​Interview with Sanna

Sanna, tell us about your family.

​I live with my grandmother, parents, younger brother and baby sister. I have some relatives living in Mei Foo as well. We are all Pakistani.

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My Grandmother was born in Pakistan and she came to Hong Kong 22 years ago. Despite having been here for a long time, she does not know Cantonese or English. She can only speak Urdu.

 

My Father was born in Pakistan and he came to Hong Kong a long time ago. He studied at local primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. He can speak fluent Cantonese, Urdu and English. At home, he always speaks Urdu but he speaks Cantonese outside and at work. Afterall, all of his colleagues are Hong Kong people.

 

My Mother was born in Pakistan and she came to Hong Kong 11 years ago. Like my grandmother, she does not know Cantonese or English, she can only speak Urdu. That may explain why she sometimes encounters difficulties in communicating with other people in her daily life. She is able to greet the people she always meets with simple English expressions like ‘Hi’, but when she buys things at the market, she usually resorts to sign language. However, she is not interested in learning Chinese or English since she thinks they are too difficult to learn.

 

My Little Sister was born in Hong Kong and she is now only two years old. My family will send her to a local kindergarten next year. She is learning Urdu and Cantonese from the family. She can speak some simple Cantonese expressions, like "咩呀?" /me1  aa1/  [What?], and "唔該借借"/m4  goi1  ze3  ze3/ [Excuse me, please].

 

My Younger Brother (Zeeshan) was born in Hong Kong. He can speak Cantonese, Urdu and English. He is a Primary Three student at S.K.H. St. Andrew's Primary School, a local primary school in Lai Chi Kok. He always speaks Urdu and sometimes Cantonese to my father and me. He speaks to classmates mostly in Cantonese and sometimes English. He does not know how to write or read Urdu. He can only speak it.

 

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Which language do you like best among all languages you know?​

I like Chinese best. I think Chinese is easy. It is a lot easier than Putonghua, and I like speaking Cantonese. I can do all reading, listening, writing and speaking in Chinese. I watch local TV programmes and can understand most of the things spoken. I sometimes read local newspapers as well while my mother, father, grandmother read Pakistani newspapers. Also, I think Cantonese is very useful in Hong Kong for further education. If I cannot do Chinese well in secondary school, then it will be a big problem!

 

Which language is easier, English or Cantonese?

English. I think speaking English is easier than Cantonese since English is similar to Urdu and English is easier to write. But I think I am better at Chinese than English.

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Are there any other South Asians at your school? What languages do they speak?​

Almost all of my classmates are Hong Kong people. There is one Nepalese and he speaks Cantonese too. They do not know Urdu.

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Do you find it difficult to communicate in Cantonese at school?​

I have little difficulties in communicating with classmates and teachers in Cantonese. I can understand every word my teachers speak in class. Yet, I think I am different from my classmates: they speak very fast. I sometimes say the ‘wrong things’ when I talk to them. At times I cannot express my thoughts effectively in Cantonese and falter. I tried to switch to English in such cases but my classmates cannot understand me in English as I can speak better English than my fellows. I have more chances to use English than my fellows.

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Do you have many local friends? What language do strangers use to talk to you at the very first time?

I have many local friends. I have some Pakistani friends too; they are my mother’s friends. Strangers and new friends usually talk to me in Cantonese at first.

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Do you regard yourself Pakistani or Hong Kong Chinese?

Chinese. My cousins living in Hong Kong also think I am more like Chinese, while they are less like Chinese. They can speak Cantonese, English and Urdu and study at local schools too. They speak to me in Cantonese but not Urdu. They speak to the other family members in Urdu in family gatherings.

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If you are a mother of a child, will you teach him Urdu?

No, I will not. I will only teach him Cantonese and English because Urdu is not as useful as Cantonese and English in Hong Kong.