Generally, Filipino domestic helpers value English most as they all agree that English is their most important language, though their attitudes towards their native or first language like IIokano and the Philippines’ national language Tagalog remain unchanged.

English has always been the usual language for the Filipino domestic helpers, whether they were staying back in their home country or when they are working in Hong Kong, our interviewees use English very often under various circumstances. Since they have started attending primary school, English has long been a compulsory subject. If they want to continue their studies in universities or to seek for better employment opportunities, they have no excuse to master their English language into a proficient level. However, the importance of English does not show its influence in an individual’s future education and career prospect, the language has also become a common language for them to communicate with people coming also from the Philippines but do not share the same dialect. They feel more comfortable speaking English with their compatriots than in their native tongue or in Tagalog as they sometimes forget a certain expression in the first language, and thus find it embarrassing and inconvenient. Therefore, in order to let themselves and their friends understand each other, they rather speak in English so as to achieve communicative efficiency.

 

Their attitude towards the use of Cantonese, their second-most commonly-used language after coming to reside and work in Hong Kong, is also generally positive. For them, Cantonese is more an instrumental than a communicative tool because they only speak in Cantonese when they talk to the local population, for instance, especially when they talk to their elderly employers, buying groceries at the market, taking the public transport, etc., they have no options but to use Cantonese because many people they encounter with in their everyday daily neither speak English nor Tagalog. In other ways, they learn Cantonese only because they have to survive in a Chinese society as Hong Kong and they have to interact with the locals. Although they generally do not speak fluent Cantonese, they have been trying their best to master the language as they believe this is the sole path for them to better fit in the local society and to have more access to economic resources, and hence to become easier to get a job and earn more money.

 

Although English and Cantonese have become their usual languages after coming to work in Hong Kong, the use of their native tongue and their national language Tagalog does not seem to diminish. This is because English and Cantonese can only be their working languages, while their first language and Tagalog are treated as important for communicative purpose among their friends and community. Although they do not regard their native tongue and Tagalog as prestigious and useful as English since people outside the Philippines do not understand their languages, they also hope that their offsprings will still continue to acquire these languages and hope that the legacy will pass down generations and generations. To a large certain extent, they agree that their native language and Tagalog signify their culture, their identity, and they find comfortable speaking them.