The English Language

I have found it amazing how common the English language is. It is spoken in different degrees (Hong Kong and parts of China seems to be the worst) but it is nevertheless used as the default language. My trip to Cambodia and Malaysia had some of the best non-native English speakers. In general, when two people do not know what language to use, English is always the common one. Even the European exchange students use English to talk to each other. Unless they are the same nationality, English is used. I find that interesting because often English is no one's first language.

The other interesting thing I have noticed with the English language is how often it is used by children. There is a spot on campus that I often walk through to get to class that families often take their children to play. Most of the time I see little kids running around, shouting at each other in English. Just listening you would not know that they are Chinese. They even use their English names. The oddest occurrence was just the other day while I was on my way to class. I say Chinese parents trying to teach their daughter how to ride a tricycle. The little girl was having trouble figuring out how to move the peddles to make the tricycle go. The father and mother were explaining to her how to move her feet in Chinese using hand gestures. However, the little girl only responded in English and asked questions about how to do it in English. I find it interesting but not surprising that the little kids I see have less of an accent then students my age. The rate of development and the rate of outside involvement (i.e. globalization) real shows up here through the use of the English language.

Language Barrier

Although Hong Kong is officially a bilingual city (English and Cantonese), English is still a challenge to some locals. To a visitor the language barrier would not be much of a hindrance. Bargaining doesn't really require complex phrases and ordering food can be done with pointing. However, for more complicated issues that are involved with living here, language becomes an issue. The other day the shower head broke in my flats bathroom and so I went down to the building manager's office to report it. The problem was the manager didn't know what I was talking about. At first she thought I had locked myself out of my room. It took a little effort to convince her I didn't need keys. Then she said something I didn't understand and kept pointing at the computer (Perhaps she thought I couldn't connect to the internet). Finally she got on the phone and called a resident tutor (our version of RA) and I talked to her. The RT's English was much better and then she conveyed the problem to the manager. When I returned to my flat later that day there was a new shower head installed.

The problem is everywhere has processes. It is not just China, it is back home too. I am frequently reminded of freshman year trying to learn how all the dinning halls work. Miami makes it convenient by making every dinning hall different. The difference is back home if you are confused about a process you can ask and if you do something wrong you are corrected in English. At the dinning halls here you tend to guess what you are suppose to do and then get yelled at in Cantonese. So far I got down that you order and pay for your food at the first counter. But then you are given a receipt. Everything on the receipt is written in Chinese except for a number. I understand that the number corresponds to an order. The tricky part is redeeming your food. Sometimes you get multiple receipts, that’s for a drink order or other side order. There are also different counters to get your food depending on the canteen and what they serve. Some times you turn in your receipt and then they give you your order and sometimes you have to wait until the food is ready and then you trade in your receipt for your food. The servers are very busy and I can understand how they might get frustrated with a foreigner trying to do the wrong thing, especially since they correct you in Cantonese or very bad English. There have been several times when I was at the wrong place to get my food and I don't think the server understood that I had no idea what was going on. I am eventually learning but it’s a very odd way to learn.