Just Saying | Appalling English standards in Hong Kong: the biggest culprit is ...

I had an appointment in an unfamiliar part of town the other day, and was at the mercy of a taxi driver to get me there. I started giving him directions in my smattering of Cantonese when he interrupted cheerfully and confidently in English to assure me he would take me to my destination.

When I complimented him on his command of the language, he said he was learning and practising, and never missed the chance to try out his English whenever a non-Chinese passenger climbed into his vehicle. I couldn’t help thinking: “If only our government officials had this guy’s attitude.”

Let me say this with absolute conviction and justification: The standard of English in this former British colony is appalling, and the biggest culprit you can blame for this sorry state of affairs is the Hong Kong SAR government.

I’m not speaking as your stereotypical whingeing expatriate bemoaning the loss of the colonial era, now that Hong Kong is well and truly part of China.

I’m just saying if most people feel Cantonese and Putonghua are more important than English in what is essentially another city in China, and that’s the “reality” we non-natives should face, then say so. I’m perfectly fine with that.

People like me will go gently into the night. Just don’t pretend this is a bi-lingual town, or “Asia’s World City”. Don’t keep paying lip service to the importance of English to us as an international language while giving it no importance at all in practice.