I graduated from the department of foreign languages and literature at the National Cheng Kung University, and went to the United States for further studies. After that I taught at different universities, including the University of Heidelberg in Germany. My German husband is a professor, and we have two sons, aged 18 and 16.
Whenever I travel, I try to bring them along so as to broaden their exposure. We discuss how a city works as a system, and what values are implied. I remember on one occasion I was strolling in a mega shopping hall in Hong Kong with my younger son, and we could not find a single bench to sit on. Finally, we had to pay to sit down at a cafe. Then my son noticed that, in Hong Kong, many things were not designed for people's comfort, but to make profit.
At home, my husband speaks to the boys in German. I speak to my children either in Chinese or German. When they go to school, they talk to their classmates in English. We have not decided for them which language they should use as their mother-tongue when they grow up: they will decide for themselves.
Language is a key to knowledge and culture, and parents should give their children different keys so that they may choose which door they wish to open. When I first arrived in Hong Kong to teach two years ago, I was intrigued by the language environment here. Hong Kong people do not seem to have a 'language of the soul', which is the language you use to compose poetry, to express your deepest thoughts, emotions and pain. This language is also a key to creativity.
Instead, Hong Kong people seem to treat language merely as a tool. They are trained to speak Chinese and English, without fully understanding the culture and history behind them.
For most Hongkongers, Cantonese is their main communications tool. I believe it is a distinct language rather than a dialect. Cantonese is actually one of the most ancient languages, with a rich cultural context.
I have been fascinated by the creative way Hong Kong entertainment magazines play with words in their writing. They keep inventing funny vocabulary and phrases in a hybrid of Cantonese, mainstream Chinese and English.