Cantonese is a language that originated from Canton (Guangdong) province of southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue (the abbreviation of Guangdong province). Besides, Cantonese is the official spoken form of Chinese in Hong Kong. Bolton (2000) comments that “Hong Kong is the Cantonese-speaking capital of the world” (p. 271). Indeed, people in Hong Kong use Cantonese in every aspects of life to communicate with each other.

Filipino domestic helpers only learn Cantonese after they have come to Hong Kong. A large number of the Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong know how to speak Cantonese since they are working in a Cantonese family and have contacts with the local community. Some of the respondents pointed out that they also learnt Cantonese from the TV soap operas in Hong Kong.  Knowing Cantonese is seen as an advantage for them in acquiring a job in Hong Kong. Generally, Filipino domestic helpers who have been in Hong Kong for over 2 years are able to speak Cantonese, though not very fluent. However, there are still some Filipino domestic helpers do not know how to speak Cantonese because their employers in Hong Kong are non-Chinese or choose to communicate with them in English.

According to our research, 35% of the respondents choose to use Cantonese while talking to the shop owners in the local wet market. It is because some of the shop owners, who may be elder people or low-educated people, may not know English. They use limited vocabularies or phrases in Cantonese like “gei cin” (how much) and “m goi” (thank you) as well as body languages to facilitate the communication .