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LettersWhy this Hong Kong student is against teaching English in Chinese
- Readers discuss the reality of learning English in Hong Kong, the city’s competitive edge in the data-driven economy, and why Hong Kong has to up its education game
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While Chinese and English are both official languages of Hong Kong, the spoken form of Chinese that predominates is Cantonese. So much so that it is sometimes considered weird for Hongkongers to communicate with each other in English.
And when children in Hong Kong are raised speaking Cantonese comes the question: Should English be taught in Chinese in local schools? Advocates contend this would help local students understand the meanings of certain words or phrases.
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In addition, through the use of Chinese during English lessons, students can learn both the Chinese and English versions of terms like “corporate social responsibility”. This would help make them bilingual.
With the government attracting foreign companies including AstraZeneca to Hong Kong, bilingual individuals would have a host of opportunities.
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In the opposing corner though, others insist that using Chinese during English lessons defeats their very purpose. In schools, the point of conducting English lessons is to immerse students in an English-speaking environment – or force them to speak English, to put it bluntly.
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