortable/ proud speaking it?