How language attitudes of Filipino domestic helpers are affected by the language environment in HK?

Through interviewing with Filipino domestic helpers, it is not difficult to find that  their language attitudes towards different languages is altered including their mother tongue, Tagalog, English and Cantonese because of the language environment they are living in.

For their mother tongue and Tagalog, as they were brought up in these two languages which mother tongue is used at home and Tagalog is used at school. Most of them showed that their language attitudes towards the two languages are still very positive even after working in Hong Kong for many years. One important point to note that is that many of them revealed from the interview that it is a must for Filipino to be able to speak their own language which is Tagalog because this is how you show your love and sense of self to the country.

For English, back in the Philippines, it is still considered as their second or third language. However, provided that the prominent use of English in Hong Kong, it becomes now their first language used in Hong Kong if you don’t know how to speak Cantonese and Mandarin. Thus, the language attitude towards English of Filipino domestic helpers has elevated due to the multilingualism in Hong Kong. As the frequency of using English is much higher than other languages because it enables them to communicate with the local, English is very valuable to them to enhance their job opportunities.

For Cantonese, many of them reflected that they wish they could speak Cantonese as they found that not knowing Cantonese hinders their communication with one another. Knowing that the importance of Cantonese in the community, their language attitude towards Cantonese is welcoming than before because it will be very helpful in their workplace to communicate with their employers in more a more effective way.

 

One point to note is that although the language attitude towards Tagalog is unchanged but the effect of being surrounded by long hours of Cantonese and English has led them to adopt some linguistic features of Cantonese using “ma” and “ah”. It showed that in fact the language environment of Hong Kong has an impact on these Filipino domestic helpers.



Will they give up their mother tongue? Look down upon their own language?

With the changes of language attitudes, it doesn’t mean that they will give up speaking their mother tongue or looking down on their own language as most of them think being the countryman should speak their own language. In the context at hand, we can say that individuals use language in such a way as to signal – or more precisely, to create – their cultural identity, making language culturally ‘loaded’ (Joseph ,167) From that, it tells us that it is inevitable to replace one’s mother tongue with another language because it is much more than just language. Language is not only a method of communication, but also a mechanism of power. It is critical in the formation of social groups and struggles for power and prestige among groups. (Bourdieu 1991)



Reasons of using different kinds of ‘new’ languages

The first obvious reason will be to gain better job opportunities. In the perspective of Filipino domestic helpers, the use of English becomes a weapon to equip themselves to cater the communicative need with their daily life in Hong Kong. Reason of learning Cantonese is also sees as a way to assimilate into their working environment as well because some of their employers are Cantonese speakers and can rarely speak English. The use of English and Cantonese in fact offer the helpers to communicate more efficient and effective to their employers and the locals in order to survive better in the Hong Kong community.

 

The other reason will be the “earning power” gained by using the new languages. As Lai mentions, English was a prestigious and a working language for the formal institutions of government, law, education and international business while Cantonese was used by the vast majority of the Hong Kong population as their usual language in family and other informal daily-life settings (86). The acquisition of new languages allows the domestic helpers to achieve a higher social status by speaking the languages that Hong Kong used.

To add on, the openness mentality to languages that developed in previous experiences also contribute to the fact that these Filipino domestic helpers are willing to learn new languages. In the interviews, half of them are discovered having the experiences working in other countries like Taiwan, Singapore and Kuwait. The overseas exposure had given them a trial ground to learn new languages, giving them experiences to learn new languages according to where they stay. Thus, coming to Hong Kong and learning new languages do not seem a difficult task for them to work on.