Hong Kong Chinese are reluctant to learn Putonghua, although most of them are aware of the increasing importance of the language in the run-up to the handover, a survey says. Yesterday's findings came a day after the Education Commission pledged to spend $30 million to open intensive summer courses in Putonghua for schoolchildren over the next three years. The survey, which interviewed 1,000 people, found that almost 80 per cent of respondents said they did not understand Putonghua at all or that they could only manage a bare minimum. The survey, conducted by Prudential Assurance, found 95 per cent of those who could not speak the language had done nothing to try to learn it. Nevertheless, 78 per cent of respondents agreed that proficiency in the language would become more important after Hong Kong returned to China. Legislator and Education Commission member Cheung Man-kwong said he was dismayed by the findings, although he said the results were 'not too surprising'. 'Sometimes you cannot expect a 40-year-old newspaper hawker to be eager to learn Putonghua. To him, it is simply unnecessary. 'But we like to promote Putonghua in schools. The population's proficiency in the language will gradually improve if most of our school leavers are Putonghua-speaking,' Mr Cheung said. The Education and Manpower Branch said there had been plans to make the language an independent subject in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education examination from 2000.
