English is important in Hong Kong again! · Jun 8, 01:37 PM

Hong Kong was colonized by the British in the 1850’s. It thrived and although Cantonese was the language of the people, English was the official language of government. From the late 80’s onwards, in the run up to the handover back to China in 1997, many Hong Kong people emigrated abroad through worry over the uncertainty afterwards and the quest for better prospects.

The countries that would offer residence and a new life were mostly English speaking such as Australia, America and Canada. They all had strict entry requirements, including English language proficiency. Hence a lot of the people who had good English skills left Hong Kong – some forever. In addition, people started to learn Mandarin by the thousands. This was going to be “the language” after 1997 they thought.

Even the Hong Kong government jumped on the bandwagon and stopped many schools teaching in English. Instead they had now to teach students in Chinese. English was no longer important, or necessary it seemed. Except it now is more important than ever.

Why? Hong Kong has changed from an industrial to service industry orientated economy. More and more business is done with foreign countries – in Europe, North America and Asia. And waht is the common business language? English of course! Even in Asia, only a few countries use Mandarin Chinese. And Cantonese is barely spoken beyond the northern borders of Hong Kong. Even in Guandong where it originated.

So are you working in accounting? Are you a toys engineer? Are you working in the banking industry? In logistics? Whatever job you have English is getting more and more important. China has recognized this and has over 250 million students of English right now! Don’t delay your career prospects any more.

Sign up for an English course with private tuition right now.

HKEnglish.com provides the highest quality English tuition in Hong Kong. Call now!

— Charles

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