Language Attitude of Indonesian Workers

 

 

According to the interviewees from Indonesia, in general they appreciate their own native language. When we ask them, whether they will teach their children English in a young age, they answered with a resounding negative response. It might suggest that they believe in mother-tongue multilingual education is a key to success. Millennium Development Goals documentary (2000) revealed that children can integrate in the global community seamlessly as their native language education can act as a good bridge to their own culture.

 

Hong Kong is a city which demands proficient skills of English. Under such environment, Indonesian generally need to learn English in order to make a living in Hong Kong. Speaking Indonesian does not bring much careers opportunities to them. However, it does not seem to affect their passion of their own dialects or standardized Indonesian under such environment. The interviewees do not consider their native language as inferior. Furthermore, when asking Heny whether she will code-mix English and Indonesian or not when talking to friends, she answered us “No, we talk in Indonesian only. We don’t speak English with each other” immediately. An affirmative attitude towards their own native language is reflected. Though multilingualism is practiced among Indonesian in Hong Kong, language shift is not resulted among them. Despite they learn English to find jobs and integrate into Hong Kong, they do not replace their own native language with other languages they acquired.

 

Contemporary challenges

However, the class and race is still rooted in the ( Indonesian) societal structure. People from Indonesia are often expected to be security guards or traders or domestic helpers without any other choices. Difficulties are also encountered in daily communication. They are seen as trilingual language users with a fair proficiency in English or Cantonese. However, the local residents usually focus on English ability of the Indonesian workers and underestimate the actual potential to the linguistic diversity they possess. Normally, the employers will ask them to speak English with kids, despite their insufficient fluency in English. The only chance for them to speak Indonesian is friends’ gathering, phone calls with family members. The role of the Indonesian workers is quite passive in the workplace since they have to follow the order of their employers in which language should be used. The language right of Indonesian workers is somehow restricted. Furthermore, all interviewees need to speak English to children though they can actually speak English. This reflects the attitude of the Hong Kong parents that they hope their children can be familiar with English since they are small.

 

Factors affecting their use of langauge

An intriguing fact is that when we asked which language they prefer to conduct the interview, they have different responses. The possible reasons attributed to this phenomenon could be their difference in years of residency and their corresponding employers’ preference. Firstly, the longer the years of residence, the more proficient their Cantonese. The four interviewees showed distinct background and therefore can well justify their different preference towards languages. For both Ida and Sumi, they came to Hong Kong four years ago, leading to a better Cantonese proficiency, this is probably why they used Cantonese as medium of communication when we first approached them. On the contrary, Heny and Sidi preferred English. When the immigrants are more immersed into the local society ( here: Hong Kong), they are more capable of using the local language ( here: Cantonese). Second,  as a domestic helper, their daily routine is to take good care of elderly and children. For helpers who are more associated with elderly, they are required to use Cantonese, resulting a more proficient level of Cantonese. Whereas the helpers who are more associated with kids, they prefer to code-mix between Cantonese and English. According to their responses, their employers required them to use English when communicating with children. This is attributed to the importance of English in Hong Kong education.