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"My car is white so wave at me when you see me, I'll be there in seven minutes," said Hase as he gave me directions to wait at the McDonald's in Tai Wo KCR station for our interview. It has taken me almost an hour to get here. I'm in the New Territories.
He is dressed in a loosely fitting top with colourful embroidery around the edges, and his hair is shorter and seems to have gone a bit lighter than when I last saw him a few months ago. He is friendly and I'm feeling relaxed despite having been a bit nervous in anticipation of our meeting. I fear my questions will not be good enough, or intelligent enough for him.
Hase's home is just as I had imagined it: east meets west, and serene. I am served English tea in a Chinese mug and we are using bronze coasters with Chinese characters on them.
When I go back to Toronto, my friends often say I sound a bit British, and sometimes they say they don't know what I sound like. But Hase's English accent hasn't been corrupted by his learning Cantonese.
"Cantonese is difficult because of two things. The first is, it's not written," said Hase. "Now if you're learning Mandarin, you can learn to read it and learn to speak it and the two help each other...The second problem is the tonal structure, which is very complicated, infinitely more complicated than it is in Mandarin and that's very difficult for foreigners..."
"So, when I'm speaking Cantonese, my tones are not bad but if I get angry, if I lose my temper, then my tones start to change."
Hard to believe that Hase arrived in the colony not knowing a word of the language. The government wasn't looking for people who knew the language, just for people who wanted a job.
Hase was born in the United Kingdom and got his Ph.D. from Cambridge in an aspect of 7th Century English History. Hase was unable to get a job teaching and opted for a job with the government as an Administrative Officer with his first posting as Administrative Assistant in the Urban Services Department. He arrived in the territory in 1972
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