In the 70s, to protect its culture from being too influenced by the predominantly anglophone environment, Quebec passed Bill 101, making French the sole official language of the province. The protection of language cascades down to all aspects of life, from law to business practices and street signs.

Bill 101 suggests that the best way to protect a culture is to protect its languages. In a free business environment, cultural hardware, such as cinema houses and public space, can be bought and sold and cultural practices, such as food habits, can be displaced and replaced. But languages are living; as long as they are used and spoken by a population, they cannot be easily eliminated.

Further, most cultural practices are only meaningful and can be passed on across generations through language. For example, without its followers praying and using it, a temple is no better than a block of coloured bricks. It is only through language that the different aspects of cultural practice are woven together to give life to any particular form of culture.

Hong Kong is bilingual with English being its second official language. If the primary means of protecting a culture is to protect a language associated with it, then attempts to reinforce and facilitate the use of English are critical in retaining Hong Kong’s cultural identity.

Opinion: Hong Kong has as much English fluency as needed

English is a core aspect of Hong Kong’s identity and carries with it many advantages. Because of Hong Kong’s bilingual status, it is still a great place for foreign companies to locate offices compared with other cities in China. An important development in the international media landscape is its anglicisation. I cannot think of a major country without a dedicated English channel. This may seem like a paradox – for many countries, to keep their culture and language, they also have to present themselves in the 21st-century lingua franca, English. I remember stories of taxi drivers in Paris refusing to speak English to tourists. In a turn of events, French President Emmanuel Macron recently addressed his audience in both English and French at Davos.

Stressing the significance of English in Hong Kong may touch the nerves of the more conservative political camps. Proficiency in a language associated with the West does not undermine one’s political or cultural orientation. Recall Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s engagement with his Western counterparts and media in English. This allows him not only to advance the interests of his company but also communicate national interests and ideals that are important to him. English does not seem to water down his love for tai chi and other things Chinese.

Tentative recent research findings on language and cognition suggest that bilingual individuals are better at executive control – basic cognitive functions such as selective attention and decoding a language, compared to those who are monolingual. Being bilingual seems to also benefit individuals at a higher cognitive level. Studies have shown that bilingual people are better than their monolingual counterparts in social perspectives, taking in reading and writing. If we want to stretch our imagination a little, this is important in a politically complex world. But there is more to bilingualism. For reasons that are still unclear, it is also negatively associated with dementia.

Hongkongers mix English and Cantonese into new language, Kongish

Elbert Lee is an adjunct member of the faculty at Upper Iowa University, Hong Kong campus, where he teaches cognition and human development