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

Language Matters: Dr Lisa Lim Reveals Nuanced Story of the Word “Junk”

28 August 2016 (Sunday) – online

Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, reveals the nuanced story of the word “junk” in her fortnightly Post Magazine column: Language Matters.

“Long before summer junk parties became trendy, the trad­itional boat – efficient, sturdy, multi-masted vessels, with fully battened sails, compartmentalised hull, stabilising lee- and centreboards, stern-mounted rudder – had been a Hong Kong icon, featured in the logo of the old Tourist Association.

It would be easy to assume, as many do, that the English word “junk” comes from Chinese – chuán in Putonghua or Southern Min chûn.

The story of the word junk is far more nuanced, though, involving two oft-overlooked actors…”

Please click on the following link for the complete article: 

http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2008869/where-did-word-junk-come

Source: SCMP

文學院傳媒報道：現代語言及文化學院助理講師王志恒探討Pokemon Go旋風熱潮

【明報專訊】要數近日的城中熱話，一定是《Pokemon Go》，沒有之一。

《Pokemon Go》是已故任天堂社長岩田聰的遺作，亦是任天堂創辦127年來的首個手機遊戲。在它面世之前，其實任天堂早已陷入銷售的低潮，在2010年起，就出現了過去30年來的首次虧損。

最大的原因，一方面在於日本的遊戲廠商面臨一個很大的挑戰。相對歐美的廠商，無論技術、資金和人手也明顯被比下去。

另一方面，在於任天堂一直不太願意進入近年大熱的手機遊戲市場。因為任天堂除了是一家遊戲製作公司，更是一家硬體製造和銷售商，假如它將旗下遊戲打進手機市場，顯然會影響自家的掌上型遊戲機硬體銷售量，形成自己打自己的情况，最後未必帶來可觀的利潤。因此，在任天堂2014的原定計劃中，只是希望利用現有的iOS和Android設備宣傳品牌，推出旗下經典遊戲的試玩版，而非正式版，假定當玩家被試玩版吸引後，自然會花錢買主機和遊戲。

可是，任天堂大概沒有想過，自從《Pokemon Go》推出後，迅速成為美國、澳洲和新西蘭三大測試地連續三天App Store收入冠軍，連帶製作該遊戲的遊戲公司任天堂亦因此股價急升，數天內獲得90億美元的增值。除此之外，這遊戲更吸引了大量社交媒體關注，在遊戲推出後，Twitter的話題也在短短兩天內激增一倍。

那麼，《Pokemon Go》的魔力何在，使之成為全球各地的追捧遊戲？

閱讀全文 : http://news.mingpao.com/pns/dailynews/web_tc/article/20160717/s00005/1468692074263

Source: www.pokemongo.com

Language Matters: Dr Lisa Lim Discusses How Singapore Is Embracing Multilingualism Five Decades After Independence

11 August 2016 (Thursday) – online         14 August 2016 (Sunday) - hardcopy

Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, congratulates Singaporean politicians for embracing multilingualism and diversity as part of their culture five decades after independence in her fortnightly Post Magazine column: Language Matters.

“Early policies, initiated by Lee Kuan Yew, took a hard line: supporting ‘standard’, official languages and suppressing all others. From 1979, the annual Speak Mandarin Campaign promoted the use of Singapore’s official Chinese language and discouraged all other Chinese varieties. This led to a significant shift in Chinese households from mother tongues such as Hokkien and Teochew, to Mandarin. Similarly, from 2000, the Speak Good English Movement discouraged the burgeoning use of Singapore English.

Fast-forward to 2015 and a more compromising, inclusive attitude prevails. The lead-up to Singapore’s 50th National Day, and Lee’s death earlier that year, prompted a rise in sentimentality and attention to heritage – including a sea change in official attitudes towards non-official languages.”

Please click on the following link for the complete article:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2002360/singapore-embraces-multilingualism-five-decades-after

Source: SCMP

Language Matters: Dr Lisa Lim Explores the Origins and Multiple Meanings of the Culturally Evocative Word 'Chop'

29 July 2016 (Friday) – online          31 July 2016 (Sunday) - hardcopy

Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, explores the origins and multiple meanings of the culturally evocative word ‘chop’ in her Post Magazine column: Language Matters.

“The word is wonderfully evocative of the passage and contact of peoples and cultures in earlier times. From the Hindi chaap, meaning stamp, imprint, seal or brand, or instrument for stamping (used already in 17th-century colonial Indian English), the word entered English in the early 19th-century as chop, referring to a trademark – a consequence of trade of the linguistic kind during the British empire’s expansion into the Indian subcontinent. Merchants and civil servants travelling from British India to other outposts of the empire spread the word.

In Hong Kong English “chop” refers to a seal or a stamp. Many of us will be familiar with the need to place a company chop on an official document. And personal name chops – traditional seals carved with names in Chinese characters, used typically with red ink – are made, along with more modern rubber stamps, throughout the territory, most famously in Sheung Wan’s “Chop Alley”, with its lines of chopmakers’ stalls.”

Source: SCMP

Please click on the following link for the complete article:
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1996080/where-does-word-chop-come

PhD Candidate Gordon Fung Dic-lun Takes 2nd Prize in Compositions for Ensemble of Traditional Chinese and Western Instruments at Leibniz’s Harmonies 2016

Gordon Fung Dic-Lun, a PhD candidate in Composition in the Department of Music, was awarded 2^nd Prize in the category of “Compositions for Ensemble of Traditional Chinese and Western Instruments” with his piece “Rivière sans Retour” at the International Composition Competition, Leibniz’s Harmonies 2016.

The award presentation took place on June 30, 2016, in the Orangerie Herrenhausen, Hannover, Germany. The ceremony included performances by musicians of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Con Tempo Ensemble Beijing, and Das Neue Ensemble. Subsequent prizewinner concerts will be held in Leibniz’s birthplace of Leipzig and in Beijing.

The Competition is held in honour of German rationalist philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) under the auspices of the German Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Berlin. The winners were selected from among 100 entries by an international jury.

For further details, please visit: http://www.leibnizharmonien.de/en.html.

Arts Faculty Newsletter Issue 13

Dear Colleagues and Students,

Greetings from the Faculty of Arts!

It is with great pleasure that I share with you the thirteenth issue of the biannual Arts Faculty Newsletter which showcases the most recent achievements of our staff and students, and keeps you informed of Arts events.

The contents of the current issue include:
P.2-4: Faculty News
P.5-7: Research
P.8-10: Teaching and Learning
P.11-16: Knowledge Exchange and Alumni Sharing


Simply click on the link below to access the online version of our Summer 2016 Newsletter:
<http://arts.hku.hk/summer2016.pdf>

If you would like a hard copy, please send your request to cyrusc@hku.hk. We also welcome your comments and suggestions.

We plan to publish our next issue in Winter 2016. If you have news items that you would like to share with our colleagues, students, alumni, and friends, please contact Professor John Carroll, Associate Dean in charge of Outreach (jcarroll@hku.hk).

I hope you enjoy our thirteenth issue!

Professor Derek Collins
Dean
Faculty of Arts