A few days in HK so far and I hate it. Tell me I'm being ridiculous.

[HK_Katherine]

Yes the more ambitious ones WANT to learn English as well as mandarin because speaking more than one language is an asset to anyone though most of the English speaking world often forgets about it and expect the world to revolve around them.

The point remains that this is China and they don't need to learn English if they don't want to and won't really need it in their everyday life unless they are part of the minority who comprises the upper class.

In a society where everyone seems to want to advance, why wouldn't you learn it? Sure, if you never leave China, Mandarin is more useful. But the minute you leave China, English is far more useful!

[closedcasket]

Yes the more ambitious ones WANT to learn English as well as mandarin because speaking more than one language is an asset to anyone though most of the English speaking world often forgets about it and expect the world to revolve around them.

The point remains that this is China and they don't need to learn English if they don't want to and won't really need it in their everyday life unless they are part of the minority who comprises the upper class.

Well, like it or not, the world does somewhat revolve around the English language!

It's far more important for a Cantonese speaker to learn English than for an English speaker to learn another language. That is why you can't walk 50 meters in this city without seeing an English language tutoring school.

While learning English is not necessary for local kids, it would be an enormous disadvantage for them not to.

[HowardCoombs]

While learning English is not necessary for local kids, it would be an enormous disadvantage for them not to.

Which is worse for a local ethnic Chinese kid:
1) not knowing English
2) not knowing Putonghua
3) not knowing Cantonese

[si0001]

While learning English is not necessary for local kids, it would be an enormous disadvantage for them not to.

The Japanese seem to be fine with it.

[Natfixit]

Amazing how these threads digress....from I hate HK, to I hate living in HK to I hate how HK tries to be western but wants to remain Chinese to I hate how HKers speak English. Who needs newspapers when one can remain sociologically updated via geoexpat. ;-))

[HowardCoombs]

Amazing how these threads digress....

Speaking of Dubai, have you found anything in Hong Kong that comes remotely close to the selection offered by the Barracuda Booze Shop? That place was like an oasis in the middle of a dry desert

[closedcasket]

The Japanese seem to be fine with it.

So if you were a local Cantonese couple, you wouldn't care if your kids learned to speak English? I doubt it.

Locals parents ( who aren't wealthy ) pay a lot of money for native English tutoring in Hong Kong. Why is that?

[si0001]

So if you were a local Cantonese couple, you wouldn't care if your kids learned to speak English? I doubt it.

Locals parents ( who aren't wealthy ) pay a lot of money for native English tutoring in Hong Kong. Why is that?

I didn't say they wouldn't care, they would because they are pretty mental about education.

I'm saying your average person is not at a huge disadvantage in HK if they don't have anything beyond a basic level of English.

Plenty of jobs do not require English, even those who work in the Chinese financial institutions do not have a good grasp of English in my experience.

[Swannie]

There's a vast difference between want and need... Only the anglocentric blind would say something like it puts someone at a huge disadvantage. I'd say more than 80% of HK people rarely have to use English in the course of their day and they do just fine, in fact, they are far more likely to NEED mandarin than English. Many parents in HK want their kids to have a leg up and that's fine, one would wish that the same anglocentric lazy expats would do the same but they often don't bother. Are they at a huge disadvantage? They are not but those that speak more than one language have an advantage. That's the essential difference that lazy English speaking expat have a hard time grasping.

[bibbju]

There's a vast difference between want and need... Only the anglocentric blind would say something like it puts someone at a huge disadvantage. I'd say more than 80% of HK people rarely have to use English in the course of their day and they do just fine, in fact, they are far more likely to NEED mandarin than English. Many parents in HK want their kids to have a leg up and that's fine, one would wish that the same anglocentric lazy expats would do the same but they often don't bother. Are they at a huge disadvantage? They are not but those that speak more than one language have an advantage. That's the essential difference that lazy English speaking expat have a hard time grasping.

Vinegar with that chip on your shoulder?

You're making somewhat of a generalisation that "lazy" English speaking expats don't speak any other languages.