HK Comment P09	中國日報香港版	Fung Keung 2014-05-28
Politicians, brush up your English!
Many local politicians try to show off their English language skills in open forums and Legislative Council meetings. Nevertheless, their English proficiency, for lack of a better word, “sucks”. They should refrain from using English and stick to Cantonese — as both English and Cantonese are official languages of Hong Kong. High-school students listen to the radio and watch TV news or public affairs programs as “liberal studies” is a compulsory subject in Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examination. They listen to news programs almost on a daily basis. Young office workers also watch English TV news to understand what is going on in society and improve their communication with co-workers and bosses. Unfortunately, and sadly to say, many local politicians (district council and Legislative Council members) cannot speak fluent or grammatically correct English and quite often they mislead our young with their poor English. Why can’t they just quit and stick to speaking Cantonese? Is it a “inflated ego” issue? Some of this “band” of poor English-speaking politicians reject criticism and advice from people like me, who depends on teaching English for a living. They insist that there is nothing wrong with speaking English with a strong local Cantonese or Putonghua accent. This is red herring. The problem is not their accents. The real problem is that they don’t use the correct pronunciation and grammar. Simply put, they don’t have a clue of proper English usage. Radio Television Hong Kong’s English-broadcasting channel Radio 3 has a morning news program between 8.30 am and 9.30 am, in which many politicians are interviewed by phone to discuss current issues. Many a time people in the audience, like me, who listen to this popular current affairs program hear statements like “the woman hawker and his husband” or “students don’t study books harder”. For the sake of not misleading our young, if the politicians’ English is not good enough, they shouldn’t speak it on public occasions. I don’t mind if they speak it at private dinners or their friends’ birthday parties. Coincidentally, many of these poor English speakers, in order to boost their own confidence and try to impress the public, often call themselves Dr A or Dr B. When one looks closer, the doctorate is an honorary degree from an unknown institution in North America or Europe. In the West, people with honorary degrees never call themselves Dr A or Dr B. Only some shameless Hong Kong people would do so. I am a teacher and am passionate about teaching English. I suffer when I hear my students pick up some of these politicians’ lousy English expressions. Some politicians try to impress government officials, other politicians and the public that they can speak the English language, they have no shame in blurting out sentences such as “I will do my breast”. Confident politicians don’t have to speak English to show off or impress their colleagues. Only those who speak poor English use the language to boost their image. But it backfires. They should be ashamed of misleading our young and setting a bad example. They are well-advised to be charitable and refrain from such displays. Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, president of the Legislative Council, should consider setting up a committee to review meeting procedures with a view to establishing a requirement that the 70 council members can only speak in English if they pass a certain standard (e.g. obtaining a 6.5 score or above in the popular IELTS [International English Language Testing System]). I know this is a sensitive issue but for the benefit of our future generations, it’s time to take the bull by the horns. The author is coordinator of the B.S.Sc in financial journalism program at Hong Kong Baptist University. (his email: deanfungenglish@gmail.com)