New in town since 3 months. Any French-Canuck around here?=)
Thu, 2004-06-10 18:08 — Oligny
Hello Hello or Bonjour?
How is everyone's doing?
Alas because of a Internet Explorer crash the first Topic I was about to post just got deleted... :?
It has been now "let's see" 109 days that I'm living in Hong Kong and 1 week as a dependant visa holder. So I can Finally work legally! :)
Who Am I? Oh I'm just a married 22 years old French-Canuck guy born in Qc province in Canada! :D
Unlike most of the westerners or gweilo around here I do not hold any university degrees But I did College in international Reality and some Specialized Graphism Design class as well (been 2 years now a little rusty) SO Most of the "MBA, Bussiness, money making things" jobs are off my grasp... :(
Why I say that? Because I'm getting worried about finding a decent Job.... I was not worried Before I did the big step to move on to Hong Kong MY girlfriend (for I came in Hong Kong because I love my wife! (I've got married on April 16th at HK city Hall ) told me that the fact I speak English and French fluently is more than enough and that westerners are rares and much needed , kind of like a "positive dscrimination" Now I do job hunting looking in: [i]SCMP[/i], [i]Jiu Juk[/i], [i]Recruit[/i], [i]JobDB.com[/i] and Governement's Labor department website. And most of the time the requierements are blocking me for applying. Things like : Degrees holders, Cantonese or Mandarin fluency show up often... :?
And there is that weird thing: It about Native speakers. What exactly fit as a English native speaker? As for me I was born in Canada and in Quebec so I do speak a fluent english as well as a fluent french but my english will have that little french-canadian accent only noticeable by english born speakers. And what about French then? I was wondering once if they consider A french-canadian as a Native french speaker? :?:
Of course there is a good French community but most are France's french so I might worry about the difference or if the employer ever know some peoples speak French in Canada in a "native" way?? I was wonderng is there a lot of Quebeccer in Hong Kong?
Anyway I just felt to share these thoughts. Fell free to add, suggest, comments about the things I've said, Just keep it clean polite and civilized okay? :wink:
Soy Geen!
Re:New in town since 3 months. Any French-Canuck around here?=)
I think for most schools, "native" probably just means you shouldn't look Chinese, so their students feel they are getting their money's worth !
You may find that it's worth taking a course first to get better-paid teaching jobs - try a web search for "TEFL Hong Kong". Or the YMCA used to be on the lookout for teachers, so that might be worth checking as a way to get started.
MrB
'native' English speakers
Thanks much for the message, Oligny, and you posed an interesting and helpful question, i.e. what really qualifies as a 'native' English speaker here in HK?
I certainly can't give you a definitive answer, but I think it might help to think about the question in terms of what the potential employer is looking for. If it's a business setting, and clear communication is the priority, my guess is you wouldn't be disadvantaged that much by your accent. But if it's an education job, my suspicion is that you might be -- HK people are accustomed to 'native speakers' from all sorts of backgrounds in the UK, Oz, NZ, USA, Canada, etc., but my impression is that there are sometimes strong traditions/preferences within schools for one accent or another.
Any readers have any thoughts/experience on this question to add?
Re:New in town since 3 months. Any French-Canuck around here?=)
For some weird reasons, I ended up reading your post (thx to google madness!). Anyway, have you thought about teaching French here. I guess it's less demanding and better paid, etc. I know at least one institute offer french for beginners here, (AF if it's still here). Oh, and welldone for surviving 3 months of Hong Kong! :lol:
MrO reply after a week away
Thank you msot kinfly for your replies.. I did received soem calls for jobs for english language institutes and one kindergardens job but it was part-time and 100hk$/hours and few workables hours.. anyway..
I'd wish SO much there would truly be More french langauges teachers demands and all and i did check at AF but their requierements are degrees holder I justs did college .. but my skill in english and French are top-notch..
Aww anyway I'll cross my fingers and hope ...Thank for the support MrB and MrTall
Sincerely,
MrO..??