How Chinese languages found a haven on Auckland's North Shore
Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Just north of Auckland’s CBD, a community formed from the ruins of the shift towards malls has become a sanctuary for Chinese languages.
Throughout Northcote Town Centre, speakers of Chinese languages roam the brick laid paths, knowing someone, somewhere will help them find what they’re looking for using their mother language.
Whether it’s Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Shantongese, or one of China’s hundreds of dialects that make up the vast nation, speakers gather at the hub finding a taste of home.
Chemists, an almost-bilingual library, immigration services, and restaurants serving the delicacies of China as well as other Asian nations, offer a comfort that most other areas of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland lack, says Chinese business liaison Crystal Pan.
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“They feel very relaxed and happy here. Here it’s quite cosy, the town centre is a round shape, so people just cruise around and they can speak at most of the shops,” Pan says.
“They come to the shop and they can speak the Shanghai dialect, but if I don’t understand them, they can speak Mandarin.”
Pan says the library has become a hub for learning, Pan says, but not just from books.
Inside, an elderly couple speak Mandarin with a librarian, asking for help on how to use their mobile phones.
They arrived in Ōtahuhu 30 years ago and speak English well, Pan says, but as they’ve aged they’ve become forgetful of their second language.
Now, when they need help, they know they can find it in Northcote Town Centre.
Pan says it is important to have a place like the town centre, where Chinese speakers can go when they needed a helping hand or to feel connected to their heritage.
“They feel welcome here, safe and secure in this area rather than any other place.
“People come here and they know they will find someone who can speak their own language, they can get help.”
Janet Tang also visits the library looking for an English and Mandarin-speaking daycare for her daughter, Olivia, 18 months.
Tang, who speaks Cantonese and Mandarin, moved to Northcote in 2016. She likes to bring her family to the centre, especially her parents, who don’t speak English.
It’s a place where they feel comfortable communicating with others, Tang says, but there’s room for improvement at Northcote and across the country.
“I think it’s quite good, but it’s probably still not enough because I’ve been to New York and they have a Chinatown there, and also Sydney – they have a street all about China and it’s quite easy to live there.
“Here it’s still a little limited if you can’t speak English; you can kind of only come here to this kind of place to speak Chinese.”
However, Northcote’s town centre wasn’t always a hotbed for Asian cultures, business association chairperson Anthony Yee says.
When it was built in 1958, the centre was home to predominantly Pākehā businesses until shopping centres became all the rage.
“When the malls started to go up … it totally died,” Yee says.
“It only survived because Asian supermarkets came in here and they started to revitalise the place, and with the Asian supermarkets came the Asian restaurants. There’s a lot of history here, and it’s been successful.”
It’s become somewhat of a sanctuary now for the diverse community, he says.
As a third-generation New Zealander with Chinese heritage, Yee finds it easy to move through life in Aotearoa, but for many who pass through his automatic sliding doors, he’s seen the confusion of his customers trying to find out the most basic information.
“We’re kind of people’s first call, not just for healthcare, but other things as well.
“People come and ask, where do you get lab tests or where do I catch the bus? The pharmacy is a port of call just to help interpret or get other help.
“If they can’t read English or they can’t speak, they would be totally lost. Our role is interpretation and making sure they get what’s right for them in their mother language.”
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Being able to engage with people who understand your native language is important, especially when seeking help, Dr Danping Wang says.
Although Wang, a senior lecturer of Chinese at the University of Auckland, has a strong understanding of English, in her personal life she still feels more comfortable engaging with Chinese-language providers for specialised services.
“This gives me a sense of security. Even though I can use English for work, this is for medical treatment. I don’t know what English word is going to come up and I have no idea about it, but I have to give my consent to it.”
For native speakers of English, the difficulties some people face can be overlooked, Wang says, but ensuring that there are spaces like Northcote Town Centre, where languages other than English can be understood by those who need assistance, or even just to socialise, creates a more comfortable environment.
“We can definitely help a lot of people if we have more of these hubs. It’s helpful to ensure they can get the assistance they need in the language they understand.”