Interesting Facts

1. Number of languages spoken

All of the respondents are at least bilingual. They all speak Tagalog and English since Tagalog is their national language and English is taught in schools in the Philippines. 70% of the respondents are able to speak three to four languages. 7% of them can speak up to five languages.

Relationship between years in Hong Kong and number of languages spoken: We thought that there would be a positive relationship between years that Filipino domestic helpers have been in Hong Kong and the number of languages they can speak. However, we could not see a positive relationship between them.

Although there is no direct relationship between the number of years they have been in Hong Kong and the number of languages they can speak, from the questionnaires, we see that most of the new comers, who have come to Hong Kong for less than 2 years, do not speak Cantonese. Meanwhile, for those who have worked in Hong Kong for more than 2 years, around 70% of them can speak Cantonese since they are working or have worked in Cantonese families.

The number of languages they can speak depends on different factors. First of all, different domestic helpers came from different parts of the Philippines. Since there is a huge range of dialects in the Philippines, they speak different dialects. All of them speak Tagalog since it is the national language. English is taught in schools so all of them are able to communicate in English. Secondly, the number of languages they can speak depends on their working experiences. Some of them are able to speak Mandarin because they have worked in Taiwan or Mandarin families. Some of them are able to speak in French since her employer is a French. A few of them cannot speak Cantonese even they are working in Hong Kong for a long time because their employers communicate with them in English.

2. Sources of acquiring a language

1) TV programmes

2) Working families

3) Areas they came from

3. Language use in family

When the interviewees are talking in their families, they usually speak in their own dialects. When they are talking to their parents, they seldom use English. Only 3% of the respondents will use English to communicate with their parents.

However, they will use English while communicate with their siblings and children. It is because English is taught in schools in the Philippines since 1960s. They will use their own dialects and English to communicate with their siblings and children. 17% of the respondents speak English to their children. Some of the interviewees explained that since English is an international language, they would expect their children to speak fluent English.

4. Language use in transaction

Since the transaction process we asked for is in Hong Kong, unlike other findings, they seldom use Tagalog during transaction. In the boutique, more respondents (56% and 66% respectively) will choose to use English to talk to the shop owner because many of the shop owners in Hong Kong know English. 26% of them are able to use Cantonese to talk to the shop owners in boutiques in Hong Kong.

5. Language use in talking to employer’s kids

82% of the respondents use English to talk to their employer’s kids. The kids are able to speak in English because English is one of the compulsory subjects in Hong Kong. One of the respondents, who does not know Cantonese, told us that her employer does not know how to speak in English. Therefore, she needs the translation from her employers’ kids in order to communicate with her employer. She also uses body language when she needs to communicate with her employer, who does not know about English. Some of the Filipino domestic helpers are able to speak in Cantonese or Mandarin after working in Hong Kong for many years. They will chat with their employer’s kids and even have deep sharing with them in Cantonese.

6. Language use in Internet

Since the family members and old friends of these Filipino domestic helpers are in the Philippines, they have to rely on the Internet to communicate with them. When writing on the Internet, nearly a half of them will write in English. It is because they learnt English in schools. More than a quarter of the will write in Tagalog because Tagalog is appeared in a form of English alphabets as well. Again, 2% of them states that they use ‘Taglish’ in writing e-mails or Facebook, which means that they code-switch Tagalog and English while writing online.

While talking on the Internet, 42% of them will use Tagalog to skype or make video calls with their friends and family members. 42% of them will use English. It shows that English and Tagalog are the dominant languages in the Philippines. Some of them will talk in their local dialects.