See attached petition from Unison. We have plenty of debates about racism in HK. Well here is one small step we can each take to try and help.
http://www.unison.org.hk/lettercampaign-en.php#sign
See attached petition from Unison. We have plenty of debates about racism in HK. Well here is one small step we can each take to try and help.
http://www.unison.org.hk/lettercampaign-en.php#sign
I am in agreement with the thinking and notion behind this but am slightly concerned that this would actually encourage segregation. Why Chinese as a second language and not as a first language since they are to be educated here anyway?
Perhaps we should be encouraging ethnic minorities to be integrated into the mainstream instead.
what's considered minorities in HK?
I agree with HKIT dude. If you want to live here, then learn the LINGUA FRANCA and INTEGRATE. I say that as an ethnic minority that does not expect a free ride. I expect my fellow ethnic minority brothers and sisters to also PULL their farkin weight !
Be it here in HK, France, Holland, Germany, Australia, Italy, Japan, China, Korea etc etc etc, if you willingly choose to live in these places as a by choice immigrant, then do the right thing and make the effort to learn the main local language, take an interest in being a good productive citizen and financially stand on your own two feet !
And Grumbler, roughly 5% of the HK population = ethnic minorities ie people that are not Chinese.
hm... not sure about this. HKIT dude has a point. how is this different from ESL in the states?
Come on people! Even though being white means you are an ethnic minority in Hong Kong, you don't count!
But... does Unison actually have ideas about what a governmental “Chinese as a Second Language†policy should include? Any government can have any policy it wants, but that doesn't mean jack-shit when it comes to implementation. What does Unison want to see included? Does it has a white paper?
Try reading the discussion on the linked page from Unison. There is already TERRIBLE segregation in Hong Kong. It indicates that most ethnic minorities are forced into just 30 schools, where up to 99% of the population is non-chinese and they thus cannot learn from school friends. Unison is trying to get to a point where the ethnic minorities are capable of integration - right now they are being segregated because they cannot keep up. They can speak Cantonese, but not read or write it, because their PARENTS cannot help them.
So get off your high horse and do something useful rather than pontificating about stuff you clearly know nothing about.
I think they have details on other parts of their website. They've been working on this for some years now, so I should hope they have some practical ideas!
Seem to be a few papers on here: http://www.unison.org.hk/positionpaper.php
Last edited by MovingIn07; 21-08-2013 at 12:33 PM.