Comma

‘Comma’ is a website targeting to serve EM (ethnic minorities) by helping them to learn Cantonese in a free, innovative, & sustainable way.

The Issue

The whole project was triggered by an Indian international student, who is studying in Lingnan University and was seeking a job in Hong Kong and they found there is a rising need to learn Cantonese among EM due to employability. They discover that the spectrum of job selections for non-Cantonese speakers can be very narrowed in Hong Kong. It is because the rests are the low-skill occupations or those highly competitive positions in MNCs, which are not paired with their different abilities. More crucially, current learning resources in Hong Kong are far more than enough to support EM to learn better Cantonese.

The Solution

Therefore, they set up this platform: Comma, the ultimate goal is to help beneficiaries to get better job opportunities by using their platform to polish their Cantonese speaking skills, for example, workplace Cantonese, Cantonese interview skills, etc. They will operate in an online self-sufficient mode, including providing Short-form videos for those who know Cantonese to teach those who are still struggling in learning Cantonese, User-Generated-Content, reward scheme (Publishers can get rewarded if the video gets 1000 likes) and Platform-to-workplace connection to increase the possibility of employment.

Impact

In the future, Comma are also planning to collaborate with companies in Hong Kong that have the intention to employ EM. So that employers could see the salient results from the platform and might consider employing EM since the language will no longer be a challenge in terms of communication.

Beneficiaries

EM youth aged between 15-24 who want to live & work in Hong Kong, but are still struggling in learning Cantonese

Project Team

LEUNG Wai Wan (Vivian)

MAI Yong Feng (Matthew)

NG Miu Ling (Leo)

LEUNG Lok Yin (Ban)

WONG Ting Cheung (Amos)

Navjot KAUR

Project Advisor: Prof. ZHANG Dian & Prof. LEUNG Yuk Ming Lisa

Funding Source

Innovation and Impact Fund 2020 - 2021

Project Classification

Education / Assistance for ethnic minorities / Job-hunting / Language Support Platform