Abstract:
Chinese--Canada; Immigrant children--Canada--Social conditions
Subjects:
Chinese--Canada; Immigrant children--Canada--Social conditions
Subjects Facet:
Chinese--Canada; Immigrant children--Canada--Social conditions
Creator:
張宜中; Zhang, Yizhong
Date:
1996-01-26
Date searchable:
1996-01-26
Date searchable:
1996-01-26
Genre:
articles
Genre Facet:
articles
Format:
image/tiff
Language:
Chinese
Language Facet:
Chinese
Relation:
Article from: World Journal（世界日報）
Rights:
Contact UVic Archives for access to the original resource and for reproduction requests (fee for reproductions).This material is made available on this site for research and private study only.
Title-Alternative:
The Stories+H55 of Young Immigrants 《Article 13 of a series of reports》(Part two)
Description-Abstract:
Keywords: He, Xinchang
Location(s):
British Columbia--Vancouver; Finland; Hong Kong
Location(s) Facet:
British Columbia--Vancouver; Finland; Hong Kong
Transcript:
小移民成長故事
《系列報導之十三》（下）
何信昌 建議新移民學好英文
何信昌家中的四位兄弟姐妹年齡上各相差二歲，他的哥哥來加拿大時已十四歲，對於中國文化至今仍不忘情，還時常硏讀老子、風水等相關書籍，目前在從事牙醫的工作；姐姐在處事、交友方面則表現得相當傳統，對父母侍奉至孝，連選擇另一半時，也以長輩的建議爲依歸，經由祖父的朋友介紹，她嫁給了一位自幼移民日本的人；而妹妹與上述兩位相較，則顯得相當西化，她的另一半則是加國人士。
至於何信昌本人呢？他在謝絕了母親爲他所安排的多次機會後，與一位來自芬蘭的女孩相戀。這位女孩對於戲劇、攝影及美術方面的熱愛，使兩人因性向與志趣相近而有許多話題可談，再加上她喜歡何信昌具有東方男人特有的體貼、善解人意及不固執的優點，一椿美滿的異國姻緣於是締結。
每當放暑假時，目前住在香港的姐姐會飛來溫哥華與全家團聚。何信昌笑稱他家非常的國際化，而且此特徵在全家聚會時最能顯現出來，成員互相交談所使用的語言包括英語、國語、客家話、日文、芬蘭語等，家中成員的多元化，也顯示其父母在社會敎育上，對他們家人提供了自由發展的廣闊空間。
在已習慣使用英文後，何信昌曾一度怠於使用中文，但所幸上面有兩位兄姐仍堅持在家中講中文，使他的中文程度得以繼續保持。目前自己執業建築師的何信昌，在面對九成以上均是華人顧客的事業，相當慶幸自己未曾忘卻中文，否則在與華人顧客溝通時，將不如現在一般的深入及完整。這個體認，使他希望將來自己的子女也能學習中文，如此在交友及做事上，將有更多的助益。但是對於新移民的建議，則正好反過來，他建議靑少年一定要把英文學好，否則很難在加拿大立業發展。此外，他也希望家長應鼓勵子女自食其力，多出去磨練，而不要太過寵愛子女，在其年紀尙輕便供以豪華轎車、花不完的零用錢等，如此子女在寶貴靑春歲月中，未遭遇過任何困難，到了年長時若遇不順，將很難適應現實的社會。
本報記者：張宜中
【圖片】：何信昌的家是自己花了數年時間，才精心設計建造出來的。 (張宜中攝)
English translation: The Stories of Young Immigrants
《Article 13 of a series of reports》(Part two)
He Xinchang Advises New Immigrants to Learn English Well
He Xinchang’s four brothers and sisters differ in age by two years. His big brother came to Canada at the age of fourteen and is still fond of Chinese culture and often reads Laozi, Feng Shui and other related books. He is currently working as a dentist. He Xinchang’s big sister is quite traditional in dealing with affairs and making friends. She shows filial piety to their parents. She took her elders’ advice, even when she was choosing her other half. She married a person who she knew through her grandfather’s friend, who had immigrated to Japan in their childhood. He Xinchang’s younger sister is quite westernized compared with the older two and has a Canadian husband.
As for He Xinchang himself? He fell in love with a girl from Finland after declining many of the dates that his mother had arranged for him. The girl' s love for drama, photography and the fine arts has given them many topics to talk about because of their similar interests. Also, she likes He Xinchang' s thoughtfulness, understanding and reasonableness, which are special qualities of Oriental men. They have achieved a happy foreign marriage.
Every summer vacation, He Xinchang’s older sister, who currently lives in Hong Kong, will fly to Vancouver to reunite with their family. He Xinchang laughed and said that his family is very international, and this is very evident when the whole family gathers together. The languages used by family members to talk to each other includes English, Mandarin, Hakka, Japanese, Finnish, and more. The family’s diversity also shows that their parents provided enough free space for the family members to choose their own social connections. After he was accustomed to using English, He Xinchang began to neglect his Chinese. Fortunately, his big brother and sister still insisted on speaking Chinese at home, so his fluency in Chinese was maintained. At present, He Xinchang, a practicing architect, is glad that he has never forgotten Chinese, since in his career more than 90% of his clients are Chinese. Otherwise, when communicating with Chinese customers, he would not be as thorough and complete as he is now. This realization makes him hope that his children can learn Chinese in the future, which will be more helpful in making friends and career development. On the other hand, his suggestion for new immigrants is that they should learn English well, especially young people. Otherwise, it will be difficult to develop a career in Canada. In addition, he also hopes that parents will encourage their children to support themselves and go out to practice more, rather than spoiling their children too much, such as providing luxury cars and giving them an endless allowance in their youth. If so, their children would never encounter any difficulties in the relative safety of their youth, and it will be difficult for them to adapt to real society if things do not go so well when they get older.
By Zhang Yizhong, journalist of World Journal Vancouver
[Photo]: It took He Xinchang years to elaborately design and build his home. (Photo by Zhang Yizhong)
