Tag: Education

‘Putonghua or Cantonese to teach Chinese Language in Hong Kong?’

Posted on by Benedict J. L. ROWLETT

by Eunice Man

Putonghua or Chinese? Schools have been considering such question regarding the use of language as their medium of instruction to teach Chinese language since 2008. As the Hong Kong government launched the “Scheme to Support Schools in using Putonghua to teach the Chinese Language Subject” in the 2008-2009 school year, both primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong were supported to try out teaching the Chinese Language Subject in Putonghua. Till the 2015/16 school year, the percentage of primary schools in Hong Kong adopting the scheme was greater than that of secondary schools no matter they were having a full adoption or a mixed mode of using Putonghua to teach the Chinese language, as shown in the photo below.


Figure 1: A survey on the Use of Putonghua as Medium of Instruction to Teach Chinese Language in Schools of Hong Kong

  So, how well can Hong Kong people speak Putonghua when Cantonese is undoubtedly the “mother tongue” of Hong Kong people? Play the video and you’ll see: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4d3GF5Wvc0

Figure 2 : Hong Kong celebrities speaking Putonghua compilation

Clearly, from the Hong Kong celebrities, we can see that Hong Kong people are used to speaking Cantonese than Putonghua as they seldom use Putonghua to communicate when the mother language of Hongkongers is Cantonese. Since they don’t use Putonghua in their daily lives, how can they speak good Putonghua? And when they are unable to speak “good” Putonghua in a Cantonese-speaking society, speaking Putonghua becomes a fun activity to joke around. In Hong Kong, although Putonghua can be regarded as people’s second or third language, people don’t usually speak Putonghua in a serious manner but a fun tone. The video below is one typical example:

Figure 3: Hong Kong people being tested to speak Putonghua on street

This video challenges random Hongkongers to pronounce and guess the Chinese words by only looking at the Putonghua pinyin. Mostly, people are not confident in pronouncing the words out loud in Putonghua and they somehow are embarrassed and shy to speak the language. That’s why, they would rather regard speaking Putonghua as a jest as they won’t be using the language in daily lives. 

  In order to enhance the Putonghua speaking ability of Hongkongers and to perhaps facilitate the learning of the Chinese language, the government planned to educate the future generation with Putonghua since they are young. But, what are the pros and cons of the scheme?

  For the pro, obviously, using Putonghua as the medium of instructions at school can effectively raise the level of Putonghua speaking ability of students in Hong Kong. Being taught with Putonghua all day long at school, students can get used to listening and speaking the language and thus, they can better communicate with each other in Putonghua without feeling shame. They may even treat the language more seriously and stop speaking it like a joke.

  However, can students’ knowledge in the Chinese language really be enhanced by learning it through a different, or non-mother tongue language? 

  The fact is, Hong Kong people use Cantonese to communicate in everyday life. Compared to Putonghua, they are more familiar with Cantonese, and can understand things more easily in Cantonese than Putonghua. If students suddenly have to switch to another language to learn Chinese, they may not thoroughly understand the meanings or messages that the words or passages aim to bring about as there must be differences in the expression of meaning as well as pronunciation of words between the two languages. For example, the following picture shows the difference in pronunciation of the words 的，地，得 in Cantonese (red words) and Putonghua (blue words). As you can see, the pronunciation of the three words in Putonghua are the same while that in Cantonese are totally different. These words each stands for a specific meaning, however, they are pronounced as the same in Putonghua. Not being the mother tongue of Hongkongers, Putonghua might be confusing for students to express their feelings or opinions. This shows that Putonghua might not be a better language for Hongkongers to learn Chinese.


Figure 4: Example of difference in pronunciation of Cantonese and Putonghua

All in all, using Putonghua instead of Cantonese to teach the Chinese language seems to remain a controversy. However, I would say since Cantonese is the mother tongue of Hong Kong people, it would be best if students in Hong Kong could be taught in the language which they are most familiar with so that they can fully understand the meaning of words and passages written and spoken in Chinese. 

References

How a Hong Kong Accent is Formed

Posted on by Benedict J. L. ROWLETT

by Victoria Chan

Most of the English learners in Hong Kong admire a British accent. When Hong Kong people can speak in British accent naturally and fluently, they always receive compliments such as “ Wow! Your English is so good!” or “ I love your accent! It is so beautiful!”. Most of the people deem British English as the standard English. In other words, people who is not able to speak in British accent are regarded as having low proficiency in English. The official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English. It has a long history of learning English as a second language. Under this circumstances, why Hong Kong accent still exist despite its wide use of English?

When Hong Kong became a crown colony of the United Kingdom, Hong Kong people needed to learn English because the colonial government announced English as the official language of Hong Kong. Hardly could the Hong Kong people learn English at that time due to the difference between Cantonese and English. Moreover, education in Hong Kong was not popular due to the limited expenditure to schooling by the local government. In other words, Hong Kong’s proficiency in English was low as the government failed to provide proper assistance to the new language policy. Under this circumstance, the Hong Kong people needed to learn English by themselves. 

The main use of English was to communicate with English speakers in Hong Kong during the colonial period. Therefore, the most efficient way to learn English was to simply imitate the pronunciation of English through speaking Cantonese. The following figure is an old Cantonese book which aims to teach Hong Kong people English daily expressions through speaking Cantonese.

Picture 1: The book cover of an old Cantonese book which teaches English
Source: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=8421
How Hong Kong people learned English speaking in the past
Source: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=8421

The title of the book is “ 自學英語不求人“ which means “ Self-learning English without asking anybody”. It shows that Hong Kong people couldn’t receive efficient English education despite the issue of official language policy. From the above picture, it shows how Hong Kong people learnt English at that time. The writer helps the reader to pronounce the English expression through generating a Cantonese sentences which has similar pronunciation with it. For example, “ 打孻亞見 Daa Laai Ah gin” for “ Try again”. Although it is written in traditional Chinese, the imitation doesn’t make sense if we pronounce it in Mandarin. The reader has to pronounce the Chinese sentence in Cantonese in order to imitate the English pronunciation. Moreover, these Chinese sentences are neither grammatical nor related to the English expression. It only helps the readers to generate the pronunciation of the English expressions. The Hong Kong accent is formed because the learners don’t imitate the pronunciation of a native speaker. On the other hand, they find their own way to pronounce English with the help of Cantonese.

Not to mention that English education in Hong Kong focuses primarily on reading and writing, the accent is not important if the speaker can use a wide range of vocabulary to express his or her ideas. A study on phonological awareness and oral language proficiency in Hong Kong by the University of Hong Kong discovered that the tone of first language will contribute significantly to second language. The reason why English accent of Hong Kong people differs from British is because of the difference of subsyllabic levels (rime and phoneme) in English and Cantonese. If children fail to develop phonological awareness (developing across levels of different phonological units) in early age, their accent of English will be similar to the tone of Cantonese. 

After discovering how Hong Kong accent is formed, we can also explore the method to improve our English accent. The sooner the children learn phonics of English, the higher phonological awareness they can achieve. In other words, the best way to improve English accent is not about imitating the pronunciation of each word, but to understand and to acquire the whole system of the phonics of English. This suggests that there is a need for reform of English learning in Hong Kong. Instead of pushing children to learn difficult words in a very young age, we should teach the children phonics before spelling. Thus, we can help our children to immerse themselves in English completely as their mother tongue.

Language and a Hong Konger Identity

Posted on by Benedict J. L. ROWLETT

by Phoebe Ng

Language is a symbol of a civilized society; Hong Kong is no exception. Hong Kong is well known of its diversified culture, we could easily see tourists or visitors with different nationalities on the street, especially in some popular districts like Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok, Causeway Bay and Central. Hong Kong as well is an international commercial center where businessmen around the world would come for investments.  Therefore, it is very common to hear “你好” (Cantonese), “ni hao”(Mandarin) and “hello” in greetings as well as the three languages in railway (MTR) announcements. 

人们在横过旧香港的繁忙街道上。在香港斑马线上行走的人.
Picture credit: Bumble-Dee. (n.d.). https://cn.depositphotos.com/146599171/stock-photo-people-crossing-on-the-busy.html.

In the recent decades, the competitiveness in education industry in Hong Kong has increased greatly due to the fact that there are more people coming from Mainland, trying to get a seat in Hong Kong institutions, including kindergarten, primary, secondary and even tertiary sectors. Living under a more competitive environment, parents are believed to start training their children to be more outstanding. Learning a second or third language is one of their strategies. People who was born after the 1900s are encouraged to study more than one language in order to avoid elimination and to cope with the fast pace of the advanced society. Children in primary schools, and even kindergarten have started learning a second language besides their mother tongue—Cantonese. It is believed that people who learn more than one language in Hong Kong is more well-educated and may be able to get a well-paid job. English and Mandarin are therefore some of the top choices to be the second and third language of Hong Kong students. 

Our Mother Tongue

What about Cantonese?

Cantonese is a dialect rather than a language, it is used in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau at present. It is the mother tongue of most Hong Kongers after the handover since 1997. There are Cantopop developed later on. Apparently, Cantonese is the mother language that a Hong Konger must learn. Due to the fact that Mandarin is being heavily promoted in different parts in Mainland China after the communist had taken over in 1949, as a result, people are no longer familiar with Cantonese. To pass on the culture of Cantonese, as a Hong Konger, we have the responsibility to preserve Cantonese as a part of our daily life. It can A fun fact on Cantonese: Many Hong Kongers agree that using Cantonese, especially on foul languages can better express themselves and is succinct enough to express that specific feeling. Although Cantonese is a dialect, it is powerful as of a language that it also includes different kinds of sentence structures, its pronunciation may even be more complicated than other languages in most the worlds that includes 9 tones of a word. Cantonese does not only perform to be the symbol of local identity in Hong Kong but also the preservation of Chinese Language history. 

Why English?

It is no doubt that English is the international language of communication. By learning English, we can communicate and connect with people around the world easier, for example, Japanese, Australian, Canadian etc. Take a daily example, we can provide help for foreigners on street easily if we know English. We may also make friends with different backgrounds by communicating in English, especially in international schools and universities. Furthermore, English is the language of Business. As a part of the commercialized community, Hong Kong people should surely possess the ability to speak fluent English as their second language which would at the same time, enables Hong Kong businessmen to cooperate and make transactions. Moreover, most Hong Kong people also believed that learning English can help to find a well-paid job such as teachers, doctors, lawyers, translators…These all resulted that English is another language which a Hong Konger should master. 

Why Mandarin (Putonghua)?

After the hand-over in 1997, the HKSAR government has implemented the concept of “Bi-literacy” and “Tri-lingualism”. “Bi-literacy” includes Chinese Language, English Language while “Tri-lingualism” includes Cantonese, English and Putonghua. Other than English, Putonghua is another language that a Hong Konger should possess. Geographically, Hong Kong is very near to China where Mandarin is the main language used there. According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1997, Hong Kong is being returned to the China. As a part of China, the HKSAR believed that it is necessarily for all Hong Kongers to be able to speak fluent Putonghua. In the recent years, under the government policies, there are more and more mainlanders coming from Mainland China to Hong Kong for visiting and receiving education mainly. With the influence of the immigrants, schools are opening classes to suit the needs for Mandarin speakers, sooner, Putonghua becomes one of the common languages that one may come up with in daily life. With the reasons above, it is proved that Mandarin is a language that a Hong Konger should equip. 

References:

https://www.elc-schools.com/blog/4-reasons-why-learning-english-is-so-important/

Universities in Hong Kong use English as a medium of instruction

Posted on by Benedict J. L. ROWLETT

by Lorena Pan

After reading the Thematic Household Survey Report No. 66 given by Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I noticed the use of language in Hong Kong has a unique feature. It was estimated that a total of 5 605 100 persons were aged 6 – 65 at the time of enumeration. Analysed by mother tongue, 88.8% reported Cantonese, 3.9% Putonghua, 3.3% other Chinese dialects, 1.4% English and the remaining 2.6% other languages.

Thematic Household Survey Report No. 66
https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11302662019XXXXB0100.pdf

Since I am an exchange student in Hong Kong, I found an interesting fact that universities in Hong Kong are using English as a medium. Is that a wise choice or not? In this article, I will demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages about this theme.

On the one hand, using English as a medium has plenty of benefits. For example, it can improve the university’s international level. Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have shown that Non-local students have continued to increase in recent years, Mainland students have been the majority of them and continue to rise every year.

The number of overseas students from other regions has increased significantly during the same period. In terms of exchange students, in 2018, the largest number of exchange students came from the United States, accounting for 20% of the total number of exchange students, followed by the Mainland and the United Kingdom, accounting for 12% and 11% respectively.

Thematic Household Survey Report No. 66
https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11302662019XXXXB0100.pdf

Around the world, English is still an international and popular language, if the universities want to improve their global cultural exchange and influence,  they need to use English as a medium to fulfil the numbers and percentage of international students.

According to Thematic Household Survey Report No. 66 , of employed persons aged 15 – 65 (excluding persons with hearing or speech difficulty), 25.4%indicated that it was necessary for them to learn and further study Cantonese, spoken English or Putonghua for the sake of work. Among them, 79.1% cited English as the spoken language that they would like to learn and further study most, followed by Putonghua (16.7%) and Cantonese (4.2%).

Thematic Household Survey Report No. 66
https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11302662019XXXXB0100.pdf

Of employed persons aged 15 – 65 (excluding persons with visual difficulty), 24.1% indicated that it was necessary for them to learn and further study written Chinese or English for the sake of work. Among them, 94.9% cited English as the written language that they would like to learn and further study most. The remaining cited Chinese (5.1%).

Thematic Household Survey Report No. 66
https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11302662019XXXXB0100.pdf

As a result, using English as a medium in universities can give the students much more time and space to prepare for their career.

On the other hand, using English as a medium in universities also has a great deal of disadvantages. For many student in Hong Kong cannot afford the high payment for extra English learning courses so they cannot get enough scores to enter universities to study. Even though they enter the universities, they still could strongly unfamiliar to study. In addition, the splendid culture cannot be inherit anymore. The ability to inherit the customs and culture of homeland has not been formed. Every culture has its own charm. If they lose the opportunity to touch their own great customs and culture, then they could not inherit them.

Tang Enjia, Dean of Confucius Institute, wrote in the Journal of Hong Kong Teachers’ Center in 2002 that Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain are places with rich people and developed science and technology. They are among the winners in international business competition, and they also use their native language as the main medium. Relatively speaking, some countries, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, etc., have been ruled by the colonial government, their traditional culture has been lost, and foreign languages have been adopted, but they have not played a role in international competition.  

Therefore, people still have debate and discussion about using English in universities of Hong Kong. From my personal perspective, using English as a medium is a special signal of Hong Kong that can link the east and west, and to promote the development of the diverse world, but we cannot ignore the importance of the home tongue at the same time.

I recommend you a relaxing and interesting video about problems of using English as a medium in universities of Hong Kong:

Role of Government and Education in Hong Kong’s English Proficiency

Posted on by Benedict J. L. ROWLETT

By Simone Ng

English has been the most commonly-used lingua franca cross-culturally in the world. As Hong Kong had been ruled as a British colony for over one hundred years, English has played a prominent and significant role on myriad aspects of the development in the territory, such as education, politics and society. Owing to such special socio-economic and historical background, and the language policy, English has been our official language and has been set as a compulsory language subject in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Hong Kong and used as medium of instruction. Even though Hong Kong people always pride themselves as the leading cosmopolitans, and “biliteracy and trilingualism” has been promoted as the education aim by the Education Bureau for years, the English proficiency of Hongkongers has always been criticised as unsatisfactory. The recent EF report even reveals that Hong Kong has been outpaced by other international metropolises in English proficiency, such as Singapore, Shanghai and Malaysia.  

“Students doing exams in the classroom”
Photo: Orange News. Retrieved from  http://www.orangenews.hk/pic/0/10/16/07/10160756_963806.jpg

When it comes to the issue of English deficiency in Hong Kong, the education culture of rote learning and exam-oriented, and overemphasis on “Educated English” have been major causes of the problem. As the education in Hong Kong places much emphasis on surface learning, students have fostered the habit of only reciting and repeating materials through rote memorization, neither understanding the meaning of it nor the linkage between the newly-taught information and previously-learnt knowledge. Besides, since Hong Kong education is mainly exam-oriented, the importance of exam skills far outweighs the original purpose of learning. Students tend to spend hours to read sample essays. Yet, the reasons for viewing piles of articles and practising exam drills are merely due to the enrichment of linguistic structure and implications, including vocabulary and enhancement of sentence structures, instead of the curiosity about the language. Consequently, when it comes to daily usage of English, it appears to be difficult for students to use native phrases to communicate. Meanwhile, this is also the result of overemphasis on “Educated English”, which is known as “Standard English” as well. Since there is only a limited selection of expressions in this particular type of English in the school curriculum, these phrases and sentences can only be used in certain contexts, such as academic and formal writing, instead of other purposes in daily settings. This hampers the understandings of Hong Kong students towards distinct forms of written and spoken English. Therefore, the education culture has adversely affected the English standard in Hong Kong. 

“HKSAR Government press conference”.
Photo: Sam Tsang. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/
comment/letters/article/
3015272/seven-myths-about-hong-kong-extradition-bill

Aside from this, the inadequate English environment has been another main factor contributing to declining English proficiency in Hong Kong. Although English is Hong Kong’s second official language, most public speeches and verbal announcements are given in Cantonese by the authorities, while English is only used occasionally, such as when answering questions from press asked in English. Due to the trickle-down effect, the general public tend to speak in Cantonese instead of English during their conversation, since they are used to watching TV news and receiving messages from the government in their mother tongue, Cantonese. Without comprehensive and sufficient usage of English in daily life, people have gradually developed a fear of English. As a result, without adequate practice, people avoid using English due to their lack of confidence in the language. This will eventually form an unhealthy English-learning environment and inhibit language proficiency in Hong Kong.

To deal with the issue, several prompt measures should be taken by the government. First, the officials should arouse public awareness towards the vital importance of English. Decent English proficiency is in fact the key to success in Hong Kong, as it lifts our competitive edge in the global arena. Without this benefit, transnational finance companies may retreat from Hong Kong and the city will lose its reputation of being an international cosmopolitan. Being a role model of using English actively in Government’s official press conferences can help promote the language through propaganda. By doing so, people will finally realise the essential role of English played in the development in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the Education Bureau should consider the reform of the English curriculum, including the syllabus, and way of teaching and assessments, since the current syllabus remains tedious and out-of-date. Therefore, officers in the department should redesign the curriculum through including more self-directed learning, in-depth reading and language used in daily settings so as to equip students to become native second-language learners. 

To conclude, the education culture, overemphasis on Standard English and inadequate English environment have been the culprits of deteriorating English standards in Hong Kong. To sustain our global competitiveness and reputation, it is therefore high time for the government took immediate actions before Hong Kong’s English standard becomes more dwindling. 

The Status Difference between EMI Schools and CMI Schools

Posted on by Benedict J. L. ROWLETT

By Veronica Chan

2.jpg

Schools that use English as the main medium for instruction (EMI schools) are more favoured by parents than schools that used Chinese as the main medium for instruction (CMI). Parents normally choose EMI schools over CMI schools. There is a status difference between CMI schools and EMI schools where EMI schools are winning against CMI schools in terms of reputation and prestige. There are several reasons behind the status superiority that EMI schools have over CMI schools in Hong Kong, including the rising demand for English and the general misconception that EMI schools create better results. 

Due to internationalization and globalized economy, many workplaces require English as the medium of communication. Multinational Corporations in Hong Kong and China are looking for English-speaking candidates and English is used frequently in the workplace even though the workers share a common language aside from English. Hong Kong is known as an international city, uniting different cultures and languages. It is a must for people, such as waiters and sales to speak the English tongue. Driven by the economic environment in Hong Kong and the culture of Hong Kong, the need for English in the workplace is high. People that speak English well are valued in the workplace. The rising demand for English in Hong Kong is clear to the parents and therefore, EMI schools are very much sought after by the parents. By sending their children to EMI schools, parents may ensure their children have good English exposure and improve their children’s English. Therefore, benefitting their children in their future workplace and facilitating their children’s chances to earn a better job and to have a brighter future.

Another main reason for the status difference between EMI schools and CMI schools is the general belief that EMI schools create better results and provide more effective schooling due to having English as the medium of instruction. As parents choose EMI schools over CMI schools, EMI schools generally receive more students with multiples talents, including Arts, Sports and Academic. Because of that, EMI schools can reap the best crops out of the student population and therefore, EMI schools can produce better results through having more academically talented students. It can be seen through the release of DSE results. Out of the 12 top scorers in DSE, only one top scorer comes from a CMI school. Aside from EMI schools having more talented students, EMI schools also have more resources and professional teachers than a lot of CMI schools. It is not hard to guess which medium of instruction schools have better results in public exams. Due to the excellent result shown in public exam, the parents have more faith in EMI schools and therefore the competition for EMI school places becomes tight and EMI schools can choose the more academically talented students. It is a cycle which leads to an eventual status difference between CMI and EMI.

Another minor reason for favouring EMI schools over CMI schools is the main medium of instruction in universities around the world. All parents have high hopes for their children and would like to help them pave their way to a brighter future. English as the medium of instruction is inevitable in tertiary education around the world. The same medium used in EMI schools and universities around the world helps students studying in EMI schools to adapt to university education easier. By studying in EMI schools, the gap between secondary school and the university is narrowed, giving students an head start during their tertiary education, for example students studying chemistry in CMI schools will have a hard time memorising the English names of the chemicals compared to EMI students. This advantage may attract students and parents alike. This also makes EMI schools be more sought out than CMI schools in Hong Kong.

Even though the government have tried to encourage mother tongue teaching and allowing schools to fine-tune their medium of instruction, this does not affect the status difference between EMI schools and CMI schools. It is a common belief that English is a more superior language than other languages due to the vast population that can use English for communication. It is a belief that is firmly implanted and shared in different nations. Due to the number of reasons mentioned above and the failure of the government’s policy and encouragement of mother-tongue schooling, EMI schools have maintained a more superior standing than CMI schools in Hong Kong throughout the recent years.

Further information:

https://www.debate.org/opinions/should-english-be-the-global-language-is-there-a-factor-that-makes-english-superior-to-other-languages