Tie to Fab Thai ภาษาไทยดี
Language and Identity of the Thai Community in Hong Kong
- ภาษาและอัตลักษณ์ของชุมชนไทยในฮ่องกง
Research
Motivation
Research
Objective
one of the most popular Asian cuisines in Hong Kong. However, unlike other cuisines such as Japanese and Korean food, Thai food does not seem to arouse Hongkongese' interest to learn the language. Customers who go to the restaurant may know a word or two, but very few of them could actually speak and interact with the Thai community in their language. In view of this, we have conducted a research on the Thai community in Hong Kong and this website aims to introduce the background, language and culture of the minority Thai community in Hong Kong, and most importantly, present the findings of our research to provide a holistic picture of how the Thai nationals make sense of their language and identity surrounded by the macro-environment - Hong Kong.
Anthropological approach is taken in our research to get first-hand qualitative data from the community.
Research Methedology
Our interest of study is how the Thai language is perceived and positioned by the Thai expatriates. In other words, how
The connection between Thai language and culture and Hongkongese is largely based on the tasty Thai food,
they orient the language in the predominantly Chinese-English speaking Hong Kong Society is studied. Is Thai preserved and inherited to signify the Thai identity? Have the language used in this community gradually shifted towards the dominant languages due to economic reasons or changes in self-identity? Our research aims to answer the following questions:
1. What language is spoken by the Thai community on a daily basis, in the workplace and in their family ? 2. What language does the first generation of im-migrants prefer the next generation to learn? Why?
3. Do their language choices reflect their self-identity and how they orient themselves?
4. What are the factors that affect their language choice?
Going to Kowloon City for interviews and observations, we approached several Thais workers at some restaurants, massage place and Thai grocery store. An interviewed was also conducted with a Thai professor from the University of Hong Kong. We believe that more direct and comprehensive explanations can be given by the interviewees, and more insights can be obtained by interacting with them in person (especially com-paring to conducting questionnaire which is rather unilateral). Besides, stepping into Kowloon City allowed us to observe the linguistic landscape of the Thai-speaking community. Signs including notice and menus are cues of how they use and perceive their language
After we have observed and gained the first-hand information, we integrate them to the previous studies on language and immigrant identity to shed light on how language and identity interlinked with each other for the Thai immigrants in Kowloon City.