Bilingualism in Hong Kong

28 Feb 2013

In his policy address last month, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced a "one-off grant" of HK$100 million for each district in Hong Kong, or HK$1.8 billion in total for all districts, to be...

Hong Kong trails rival Singapore in students' English skills

3 Feb 2013

Many parents spare no efforts in brushing up their children's language skills - and not just in English. Demand for Putonghua teachers is soaring as China's clout in the global economy increases...

20 comments

Change gets a tongue lashing

26 Jan 2007

I have been teaching French in Hong Kong for three years now and my colleagues and I are worried about an education reform that will come into effect in 2009. In that year, all foreign languages...

Cultural arrogance is not acceptable

12 Jul 2002

I refer to the letter by Nicholas Shearman (South China Morning Post, June 17) regarding the 'poor' language standards of police stationed on Lamma.

Arrogant attitude has no place in real world

11 Mar 2000

One could not blame Hong Kong people for turning against English when faced with the letters of some of your readers. I refer, in particular, to the letter by 'Name And Address Supplied',...

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English skills irrelevant to most HK people

A number of letters have appeared recently complaining about a lack of English usage in Hong Kong.

The authors seem to be under the mistaken impression that Hong Kong has a bilingual...

Education policy kept communities apart

I refer to the editorial headlined, 'Question of language' (South China Morning Post, March 22), which rightly observed the generally low level of fluency in English speaking in Hong Kong.

Extraneous prejudices bad for business

LOCALISATION is not a new subject in Hong Kong, but is seen by many as taking on a new form which goes beyond what it was originally designed to achieve.

HK people - silly attitude towards language

I COULD not agree more with Mr Benjamin Tang of Kowloon, who expressed his frustration at Hong Kong people's attitude toward Chinese persons who prefer to communicate in English (South China...

Cast aside 'foreign' language prejudices

I WRITE regarding racism in Hong Kong, as it relates to the use of the English language by a Chinese person.

Our second language

CONSIDERING Hong Kong's long history under British rule, the general level of English language skills is curiously poor.