Society and Community
Living in Hong Kong
In terms of daily communication, there are several similarities between students from Islamic school and local school. Both groups mostly hang out with friends from Pakistan. They would not confine themselves in using a single language; rather, they would code-switch and use the language that makes the best explanation, depending on their friends' language proficiency.
(Islamic) Somawia mentioned that people would consider them lame if they use multi languages in a sentence. For instance, when chatting with Anse who does not fully understand Urdu, Aayasha will use English more. Although some of them know Cantonese, they find it strange to chat with friends from Pakistani in Cantonese. Despite having similar social circle, students from Islamic school are more reluctant to speaking Cantonese. For students from Islamic school, they would try speaking in English first and speaking Cantonese only if local people don’t understand them. Two of them even mentioned that they would visit restaurants where English is best suited and avoid going Chinese restaurant. Even if they do, they would bring friends who speak better Cantonese or they would call their family members to translate on the phone. Nevertheless, they do admit that being able to speak Cantonese is of paramount importance to integrating into Hong Kong’s society. Somawia also enjoys doing voluntary work so she could meet more local Chinese people. Yet, she prefers communicating with them in English or asking her friends to do translation.
(Local) On the contrary, students from local school are more confident in communicating in Cantonese. They would use Cantonese when communicating with their siblings and they preferred conducting the interview in Cantonese, which demonstrates their ability in expressing themselves and communicating in Cantonese. Interestingly, we can see a divergence between Faraz and Shamas in their use of Cantonese when going to shops. Faraz, on one hand, prefers using English most of the time and treat it as a way of practice. Shamas, on the other hand, prefers using Cantonese even if people start the conversation in English. Shamas possibly would like to present himself as people who know Cantonese and is proud of being able to speak Cantonese. This is a manifestation of how interlocutors show their connection with a certain group or social class using different language choice and styles. At home, they would use Cantonese when communicating with siblings who know Cantonese as well. However, as recommended by teachers, they try to avoid code mixing in daily life to enhance their explanation skill. The difference in attitude to Cantonese and Chinese may be a result of their medium of education as well as the languages used by their classmates.
Studying at a local school, the two brothers mostly use Cantonese (around 60%) at school, including teaching and casual chats with classmates. As a result, they get used to communicating in Cantonese. On the flip side, students from Islamic school remarked that English was their major medium of communication, both at school and to people who did not understand Urdu. English, being the medium of instruction at their school hugely influences their language choice when communicating with the society.
Looking Forward: How they see themselves in 10 years?
Regarding their future plans, all informants hope to settle and develop their career in Hong Kong for a better opportunity. They also mentioned that it would be difficult for them to adapt to the life in Pakistan given that they had been living in Hong Kong since childhood. When asked about their next generation’s education, all of them agreed to teach their children every language they know, including English, Urdu, Bengali, Panjabi, Patwari, Cantonese, and Mandarin in order to increase their competitiveness and preserve their traditions.
Compared to Pakistan where relocating to the cities from villages is difficult, they see Hong Kong as a land with opportunity for the pursuit of their career.
(Islamic) Given that they have been living in Hong Kong since their childhood, Somawia even commented that it would be hard for them to survive in Pakistani society and they had adapted to Hong Kong’s society. They believe that languages benefit communication, especially when travelling in the world.
(Local) Similarly, Faraz and Shamas would like to stay and develop their career in Hong Kong. They mentioned that it would be difficult for them to find jobs in Pakistan as they could not adapt to the life back there and people could differentiate them from Hong Kong. All informants consider English as the most important language to their future career. Especially for Faraz and Shamas who are pursuing the career of flight attendant and police respectively.
The slight difference in the attitude towards Pakistan is discernible here; compared to Anse, Aayasha, and Somawia from Islamic School, Faraz and Shamas from local school explicitly showed their enjoyment and looking forward to visiting Pakistan once every 3-5 years. They also commented that Hong Kong was their another home, but it was for working not living because of its hustle and bustle lifestyle. Pakistan, on the contrary, was for living as you could find greenery, comfortable and heaven-like environment. Divergence can be seen from their views on marriage as well. Girls from Islamic school follow the tradition of their religion while boys from local school are more open to different possibilities. The religious study taught at school and home probably contributes to differences in their values. The perception of marriage of informants from Islamic school, meanwhile, mostly follows the tradition of their religion. Somawia explained that her family did not allow her to discuss these matters and Aayasha added on that her dates had to be a Muslim first regardless his/ her race. Faraz and Shamas, on the other hand, mentioned that they had little plan for marriage at the moment, but they would not rule out the possibility dating or marrying Hong Kong girls if they were suitable.
Identity: "Hong Kong is my home" versus "I am stuck in the middle"
It is a mesmerizing finding that Pakistani students from Islamic school and local school have opposite identity construction. Three informants from Islamic school consider themselves more of Hong Kongers while informants from local school incline towards the identity of a Pakistani. This result deviates from our anticipated hypothesis that studying at an Islamic school with more Pakistani students and subject related to their own religion, informants from Islamic school should have a higher tendency to consider themselves as Pakistanis, vice versa. Intriguingly, all three informants from Islamic school consider themselves more of Hong Kongers than Pakistanis.
(Islamic) Anse, who was born in Hong Kong, commented that she loved Hong Kong more. She also shared her experience of visiting Bangladesh for less than two weeks, she found herself unfamiliar with the lifestyle in Bangladesh as she had adapted to Hong Kong and her Bengali was not that fluent. In addition, she felt different from them since she mixed English with Bengali a lot. Aayasha, who came Hong Kong at the age of four considers herself a Hong Konger because she is following the values of Hong Kong instead of Pakistan and she has better knowledge of Hong Kong’s community. She explained that she learned about the occurrence in Hong Kong like the Occupying Central and she didn’t really care about what was happening in Pakistan, she just cared where she lived and she called HK her home. Also, Somawia told us that she knew Hong Kong more than her home country and she had been learning about and contributing to this country. She also added that she learnt things that were supposed to be learnt in her home country like basic mathematics, alphabets in Hong Kong, that was why she deemed Hong Kong as her home country. While she considers Pakistan as her home country as well, HK is another home where she is living in. Similarly, she mentioned that their different manner, belief, mindset, and the way of speaking could distinguish them from the Pakistani in Pakistan and that defined their identity as an Hong Konger.
(Local) Meanwhile Faraz and Shamas are in the dilemma of Hong Kongers and Pakistani. They first considered themselves more of a Pakistani because of their appearance, food culture, and tradition. Then, they clarified they were stuck in the middle of Hong Konger and Pakistani as they were not entirely familiar with both Pakistani and Hong Kong. Nonetheless, their parents always remind them not to forget their origin. They are also interested in learning the history of their own country mostly through online platforms. They also mentioned that they knew how to pronounce Quran but did not know its meaning, but they would love to learn more about their own mother tongue and religion in the future. This suggests that although they consider themselves as Hong Kongers to a certain extent, they tremendously value the tradition and history of their home country Pakistan as well.
In spite of their different self-perceived identity, all informants pay more attention to the happenings in Hong Kong and consider Hong Kong news more important than Pakistan news. Their parents generally have different view and consider Pakistani news more important. All informants usually obtain news mainly from TV news, Facebook, Instagram and The Standard. For informants from Islamic school, they read sources in the medium of English, as they could barely understand in the medium of Chinese. In contrast, their parents are more concerned about the happenings in Pakistan. Faraz and Shamas even mentioned that if you lived in HK, why should you talk about Pakistan. For instance, they are familiar with issues like aging population, Mongkok riot, and the wounding happened in Wong Tai Sin. Meanwhile, they are also conversant with Pakistani political parties.
According to Thornborrow, the variation in language choice and style can construct one’s identity and manifest their affiliation or disaffiliation to a social community (2003, p.158). Nonetheless, our findings from the interviews show that language choice is only one of the components shaping one’s identity. Despite being confident in speaking Cantonese, informants from local school have a stronger sense of Pakistani identity and weaker sense of Hong Konger identity. Intriguingly, although informants from Islamic school prefer speaking English and Urdu to Cantonese, they consider themselves Hong Kongers as their values, speaking styles, and manner differ from people living in Pakistan. In order to fully understand one’s identity construction, in addition to learning environment, we have to consider other possible factors such as family practices and education, one’s interest and awareness towards their own country, and years spent in Hong Kong. Family is one of the attributes resulting in the difference in identity construction. Since parents of the informants from Islamic school have been staying in Hong Kong for a longer period of time, most of them have basic command of Cantonese, therefore, they would watch Hong Kong news in Cantonese on television every day and they concern about the happenings in Hong Kong. The parents of informants from local school, on the contrary have lower understanding of Cantonese and they mainly watch Pakistani TV channels. The different sources of at home can construct one’s identity, to a certain extent. The duration staying in Hong Kong explains the difference as well. Informants from Pakistani school relocated to Hong Kong at the early age of one and four, one of them was even born in Hong Kong. Their counterparts from local school arrived Hong Kong at a later age of six and eight respectively. Spending longer time in Hong Kong may help informants adapt to the life in Hong Kong and reinforce their identity as a Hong Kong. Even though they may not speak fluent Cantonese, Hong Kong being a multicultural city may ease the problem of language, but somehow depends on the English proficiency of each interlocutor.