On English

Imagine if courses in SMU were taught in Mandrin / Pu Tong Hua.

That’s how it is for Hong Kong students studying in universities. (It’s even worse for those in my generation, more on that later)

But-but-but Hong Kong was also once a colonized country like Singapore. There should not be such a drastic difference right?

Armed with only a fabulous vocabulary of vulgarities in each major language, I am sure most Singaporeans can interact with each other just fine without using English.

Not.

Comparing Durians and Ang Moh Liu Lian’s(Avorgardos)
In Singapore, “Singlish is the minimum standard to be able to communicate. It is not proper English per say, but at least there is English components in it. And since young, Singaporeans are forced to learn it; else they wouldn’t even be able to play soccer together.

In Hong Kong, English is just a second language you would never expect to even use in your daily life. Unless forced to.

And forced they were. During the colonial rule period, I recall everything everywhere had an English translation to it. Schools tried their best to force feed the language to their students. English spoken during press conferences were more than just “for the sake who don’t understand Cantonese”.

去读U (Studying in a University)
Well, not all professors speak very fluent English. I think that’s fine, accents and slangs are commonly seen everywhere. What strikes me is when they still have to converse back in Cantonese during the breaks to explain the concept back to the locals.
This could mean two things:
1) Academia is getting too complex for their own good. Inventing terminology that no one understands just to sound educated and wise.

2) English in Hong Kong has degraded into a very redundant language, starting since 1997. People don’t usually even use it, let alone study with it. This is like studying the bible in Latin, extremely difficult since the information has to always go through an language filter.

Street Language
What is usually heard on the street from the locals is either Cantonese, and in some cases PERFECT American/British English. The latter attributed by Hong Kong’s open policy to international schools, even locals can attend international schools.

This open policy, however, seems to breed a “More-Englishy-than-thou” mentality in Hong Kong.

Everyone knows English is important. Some people with a better command of English even think that they are much better off than “the rest”. English, to them, is a sign of their social status.

To the rest, English is just an option when one wants to sound profound, or hip. Cantonese is THE language that Hong Kong people speak. Not the ones that the "invaders" spoke.

Hong Kong teens, youths, and 潮人 do have their own Hong Kong-Lish as well. English words are used sometimes to add importance and status, sometimes cynically, other times sarcastically.

I just bought a book that teaches such new-fangled phrases. I might do some shots of unboxing later on my blog. (Yes it comes in a box) I might pick a few that raises good thinking points each week.

China will be prosperous!
Back to English, one might whether there is a need to learn it at all. Since doing business with mainland China is so much more important.

There have been reported outflows of university graduates from Hong Kong to China, seeking jobs. Some of them shocked that their English is not even up to standard with the Chinese.

And the mainland Chinese have already taken a huge leap. I recall a quote from "Mad About English". A English-camp teacher once spoke to his students that they are learning English not because they(the Chinese) are inferior, but that they pity for foreigners for not knowing Mandrin.

Hey, whatever works right?

And in a news report, mainland students studying journalism in Hong Kong were interviewed. Most of them had education overseas, or already possess a very strong fundamental in English. When asked what their reasons in coming to Hong Kong were, the interviewee replied that the main attraction about Hong Kong is the international exposure. English standards were not mentioned in any part of the interview.

Imagine Chinese mainland graduates filling jobs that requires good English in Hong Kong.

Ok, now pick up your jaw from the floor.

To get into a government post in Hong Kong today, you most probably need to prove that you can write reports in English through unofficial tests during the interviews. Makes you wonder why they can’t just read off the results off school transcripts or ELTS. (more on that further on)

Summing up
I believe that this is the same situation in Singapore. Especially with those that only “eat potatoes”, and those that are “cheena”.