Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lulu144]

SO I was recently in Hongkong and I was blown away
now I am away the HK was a British COlony until 1997 but the english level was unbelievable....( and yes I know if you cross into mainland china... english is low at best)but......
The thing that got me the most was when I met my friends cousins who live in HK and are chinese..... the 5 year old spoke PERFECT english@!!!I could not believe it. Where and how did she become this good!!!!

I think in HK there is the opinion that you must learn english or else.... but at 5 years old, she probably didn't even think abgout something like that.
In korea most of the time I feel like... what is the point of teaching them... they'll never use it....

So my point is..... what are they doing in HK to make the language level of children so freaking high? I think they are doing something right and korea is doing something oh so wrong....

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Teachers are using English as the language of instructionl. What a novel idea for teaching English.

[zappadelta]

[Woland]

I wouldn't generalize so easily from one case in Hong Kong. I have friends who work in teacher education programs there who speak uniformly of the often low level of English of the future teachers in their programs. There is an effort to promote instruction in English for English classes in schools, but it is not completely successful, either. Many teachers are still pushing the button on the tape recorder for the English in the class.

The history of Hong Kong as a British colony goes a long way to explaining levels of English there. Simply put, English is more prevalent there than here; thus, the demand for it is greater and it is worth more to know it. But even during British rule, English was spoken by a limited portion of the Chinese population. British colonial policy was not to promote English, but local languages in education. English was to be reserved for a limited, professional cadre who would serve as local managers for the British. (See Janina Brutt Griffler's book, World English for a detailed discussion of this, backed by data from the records of colonial offices in Asia and Africa; she demolishes Robert Philipson's 'linguistic imperialism' argument with her data.) The social class distinctions in knowledge of English that were intended in British policy are maintained to some extent still today. Chinese professionals and their families consistently know English; the working class doesn't.

[Woland]

Weird - double post.

[Lao Wai]

Hey,

I live in Hong Kong and am EXTREMELY thankful for the amount of English here. In the past, (as far as I know) many high schools used English as the medium of instruction. Primary Schools used Cantonese. It seems that this is the reason many of the older generation have a high standard of English. Today, many primary and secondary schools use Chinese as the medium of instruction.

I work with local Chinese English teachers. I would say that their level of English is better than most Korean teachers. They have to pass tough benchmark exams set by the gov't in order to be an English teacher.
Also, there are 20 teachers in total at my school who teach various subjects. ALL of them speak English very well regardless of whether they are an English teacher or not. When you hear conversations in Cantonese, English words will ocassionally pop up. But, rather than say things like 'o-ren-jee ju-suh' like Koreans, they will say the English word with proper pronunciation. The do have some Chinglish words but not nearly as many as in Korea. Oh, and university classes are also conducted in English (I think).

You do see a lot of Chinese children speaking to their parents or Philippina nanny in English. Many of them go to private schools that are English Medium instruction. Actually, there's a whole separate school system here if you want that. It's called 'the English Schools Foundation' (ESF). The teachers are certified public school teachers from various English speaking countries. These schools are somewhat like international schools, but Hong Kong has those too.

Overall, English is considered to be quite important and it is expected that most service people speak it. Even many bus drivers and taxi drivers speak some. Service people also tend to mix English and Cantonese. For example, sometimes the cashier will tell me the price in Cantonese but will ask 'Do you need a bag?' in English. Or, when I pay using my bank card, will ask 'Would you like cashback?'.

However, some people think that things have started to slip a bit since the handover in 1997. Many foreign business people are being drawn to Singapore due to the high level of English and lower levels of pollution.

[andrew]

.....

[Roch]