Language Matters: Lisa Lim Believes There Is Hope for the Indigenous Tanka and Hakka Languages and Cultures in Hong Kong

23 September 2016 (Friday) – online

Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, discusses her hopes for the preservation of the indigenous cultures and languages of the Tanka and Hakka people in Hong Kong in her fortnightly Post Magazine column: Language Matters.

“The relocation of [Hakka and Tanka] communities to post-war new towns and urban centres – coupled with the decline of small-scale rural econ­omies, and language policy and attitudes – contributed to reduced heritage language use.

However, the value of indigenous cultures and languages has been recognised of late and, in 2011, the Tai Hang fire-dragon dance joined the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Although none of Hong Kong’s 10 ICH entries on the national list comprise languages, in the first ICH Inventory of Hong Kong, in 2014, 21 of 480 items are oral traditions and expressions, including Hakka, fishermen’s dialect and other language varieties. There is hope yet for tangible outcomes.”

Please click on the following link for the complete article:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2021675/new-hope-disappearing-languages-and-cultures

Source: SCMP

Language Matters: Lisa Lim Explains How Hong Kong's 2014 Pro-Democracy Protests Popularised the Phrase ‘Add Oil’

11 September 2016 (Sunday) - Online

Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, explains how Hong Kong's 2014 pro-democracy protests popularised the phrase 'add oil' in her fortnightly Post Magazine column: Language Matters.

"At the height of Hong Kong's 2014 pro-democracy protests, media artists launched a website for world-wide messages of support to be sent to protesters, displayed in real-time online, and projected onto buildings at protest sites. That they named the initiative the "Add Oil Machine for OCLP [Occupy Central with Love and Peace]" marked a significant step in the evolution of English in Cantonese-dominant Hong Kong.

An expression of exhortation in Cantonese, 加油 (ga1yau4; "add/increase fuel") is well known to Hongkongers, originating as a Macau Grand Prix chant during the 1960s and now used to cheer a team on or as encouragement in challenging times - exams, physical exertion, boyfriend trouble. In the past decade, the English phrase "add oil", a word-for-word translation from Cantonese - just as "Devil's advocate" and "by heart" are Latin and French calques - has gained prominence among young bilingual Hongkongers, but solely in computer-mediated communications (CMC), such as SMS, online chat or on social media."

Please click on the following link for the complete article: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2017763/how-2014-hong-kong-protests-popularised-phrase

Oil being added during the 1968 Macau Grand Prix. Source: SCMP