Language use in the linguistic repertoire could be divided into 2 levels. The first is the institutional level that is led by Thai monks, the other is the individual level.

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Institutional level
Advertisements, signs in the Thai temples and alms led by Thai monks and temples in Hong Kong are all conducted in Thai. This is firstly because the religion is highly related to the usage to Thai language, to an extent that the use of Thai indeed is a symbol for the cultural heritage for Theravada Buddhism. Besides, religion is also a language sphere that is related to family and tradition, it is common that mother tongue is used here as to the Thais are collectively practicing their Thai traditions.

Another reason is that these Thai religious activities are not targeting at the general public, but those who are Thai. Theravada Buddhism is a very tight community on its own and does not aim at preaching to the public about the religion. Moreover, given that all Thais know the Thai language, it also serves as a practical reason for them to use Thai to conduct their religious ceremonies as not all of the Thais who live in Hong Kong knows Cantonese well enough to use Thai in the religious arena.

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Individual level

Moving on to the individual level, we think that it depends on the individual’s language choice. Take for example, the first waitress that we interviewed, Sukanya, she admit that she feels more comfortable with praying in Cantonese after all these years in Hong Kong. As she said, Cantonese comes to her mind first even when she is thinking in her head, it reflected that she also identify herself more with Cantonese after immigration. She does not think that by praying in Cantonese means that she is betraying the Thai national religion, as she is only worshipping the Buddha in her most comfortable way.

While for the other interviewees we had, they mostly would still pray in Thai as the second waitress has pointed out, “That was the language I was taught to pray in.”, cultural traditions and family teachings still play a role in their language choice after these years regarding religion. Also, with the institutional of the Thai temples using Thai to lead the alms, it also consolidated the use of Thai in the area for individuals to follow.