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本帖最後由 shadeslayer 於 13-11-14 23:53 編輯
Use it or lose it.
2013/11/12 上午 08:42:07
網誌分類: 生活
Everywhere I go in Hong Kong nowadays I hear Putonghua. In some places I hear Putonghua more than Cantonese. But I hardly ever (almost never, rarely) hear English anymore nowadays. Yet English is one of Hong Kong's two official languages. When I was growing up in Hong Kong I often heard people speaking in English. Before the handover, even Chinese civil servants sometimes spoke with each other in English. But government officials hardly ever speak to each other in English nowadays. They hardly ever go to English-language radio and TV shows. I have noticed for a long time the drop in the standard of English in Hong Kong. That's why I wasn't surprised when a recent survey showed Hong Kong in fourth place in English proficiency (noun) in Asia.
When you are proficient (adjective) in English, it means you are very skilled or very good in English. Since English is an official language here, most Hong Kong people should be proficient in English. But the survey found that Hong Kong is only in the "Moderately Proficient" category, which also includes Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. We are less proficient than India and even Argentina. Both Singapore and Malaysia are in the "High Proficiency" category even though English is not an official language in Malaysia. English is an official language in Singapore, just like in Hong Kong. So why does Singapore have a higher English proficiency than Hong Kong?
I think it is because Singaporeans (the people of Singapore) often speak in English. Most Hong Kong people do not speak in English. But as I have said before: use it or lose it, which means, for example, if you have won a free plane ticket valid for six months you must use it or you will lose it, meaning the ticket will no longer be usable after six months. If you don't use English you will lose it, meaning if you don't speak it, you will not be proficient in it. Hong Kong can, of course, decide that English is not that important and we should learn Putonghua instead. But if we decide to do that, we should no longer make English an official language.
By Michael Chugani
Xxxxxxx
Has Michael got a point? Should we be ashamed when there are so many opportunities for HKers to learn English?
兩文三語係共識,但普通話一路好,英文又退步,整體中文又不及台灣。香港人行緊一條什麼的語文路?
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