Can you say polyglot in 6 tongues?
For a growing number of Hongkongers, mastering English and Putonghua just isn't enough, with more children and adults seeking out courses in other languages.
The appetite for new tongues is a sign of the obsession with academic excellence, as well as increased exposure to foreign languages, according to Jean-Luc Rey, chairman of the Association of Teachers of French in Hong Kong and Macau. French, German, Hindi, Urdu, Japanese and Spanish are now included in the curriculum for the last three years of secondary school, besides Cantonese, English and Putonghua.
About 15,000 people study French in Hong Kong, including in primary, secondary and tertiary education, and with private tutors, at private centres and at the Alliance Francaise - a global institute promoting French language and culture.
'French is like the fourth language in Hong Kong,' said Benoit Gaudin, the attach? for linguistic affairs at the French consulate.
Gerard Henry, deputy executive manager of the Alliance Francaise says it has 6,639 students, up from 6,200 in 2004 and 6,400 in 2007.
'Now that Mandarin and English are taught in most schools, parents are sending their children to study another foreign language,' Henry said.
Martin Bode, head of language courses at the Goethe-Institut in Hong Kong, which performs a similar role for German culture, pointed to a steady upward trend of people studying German. About 4,000 students take courses at its centre in Wan Chai.
Hongkongers' language learning choices have long been influenced by world events. Student numbers at the Alliance Francaise, which has centres in Wan Chai and Jordan, peaked at 14,000 shortly after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, as French language skills could help those looking to emigrate to Canada win points on their visa applications.
Henry said the number of applications spiked again in 1998, when Maggie Cheung Man-yuk married French film director Olivier Assayas.
Spanish is another language on the rise, according to Dominique Chasset, director of the Hong Kong Institute of Languages in Central. The institute has only been offering Spanish since 2007 but it ties with Putonghua as the third most popular course, behind English and French.
Spanish is the next target for Perlie Chiu Pui-lam, already an accomplished French speaker at the age of eight. She won a prize for poetry recital at a French speech competition organised by the French teachers' association. The Singapore International School student has been studying the language at school for four years and has already put her skills to practical use on a family holiday to Paris.
'I think French is easy and very interesting to learn,' she said, clutching her trophy.
People are also realising that knowing another language has benefits in a crowded job market.
'The image of France in Hong Kong is always linked to luxury, fashion and culture. But more and more people have become aware that we also have about 700 French companies in Hong Kong,' Gaudin said.
30,000
The number of people employed by French companies in Hong Kong, according to the French Chamber of Commerce