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Hong Kong is left behind in terms of English proficiency
As an American exchange student, I expected to meet numerous challenges in communicating with the people of Hong Kong, for such is the nature of studying abroad. I have already spent a semester in Singapore, so I have experienced these challenges before.
Upon my arrival and settlement in Hong Kong, I realized that the lack of English fluency was far greater than I had imagined. Back home, professors said repeatedly that Hong Kong is an ideal starting point for a non-Asian speaker to begin her exploration of East Asia, because its people speak fairly intelligible English.
To the contrary, I find that most Hong Kong residents, save for expatriates and college students, speak only Cantonese and possibly a little Putonghua. Local college students lack a broad enough vocabulary to engage in deep conversation.
By contrast, in Singapore, the vast majority of young people speak fluent English. Sometimes they slip into a bastardization of the language, called Singlish, but on balance my local friends were able to switch between Singlish and perfect English, depending on the situation.
While I realize and accept that part of studying abroad entails the possibility of facing a language barrier, I am a little saddened that it keeps me at such a distance from socializing with locals. What is more, I am rather surprised that in Hong Kong, which is just as economically and globally competitive as Singapore, the level of English competency is so low, relatively speaking. English, for all its quirky grammar, happens to be the language of commerce and global business.
Why the discrepancy? First, the soft-authoritarian Singaporean government conducts regular “speak English” propaganda campaigns, emphasizing that Singaporeans must speak good English if they are to survive in a global environment.
Thankfully, Hong Kong society is far freer than that of Singapore. Nevertheless, in Hong Kong I do not sense that the Mainland-friendly government feels any urgency to promote English. Maybe this is partly because they see English as a vestige of British colonialism, harkening to the days when Britain humiliated China with its seizure of Hong Kong and neighboring territory.
Second, perhaps the teaching style within the two city-states differs greatly. I under stand that Hong Kong English classes are extremely boring and emphasize writing instead of speaking. One learns a language not by writing lengthy sentences, but by speaking and continual repetition of phrases.
I see little indication that Hong Kong society’s English fluency will improve greatly in the near future. Nevertheless, I hope that students interested in improving their English will seek out us exchange students and practise their English on us — and even teach us some Cantonese in the process. In this way, we can improve our language skills and help one another bridge cultural barriers in the process.
Rhonda Van Hasselt
Exchange
student from UCLA now at
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Letters to the Editor, with the writer’s name, address and daytime contact number, should be sent to: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Room 202, Humanities Building, New Asia College, or faxed to 2603-5007, or e-mailed to varsity@cuhk.edu.hk. Letters may be edited for reasons of space, style and clarity.