Alek Nikolai S.docx

ALEK NIKOLAI S. PASCUA

Hongkong is a former British Colony. Its vibrant densely populated center is a major part and global financial hub. Hongkong is known as Asia’s World City.

Hongkong’s population is multi-cultural. This is evidenced with the many different people walking its streets. Chinese, of course, dominates the population but its everyday and ordinary sight are people of different skin colors brushing each other’s shoulders. These people from different countries bring their own culture to the city thus becoming Hongkong’s culture rich and vibrant. That being said, it is the local people (some) who are difficult to deal with.

Hongkong being a British Colony, adapted the English English. Below is a list of British English versus American English.

BE

AE

BE

AE

tap

faucet

take away

take out

bucket

pail

nought

zero

rubbish

garbage

timetable

schedule

lorry

truck

biscuit

cookie

chips

french fries

petrol

gasoline

lift

elevator

torch

flashlight

flat

apartment

trolley

cart

trainers

sneakers

queue

line

football

soccer

ice lolly

popsicle

holiday

vacation

film

movie

My concept of multi-cultural communication is formed from what I hear from my parents. Let’s take my mother’s exprience. My mom can write and speak English fluently. She gradually picked-up the British English words that are used daily. Her employers are Chinese but they use American English inside the home, putting my mom in a situation where she learned very little Cantonese, the official language of Hongkong. Most of the people my mom talks to can’t speak or understand English at all. My mom said she would often contextualize.

Communication, therefore, is not confined in words or vocabularies. Communication is extended to body language, situation processed in such a way that it makes sense, it is perceiving what the other person is saying or trying to say.