In September 2014, downtown Hong Kong came to an extraordinary standstill. The normally endless flow of traffic was blocked by protesters; the financial district was paralyzed. It was the largest demonstration in the city. The protesters, calling for democratic elections, refused to move until Beijing and the local government agreed to a new system.
More than just a campaign for democracy, the protests are also a fight to maintain Hong Kong’s distinct identity – something many locals feel is under threat from growing interference from mainland China. One particular expression of Hong Kong identity that has emerged from the three-month protest is Kongish.
The Kongish language consists mainly of English translations of Cantonese sayings. One of the famous Kongish idioms is “add oil”, which comes from the Hong Kong expression 加油 (jia du – add oil) to encourage the strength of Hong Kong people. The word was included in the 2018 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary after the use of “add oil” by young people and participants to encourage each other to continue during the 2014 protests increased exponentially.
Although Kongish phrases have only recently made their way into dictionaries, the language can be traced back to the late 90s and the early days of the internet.
“Unlike school, where you are forced to write and speak English properly, the internet has no rules,” said Alfred Tsang, an English lecturer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “This lack of control has facilitated the rise of Cantonese-English fusion.”
Most Hong Kongers speak English, so on the internet they use both languages to express themselves, and Kongish emerged. For many, it has become their preferred form of English.
Soft Liu, lead singer of indie band GDJYB, who writes lyrics in Kongish, explains: “Kongish means Hong Kong-style English, which doesn’t necessarily have to be grammatically correct or make sense to overseas audiences. It’s the way Hong Kong people express themselves in their daily lives. For example, we text our friends,Eat mud tonight?(What are we eating tonight?)What tsad you say?(What the hell are you talking about?) orI Holland like you(I like you so much).”
Liu says that modern messaging platforms like WhatsApp have made many people lazy to write complete sentences, which has also contributed to Kongish's popularity. "For example, if I want to ask my friend whoDo you want to hang out with me tonight?(Do you want to go out with me tonight?) then I would text like this:Tonight come ng come out?"
GDJYB members realized that, in addition to being a byproduct of laziness, Kongish had become a badge of identity for a growing number of young people in the city. “Kongish is a representation of our local culture,” Liu said. “We want to introduce Hong Kong culture to an international audience through our songs, and Kongish is a great medium to do that.”
In further evidence of Kongish's popularity, in August 2015 three local English teachers created “Kongish Daily” – a Facebook page dedicated to collecting examples of the language.
The trio were surprised by the instant popularity of “Kongish Daily”. Their first post in Kongish garnered more than 10,000 likes overnight, and the page now has nearly 50,000 likes. It has become a leading public platform for the language. “Before we started the page, it was just a language used between people messaging each other on a private platform,” said Nick Wong Chun, a lecturer at the Language and General Education Centre at Tung Wah University. “I think our page has helped people see that there is nothing wrong with using Kongish to express themselves.”
Chun also mentioned the “grammar police” – people who criticize people online for writing mistakes, even in casual conversation. But unlike Chinglish, which is born from unintentional mistakes, Kongish is a deliberate violation of grammar rules. Pedro Lee Lok-yi, a local English teacher, said: “People who write Chinglish usually have a low level of English; they want to write in English but can’t because of their limited knowledge. With Kongish, they deliberately write English in a way that they feel comfortable with.”
While some purists object to this type of language because it has the potential to erode English standards, the founders of “Kongish Daily” counter that: “Just because you want to experiment and create a fusion dish does not mean you lose the ability to cook a pure Chinese dish or a pure Western dish.”
Despite the criticism, Kongish continues to thrive. The three English teachers remain confident about its future: “For us, Kongish is the child of English and Cantonese, so we want to protect it like we protect our mother tongue,” Chun said. “It is an expression of our Hong Kong identity and I believe it will last.”
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