Sibling rivalry is breaking out all over. But not between kids; between countries behaving like kids.
The latest war of words is between Singapore and Hong Kong.
Two songs I came to listen to while I was reading a literature called A tale of two songs: Singapore versus Hong Kong. It's about the battle between the two cities. Which one do you think is better?
To be frank, I like the way Singapore incorporates their lahs in Singlish in order to show their identity. lah is a marker of their identity, it is a linguistic feature that reflects the very true side of one's identity. However, when we look at Hong Kong English we can't find any features of code-mixing. Most Hong Konger want to speak British English, the sort of 'proper' variety of English. It would be good for Hong Kong people to embrace the linguistic feature of Cantonese, the use of code-mixing and the use of particles like lor, wor.
Not sure who would like my idea. Anyways.
It would be fun to show these two songs to students while inrtoducing the cultural difference of Hong Kong and Singapore. Knowing about the language is the first step to knowing about the culture.
Hope that would give you some insights on your teaching.
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