Everyone’s got a different language journey. We all come from different family backgrounds. My guest today, Hubert, comes from a Hong Kong family, but his parents were adventurous. They decided to establish themselves in Singapore when Hubert was only 2 years old. Hubert had to learn Cantonese at home, but today he considers English his first language, Mandarin his second and Cantonese his third language. We decided to make this interview just an audio one.
In the interview, I recall the time that Hubert helped me look for a village house. I thought he was smart because he could speak such good English and Cantonese. Being the humble man that he is Hubert said that he doesn’t consider himself that smart. When it comes to Cantonese, Hubert acknowledges that there were gaps in his Cantonese and that going to university in Hong Kong was rough. I imagine it was a bit of a sink or swim moment for him. Thankfully he had good support from his family and friends. He effectively had an immersion experience as he lived at the school dormitory. One of the interesting pieces of advice Hubert has to offer is, “Fake it till you make it.” What about you, do you think entering university is a good way to sharpen your language skills?
