http://www.todaysliving.com
It's an interior design magazine based in HK. I don't know if the decision was the interviewer's, but she did say she'd have to run it by her boss. At the very least, she shouldn't have told me to expect an e-mail if I wasn't gonna be getting one.
Unfortunately, that's the way a lot of locals think. I might have been born here, but in the majority of locals' eyes, I'll never be from Hong Kong. I do tell people that I'm from Hong Kong though.
in the opinion of many people here, people who were not born here are second to best. And many think they are still the best of the best.
however, this is also the trend in shanghai......
Hi Everyone!
I'm new to this forum so I hope you can excuse being a newb.
A few of these threads on discrimination caught my attention. I have posted on other sites, but perhaps their replies are biased since they are local HKers, rather than someone like me. May be I can get a different point of view here at GeoExpat.
I was born in HK (left before I started kindergarten), but raised and grew up in Canada. I hold both Canadian and Chinese values to certain degrees. I grew up with HK immigrants from the "97 scare period" and majority of my friends are Chinese (CBC and HK). I speak Cantonese at home, but my first language is English. So I can honestly say that I am a native English speaker, not by birth, but close enough. I would have to say that my Cantonese is conversational.
My point is, I've come across language discrimination back in Canada and in HK, both from HKers. I'm not ignorant that HKers discriminate and are hypocrits. I'm in HK now looking for a job, but this is another story. Looking through candidate requirements (a company's wish list), many companies are looking for fluent English and Cantonese. I guess I fit the fluent English, however, as I said, my Cantonese is only conversational. I've asked some locals that I know, and it seems that business documents (memos, reports, letters, legal, etc.) are all in English. Can anyone second this? They tell me that not many documents are written in Chinese. This being said, conversational Cantonese shouldn't be a problem then. All Cantonese is needed for is to communicate with other staff, right? Actually the locals that I know and asked about this, they say "may be you should be looking at International companies for a job, as your English is an advantage to you." What? And why? This seems to be a catch-22 for me.
Is there anyone else like me on GeoExpat? A person who is essentially a native-English speaking, conversational-only Cantonese Chinese? I mean, if everyone in the company can understand English and I can get by speaking to them in Cantonese (mixed with English of course) and business documents are in English, then why do I need to look at international companies only? As those requirements in job postings are just the company's wish list, would anyone of you still recommend on applying to companies that list fluent Cantonese as a requirement?
Any of your views is appreciated.
Last edited by F1GP; 02-09-2007 at 11:38 PM. Reason: correction
Depends on the level or industry you're going to work in. Many industries are english only (Banks for example).. with oral conversations happening in Canto and written instructions in English.