Sun News: 港人英語能力急跌

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/n ... 506020202_0001.html
Well, as a HK citizen, I think HK people really need to worry about their level and
standard of English. Even now, I am studying in a boarding school in England,
some of the HK people would hardly speak English to the local students.
What do you think?
Welcome to discuss.

In my opinion,there is not much chance to talk in English in Hong Kong.
The situation in Hong Kong is different from England,
where you have to use English all the time.
Therefore,people in Hong Kong don't think that English is so important(comparing to Chinese).
As you know,students in Hong Kong learn communication skills only from English oral classes at school.It's usually just for preparing for the HKCEE and HKAL exams.You learn these oral "skills" only from discussing issues with other students.Of course, all the students' level are pretty much same.You can't really improve yourself.
Well,I totally agree that Hong Kong students studying overseas have difficulties to communicate with others.It's very obvious here in America.The other reason for that is:if there is a bunch of Hong Kong students around them,they will just get together to be a "group", and talk in Chinese or Cantoese all the time.They don't even try to talk to the people who talk in English.
Well,I can say Hong Kong students are not the worst.The worst is Japanese.

[ Last edited by joeli16 on 2005-5-6 at 05:20 ]

Just reading the so-called "English" presented by some of the
boardmates here is already enough to determine the English
proficiency of Hong Kong students.

My comment consists of only one word:  pathetic.

The more worrying phenomenon is that th younger generations do not show that they have acquired knowledge on English at all, some of them do just translate the way which we would speak in Chinese, and then put it in English...

That's prettily horrible I've got to say....

One of the way that can improve people English standard is
encourage them to listen more English song since is much
interesting than reading a book and much popular than a novel
or the story books

[ref=219243]petcity[/ref]  在 2005-5-6 11:35 AM 發表:

One of the way that can improve people English standard is
encourage them to listen more English song since is much
interesting than reading a book and much popular than a novel
or the story books

I don't encourage this.  Songs are often harder to listen!

[ref=219256]238X[/ref]  在 2005-5-6 11:48 AM 發表:



I don't encourage this.  Songs are often harder to listen!

It depends, but you can choose the easiest one to listen and then listen
to other

This not only can improve your listening skills, but also you can know that
more vocabulary and their meaning, it is uesful for writing

Well, I think listening to songs can be a way, but this limits to "slow" songs,
as you can't really catch the words in a "fast" song.

The most important problem is the lack of opportunities and motivation to use English.
I studied in an EMI secondary school, and the school emphasized the use of English,
even in morning announcements. Thanks to the environment, I got a B in AS UE exam.
However, as I've entered university, the use of English is decreasing instead of increasing.
Students and professors always talk in Cantonese, or even PTH, instead of English.
Students support this because this can bring all of us closer,
but inevitably this reduces the importance of English.
We can take ELT (English Language Teaching) courses,
but most students prefer taking psychology, sociology or other languages as electives instead,
because you don't have much chance to touch these again after you graduate.

In the community, the chance of using English is even lower as everyone is Chinese.
So far I only had 2 chances of speaking English with foreigners outside school -
once on the E22 bus after I came back from a trip,
another during the O-camp, as a checkpoint task.

Most students can understand the reading materials,
but they can't express their ideas well either orally or in writing.
The problem is not that they don't have enough vocabulary,
but the inability to organize and rephrase what they know,
and the ignorance of grammar.

Even I myself have noticed a decline in my English proficiency...poor.#:-/

[ref=219283]DIH[/ref]  在 2005-5-6 12:19 PM 發表:

Well, I think listening to songs can be a way, but this limits to "slow" songs,
as you can't really catch the words in a "fast" song.

The most important problem is the lack  ...

ng............

I get your point (may be this phase is not correct)
but if you can manage to listen the song, even "fast"
song, though you can not get all the words, you still can get
most of it.

I worked as a CS Co-Ordinator before and I get a lot of chances  
to communicate with foreigners, both speak in English or Mandarin,
I find that sometimes I don't know how to communicate with them in
English since lack of vocabulary I can use. But through the job, I still
can maintain my standard or even improve my English since after trial
and error, you can find the way how to cvommunicate with them efficently

P.S: The worst case is that, sometimes the one that you are talking with
        can use English, but their ponounciation is made you hard to understand
        what they are talking about. Those people I mentioned like the Philippines
        mate and the Japanese, and the letter, is the worst of the worst......

[ref=219366]petcity[/ref]  在 2005-5-6 14:11 發表:
I get your point (may be this phase is not correct)
but if you can manage to listen the song, even "fast"
song, though you can not get all the words, you still can get
most of it.

If you have lyrics, it will be much better to examine on yourself.