Reading Hong Kong Pride

Finally I start looking seriously into the language used in Hong Kong Pride official homepage. Before comparing it to London Pride, I would like to look into the Chinese and the English version of the Hong Kong one first.

Indeed I strongly believe that they are written by different people and probably targeting readers from different background as well. Only by reading the theme, it is not difficult to spot that Chinese version is more serious, with phrases like “呼籲”, “一年一次的約定” and “赴約”. Chinese one turns Pride Day into a mission while the English one says it’s a party – less formal but more fun. For example they translated “赴約” into joining the engagement, also, they used phrases like “full gear” and “celebrate”. Seems the English version is closer to the gay culture in Western, which celebrates sexuality, and turns gay parade into a party.

Of course I cannot say everything is based on cultural difference (it is just too lazy to think so). The reason behind these differences, I would say, is the history of gay right movement in Hong Kong. Not a long time ago, Hong Kong Pride Parade is still IDAHO - International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia. Now IDAHO still exists, but obviously Pride is becoming more important. However, it still takes time for locals to learn celebrating, while people from other countries would be more familiar with this practice.

However, maybe it is not necessary to party for party sake – why we have to follow the West?