Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)
On a rainy Saturday afternoon in Hong Kong, the Sanskriti Global Group celebrated their annual gala, Sanskriti Utsav. At the event, students performed classical Indian dances and spoke different Indian languages.
Started in 2006, the foundation teaches Indian languages.
The group’s founder is Geetanjali Dhar. She arrived in Hong Kong more than two decades ago. According to Dhar, many children of Indian immigrants lose touch with their linguistic roots.
Dhar shared that 30 per cent of the group’s students are children of people who came to Hong Kong from India. The parents want their children to be multilingual.
Language lessons
Every year, Sanskriti Global Group teaches nearly 100 students across Hong Kong and Singapore.
Ten-year-old Neil Reddy is one of these pupils. He said learning Hindi helped him talk to his friends and family on visits to India.
“Watching Bollywood movies helps me practise my Hindi, and I am also learning French and Mandarin at the same time,” Neil said.
Seven-year-old Yashna Melwani has been learning Hindi since the age of one. Her parents have never lived in India, but they want her to connect with their roots.
“I speak Hindi with my helper auntie, who is from India,” Yashna said. “I made a lot of friends in the class, and I really enjoy my weekly lessons.”
Students of all ages
Hongkonger Melissa Stone Bhasin started learning Hindi when she was working in India.
“During tea breaks, my colleagues would gossip, and I would be left out,” said Bhasin, who is in her early 30s.
A few years after returning to Hong Kong in 2019, she began taking Sanskriti’s classes.
“There was structure around its courses that I could adhere to,” she noted.
Sanskriti Global also provides professional training in Hindi, Nepalese and Bahasa Indonesian for Hong Kong’s police and immigration workers.
For example, the group works with HKU Space Community College to teach Hindi. Every year, they work with four batches of 25 police force employees.
Use the puzzle below to test your knowledge of the vocabulary words in the story.
Suggested answers
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Before you read: It can help them learn about their family’s culture. / It can help them talk to relatives. (accept all reasonable answers
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Stop and think: Neil Reddy is learning Hindi to speak with friends and family in India. Yashna Melwani is learning to communicate and stay connected to her heritage. Melissa Stone Bhasin decided to learn Hindi after feeling left out when working in Mumbai.
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Consider: People who immigrate to Hong Kong will be able to understand what is happening if they encounter police or immigration department workers who speak their language.
