Job Discussion Forums

[Roger]

Walked to the General Post Office on Connaught Road this morning. New signs outside pointed pedestrians to the ferry piers:
"This way to the underlying islands ferry pier"

Sorry, but just wondering whether English is getting a beating from the CHinese in HK?

[Ger]

Yeah, I think it is! I hate having to listen to their Chinglish so I subject them, as much as I am able, to my Engdarin!

[tparker]

Standards of English certainly do seem to be diminishing in Hong Kong - unfortunately. Bad chinglish has always been a thing common to the mainland (always a good source of entertainment) - yet i've expected better from Hong Kong. You are right though - lately I have been seeing more and more signs written in bad English, whereas the trend, you would think, should be the other way round.

It has always baffled me how employers (particularly large organisations such as the HK Post Office or the management company at the estate where I live) can't even find a single person who speaks good english to proof read their signs before they print them. Or rather, i'm sure they CAN find people, they just can't be bothered.

So much for "Asia's world city" if we can't even get our English right.

Oh - has anyone noticed the description of the "Swiss Chicken" which KFC are now selling in the territory? The gist of it is that the chicken pieces are so-named because a waiter who failed to pronounce 'sweet chicken' properly to a visiting tourist led the tourist to think of the chicken as 'Swiss chicken'. The blurb then goes on to show how this truly makes HK an 'international city'.

I couldn't contain my laughter. If the fact that people in Hong Kong can't pronounce English words properly makes this place an 'international city', then gosh, Hong Kong must surely top the worldwide list for international cities!!

(P.S. - The chicken has absolutely nothing to do with Switzerland!)