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English as a first language

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  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by drumbrake:
    A good question would be how many actual IIs are caught by these random checks as a proportion to the number of law abiding people stopped. Perhaps the police could be better deployed looking for illegally built basements or triad's attending dinners...
    hong kong police are just as currupt as the ones over in the Mainland; really no different.

    next time I get stopped by a police officer, I need to ask how much his salary is per month; as they do nothing at all during the day: walk the same bloody street up and down all day, lunch time, then do it again
    Last edited by Editor; 16-03-2012 at 09:29 AM. Reason: Edit: Language.

  2. #22

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    F.A.O. lijianhua:

    I've been stopped by the cops for my ID once, and so have many of my friends. None of us are Chinese. On that day I happened to be wearing some really tacky clothes, so I think you had best spruce up your wardrobe my friend.

    F.A.O. drumbrake:

    There is a misplaced apostrophe in your post.


  3. #23

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    Aug 2006
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    11,884
    Quote Originally Posted by dma:
    More or less the same situation as the OP.

    BBC. Parents never taught me canto and they were told not too at the time of when i first went school so that it would not "impair" my learning of English. Safe to say that my English is good. Both verbal and written, in my humble opinion.

    However i knew next to no canto since growing up. Picked up and was taught the very basics ie, eye's, hands, feet, mouth, hello, etc etc. Obviously no where close enough to put together any kind of sentence to converse with. I'd say over a 4 Year period of family gatherings where all my uncles, aunties and cousins etc were chatting away, id slowly here words and be able to remember and place them in sentences to the point my understood canto is pretty decent now, and assuming they don't speak at super speed like the telesales then its not particularly an issue to understand.
    As PDLM sadly isn't around to pull you up on this, I'll step in.

    If you are going to put forth the 'humble' opinion that your written English is good, you shouldn't follow up the claim with several paragraphs riddled with basic errors.

    Back on topic and @ the OP: I've found that limited Canto ability for OBCs in the workplace depends on industry and position- it can be be zero (e.g. multinational finance) to quite high (e.g. a retail position).

    Socially the biggest impact I've found is with ordering food in restaurants and directing taxies or vans to obscure addresses. At the same time, limited Canto can be an advantage if used tactically- telemarketers and police have already been mentioned, but it's also useful in getting service or retail staff to back off and leave you alone.

  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by MCDC:
    Usually, police only stop "Chinese-looking" people only; they never stop white, black, etc

    Really? I feel like I always see them stopping people who look like they might be helpers and a few times the mainlanders to make sure thy haven't overstayed their visa. That or HK kids who should be in school.
    If you are Chinese you sense it is Chinese being stopped. Filipinos might feel like wise.

    A local Chinese friend is not a fan of police as he focuses on Chinese being stopped and checked for ID. One Saturday he was waiting outside a coffee shop waiting for me to finish a business meeting and got checked for ID. He is over 50. He was not happy. Whenever he sees Chinese being checked he gets angry - even if they look mainland.

    We all love HKID to exit and enter HK but the problem with living in a place that requires ID on you at all times except some visitors is that the police don't have to be suspicious to stop and check you. For a local person this is embarrassing in their community.

    CLIC - Police and Crime: Police powers - Under what circumstances can the police stop and question me in a public place? Must I answer their questions?

    "The police and immigration officers also have power under section 17C(2) of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) to demand any resident in Hong Kong aged 15 or above to produce proof of his identity for inspection. A failure by that person to produce proof of identity as required without reasonable excuse constitutes an offence. It should be noted that this provision does not apply to foreign visitors who are staying in Hong Kong for not more than 180 days."
    After WW2 whenever talk in Canada of ID cards there my grandparents and parents were horrified because of the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis and the start of that with ID.

    As the expectation that if you look Chinese you can't be a native Eng. speaker, I think that is true here but I do see some tutors who are Chinese doing just fine working with Chinese youth.

    But you see private ads for learning British English here not just English. It is like wanting to learn Spanish from a person from Spain vs a person from Costa Rica due to the accent. It is like learning English from someone in England vs the USA.
    Last edited by Football16; 19-03-2012 at 10:13 AM.
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