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Lost in Translation

Chinese as a Second Language learners struggle to learn Chinese under the
current curriculum.

By Victoria Fong

lysha Bibi, a year one student at the University ary school. The journalism student studied at Li Cheng Uk
of Hong Kong, only started to learn Hong Kong Government Primary School, where traditionally a large
AChinese seriously when she was first enrolled in part of the student body hails from ethnic minority back-
a local secondary school in Hong Kong at the age of 12. grounds. Chinese lessons there only covered basic knowl-
While local students were having regular Chinese classes edge.
at school, she had to attend one-on-one Chinese classes to “I didn’t even know how to write my name (in Chinese)
catch up to her peers when she was in Form One. Form when I was in primary school. I didn’t even know how to
One is the first year of secondary school in Hong Kong, write my school’s Chinese name either. All I remember was
traditionally taken at the age of 12 or 13. counting numbers,” Bibi says.
Despite being born and raised in Hong Kong, Bibi When Bibi entered secondary school, she discovered
never received proper Chinese education before second- that her Chinese knowledge was not enough to handle the