Wednesday, November 04, 2015
Hong Kong's ranking for proficiency in English continues to slide.
And while some may find it hard to believe relatively soon after Hong Kong ceased to be a British colony after more than 150 years, an international proficiency index shows South Koreans, Vietnamese and Japanese speak better English than people here.
Hong Kong is now ranked 33rd in the world, one place down from last year and ninth among 16 Asian countries and territories on the listing of non- English mother tongue places compiled by the Education First English Proficiency Index.
Singapore was 12th in the world and No1 in Asia followed by Malaysia, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and then Hong Kong.
Despite an increase of 0.2 in its score on last year, Hong Kong has dropped 1.75 points in five years.
Education First checked the English of 910,000 people in 70 countries and cities in reading, vocabulary, grammar and listening. Sweden topped the list with 70.94 points followed by the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Slovenia.
At a discussion on the state of Hong Kong's English that followed release of the findings, legislator Claudia Mo Man-ching pointed to the use of Putonghua as the medium of instruction in schools and an education system geared to rote learning.
After the implementation of the mother tongue policy, she added, parents who could afford it sent their children to English or international schools or even overseas. She also said people should not be afraid of making mistakes when speaking English.
Jeremy Young Chit-on, a former political assistant to the secretary for education, agreed that a lack of confidence held back people in English.
He said people were often afraid of others laughing at their accents "a general problem in Hong Kong people. But Singaporeans are not afraid of speaking in English despite having heavy accents."
He also told bosses to encourage employees trying to speak in English. JANE CHEUNG
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=162848&sid=45499853&con_type=1&d_str=20151104&fc=4
