To stay competitive, Hong Kong must polish its skills in using the English language

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Almost 80 per cent of the 68,700 students passed the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) English language test, but students struggled with pronunciation and lacked exposure to authentic materials such as newspapers and magazines. Photo: May Tse

Published: 1:39am, 12 Nov 2015Updated: 1:39am, 12 Nov 2015

The standard of English in Hong Kong has been put under the spotlight again after the city's ranking in a global language proficiency survey plunged from 12th to 33rd over the past four years, trailing behind places such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Beijing and Shanghai.

Those who have direct experience with English speakers here and elsewhere may take issue with the survey, which was based on scores of online tests taken by more than 900,000 people across the globe.

Like many international surveys, the representativeness of this one by EF Education First, an international language agency, is also open to debate.

READ MORE: Appalling English standards in Hong Kong: the biggest culprit is ...

That, however, does not mean our English proficiency is not a cause for concern. Take the results of the territory-wide Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) as an example.

The common errors highlighted in the report issued by the examination authority are embarrassing. For instance, students mispronounced "daughter" as "doctor", "shower" as "sour", and "robot" as "Robert". Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Almost 80 per cent of the 68,700 students passed the English language test.

But a closer look at the students' performance reveals a different picture. According to the report issued by the examination authority, some students struggled with pronunciation and lacked exposure to authentic materials such as newspapers and magazines.