It's already a common fact that the older generation speaks better English than the younger ones. Just ask the Western tourists in Hong Kong, they'll give you a very good picture. They all end up very surprised to find that the younger Hkers have a poorer grasp of English, until they find out the reason.
It is a lot easier to learn good English now than it was 20 years ago … exchange programmes are more common and you have easy access to resources on the internet.
- This doesn't surprise me! English teaching in HK schools is so old-fashioned in its non-communicative approach. Grammar rules rule. Unfortunately, very few people know the difference between a verb and an adverb and an adjective nor how to use them! Prepositions are interchangeable things that get added to anything!
Funny thing is parents emphasise early starter education (English playgroup, phonics class, English drama, presentation … you name it), so this is the result?
If you want to communicate with people from across the globe you absolutely need to know a decent amount of English. It's quite ironic that English is an official language in Hong Kong even though proficiency is falling ever further among ethnic Chinese Hongkongers.