Why are Hongkongers so afraid to speak English?
A look at the reasons the city keeps lagging behind other Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in English proficiency
I bet most of you would be taken aback if you were told to “shit down” and “eat your foot”.
I was horrified years ago when I heard a teacher utter those words to a primary school pupil, but in fact she meant to say, “sit down and eat your food”.
It is quite common for non-native English speakers in Hong Kong to mix up words like “sit” and “seat”, “food” and “foot”, and “chip” and “cheap”, especially since vowel sounds such as those found in “sit” and “seat” are perceived differently. However, this confusion is not a fault of the student but of the teacher who allows her charges to keep making such mistakes.
When I was travelling with my American friends in mainland China in the mid-1980s, we were constantly approached by local pupils who wanted to practise speaking English. They took whatever opportunity they could to engage us with whatever few English words they knew.
After each encounter, my friends would often comment on how wonderful it was to see students so eager to practise their English. In retrospect, they were very brave for having the guts to approach a stranger, let alone one who spoke a foreign language.