Sign in or 
Share this
The White Traveller - An Amazing Multilingual Area
The White Traveller - An Amazing Multilingual Area
Thanks for coming to my travel blog again. It has been a while since the last update as I spent the entire October backpacking in Hong Kong and have just returned to Spain.The travel was excellent and I was deeply amazed by a specific area -Wan Chai Market and the streets surrpunding it. ------- No, you have made a wrong guess. It was not the well known 24-site heritage tour published by the HK government, but the use of language, or "the Langscape" of this area amazed me. I would love to share my view right away with you.
That was the first time I backpacked in Hong Kong and the first place I visited was Wan Chai. Frankly speaking, being an experienced traveller, I did not expect much from the hustle and bustle of this prestigious financial centre. "Most people are bilingual and there are always English translations." That is what we travellers think and that is why we usually avoid financial districts.
However, as soon as I set foot on the area I found Wan Chai far behind my imagination. When I strolled into the district, the first thing I realized was that Wan Chi was not only a financial area but was also a showcase of cultures in the far East. Particularly in the Inner Urban Area which includes Wan Chai Market and several streets around it, cultures from different places congregated. People of different nationalities lived here, ranging from Chinese to Westerners and from Koreans to Indians.
I selected the word "showcase" here because the area was very different from the States. Instead of forcing others to integrate into their American culture as a furnace, Wan Chai allowed different peoples retain their own cultures especially their mother languages. In this case, it becomes a truly amazing multilingual area.
Just take a look at these shops in Wan Chai Market and you will see how astonishing this area was. A shop which might probably be smaller than 200 square feet had a trilingual signboard. Moreover, Chinese, Thai and Filipino shops co-existed on the same streets. There are also English and Chinese road signs, Thai signboards and Filipino posters. What surprised me most was that even the price tags in this traditional market were mostly written in both Chinese and English!
The surprise kept on when I strolled further into the market. I spotted an unusual message board stating that a booth had been moved. Look at it carefully and I am sure you will be as amazed as I was at the moment. It is only a simple message but there are totally 4 different characters in it. They are English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Japanese. Though the English sentences were a little bit strange (one of my net friends said that is "Chinglish", writing English sentences in Chinese grammar), it is one of my favourite photo of the entire trip. If anyone of you invites me to share my feelings about Hong Kong in person, I will definitely take out this photo and in turn ask you to appreciate the unique Langscape represented by it.
Apart from signs and boards, Goods being sold in Wan Chai helped construct its wonderful Langscape as well. As Wan Chai Market is a gather point of products from different countries, I was shocked even just by glancing at the goods. "How many languages were there in total actually?"I kept asking myself while packages printed in Korean, Japanese, English, Chinese and Thai came into my sight in queue!
After strolling for around an hour there, I started to get hungry. Though at the moment I had already experienced the multilingualism of the area, I was quite worried I could not get a meal there since many travel guides say people in Hong Kong are generally not very good at speaking and hearing English. But my starving stomach drove me to give it a try and I went into a restaurant displaying both Chinese and
English menus. Guess what ? The waiters were able to speak and listen to English, while communicating with other staff in Chinese! Too bad I am not a scholar otherwise I would have stayed there and did a research on the language density of the area.
That was truly a journey of amazement. Although we backpackers are usually looking for something more than skyscrapers or tourist attractions, never did I expect I would be amazed by such an interesting Langscape. To be frank, I was a little bit disappointed I could not find any Spanish there, but still I sincerely recommend the area - Wan Chai Market and streets around to all backpackers. Believe me, there is something a traveller has been looking for!
Thanks for coming to my travel blog again. It has been a while since the last update as I spent the entire October backpacking in Hong Kong and have just returned to Spain.The travel was excellent and I was deeply amazed by a specific area -Wan Chai Market and the streets surrpunding it. ------- No, you have made a wrong guess. It was not the well known 24-site heritage tour published by the HK government, but the use of language, or "the Langscape" of this area amazed me. I would love to share my view right away with you. That was the first time I backpacked in Hong Kong and the first place I visited was Wan Chai. Frankly speaking, being an experienced traveller, I did not expect much from the hustle and bustle of this prestigious financial centre. "Most people are bilingual and there are always English translations." That is what we travellers think and that is why we usually avoid financial districts.
However, as soon as I set foot on the area I found Wan Chai far behind my imagination. When I strolled into the district, the first thing I realized was that Wan Chi was not only a financial area but was also a showcase of cultures in the far East. Particularly in the Inner Urban Area which includes Wan Chai Market and several streets around it, cultures from different places congregated. People of different nationalities lived here, ranging from Chinese to Westerners and from Koreans to Indians.
I selected the word "showcase" here because the area was very different from the States. Instead of forcing others to integrate into their American culture as a furnace, Wan Chai allowed different peoples retain their own cultures especially their mother languages. In this case, it becomes a truly amazing multilingual area.
Just take a look at these shops in Wan Chai Market and you will see how astonishing this area was. A shop which might probably be smaller than 200 square feet had a trilingual signboard. Moreover, Chinese, Thai and Filipino shops co-existed on the same streets. There are also English and Chinese road signs, Thai signboards and Filipino posters. What surprised me most was that even the price tags in this traditional market were mostly written in both Chinese and English!
The surprise kept on when I strolled further into the market. I spotted an unusual message board stating that a booth had been moved. Look at it carefully and I am sure you will be as amazed as I was at the moment. It is only a simple message but there are totally 4 different characters in it. They are English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Japanese. Though the English sentences were a little bit strange (one of my net friends said that is "Chinglish", writing English sentences in Chinese grammar), it is one of my favourite photo of the entire trip. If anyone of you invites me to share my feelings about Hong Kong in person, I will definitely take out this photo and in turn ask you to appreciate the unique Langscape represented by it.
Apart from signs and boards, Goods being sold in Wan Chai helped construct its wonderful Langscape as well. As Wan Chai Market is a gather point of products from different countries, I was shocked even just by glancing at the goods. "How many languages were there in total actually?"I kept asking myself while packages printed in Korean, Japanese, English, Chinese and Thai came into my sight in queue!
After strolling for around an hour there, I started to get hungry. Though at the moment I had already experienced the multilingualism of the area, I was quite worried I could not get a meal there since many travel guides say people in Hong Kong are generally not very good at speaking and hearing English. But my starving stomach drove me to give it a try and I went into a restaurant displaying both Chinese and
English menus. Guess what ? The waiters were able to speak and listen to English, while communicating with other staff in Chinese! Too bad I am not a scholar otherwise I would have stayed there and did a research on the language density of the area.
That was truly a journey of amazement. Although we backpackers are usually looking for something more than skyscrapers or tourist attractions, never did I expect I would be amazed by such an interesting Langscape. To be frank, I was a little bit disappointed I could not find any Spanish there, but still I sincerely recommend the area - Wan Chai Market and streets around to all backpackers. Believe me, there is something a traveller has been looking for!
EN2707 |
Latest page update: made by EN2707
, Nov 6 2009, 7:43 PM EST
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by EN2707
798 words added 13 images added view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
None
More Info: links to this page
|
There are no threads for this page.
Be the first to start a new thread.
