Languages
The South Asians of Hong Kong are usually multilingual, with many attaining trilingual fluency or more. Most are fluent in both English and a mother tongue (such as Sindhi, Gujarati or Punjabi), and many are fluent in Hindi, and/or Urdu as well. In addition, some may also study Sanskrit, Arabic or (for the Parsis) Avestan for religious reasons. The command of Cantonese is more variable; one 2006 survey of South Asian parents with children attending school in Hong Kong showed that more than 80% were illiterate in Chinese, while 60% could not speak Cantonese at all.
Read more about this topic: South Asians In Hong Kong
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.”
—J.G. (James Graham)
“The very natural tendency to use terms derived from traditional grammar like verb, noun, adjective, passive voice, in describing languages outside of Indo-European is fraught with grave possibilities of misunderstanding.”
—Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1934)
“Wealth is so much the greatest good that Fortune has to bestow that in the Latin and English languages it has usurped her name.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)