Qualified translators will be in greater demand after the handover, a university lecturer has said.
Dr Yee Leung , associate professor of the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics at the City University of Hong Kong, said students of the subject would face better job prospects from 1997.
'Bilingualism will be practised widely,' he said, adding that although both English and Chinese would be used, the Basic Law appeared to stress Chinese.
'Article Nine of the Basic Law stipulates that in addition to the Chinese language, English may also be used as an official language. It seems to say that both languages will be used, but Chinese will be the main one,' he said.
He said English would still be used widely for a long time after 1997, while the importance of Putonghua would gradually increase.