2013年4月12日 星期五
How economic considerations affect the language policy of the HKSAR Government?
The language policy of the HKSAR Government was made with the economic considerations to maintain the status of Hong Kong as the international financial center. The official language in Hong Kong is Chinese for written, Cantonese for spoken and English for both. The policy is known as bi-literacy and trilingualism. The decision was made with economic concerns.
For English, it once was the only official language during the colonized Hong Kong, but why was it still kept as an official language after the handover in 1997? Some considerations were linked with the economic development of Hong Kong. The trading relationships between Hong Kong and other Western countries like the United States were established a long time ago, it would be inconvenient for Hong Kong people to trade if English was removed from the official language. Therefore, for the sake of trading and steady economic development, it is important to keep English as the official language to attract more foreign investment as 85% of the 500 top international organizations use English to be their official language.
Even secondary students in Hong Kong know about the economic importance of English. To them, English is the symbol of economic power. It is the reason why those secondary schools with English as the medium of instruction are more popular than those with Chinese as the medium of instruction. It is because the students think that studying in a CMI school cannot help them to gain more economic capital in the future due to their poor English.
For written Chinese, it has its own importance to be an official language due to economic reasons. Written Chinese was listed as an official language in order to hold the bonding between Hong Kong and the mainland to gain more economic benefits. It is easier to communicate between Hong Kong people and mainlanders when English was not so popular in the mainland in the early-1990s.
For Putonghua, though it is not regarded as an official language in Hong Kong, its status is raising continuously and rapidly in recent years due to economic reasons. China is now one of the biggest trading countries in the world and the number of mainland tourist to Hong Kong is increasing. These two factors are offering Hong Kong with great economic interests. Thus, many policies were introduced to increase the status of Putonghua and kept Hong Kong’s economy developing. For example, Putonghua was included in the curriculum in 1998 because it was similar to English – it could offer the economic interests to Hong Kong during that time. Also, nowadays, many primary students were taught with Putonghua during Chinese lesson. This is because the governments and parents see the shining future of China’s economy and they both demanded such a change. This can prove that the raising status of Putonghua is mainly due to economic reasons.
In conclusion, language policy in Hong Kong is affected by economic consideration largely. The Hong Kong government now still maintain the importance of English for trading with the West while stressing on the importance of Putonghua in the same time to be closer with China economically.
Reference:
Language Policy, Practice and Diglossia in Colonial and Post-Colonial Hong Kong
Language policy - China & HK
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張貼留言 (Atom)
I agree that economy plays an indispenable role in Hong Kong's language policy. Anyway, Hong Kong is famous as a international financial hub and tourism is also important in Hong Kong economy, so it is important for Hong Kong people to be fluent in English. Also, Hong Kong people start to play more attention to Putonghua due to the rapid economic development in China. However, as mentioned in another text, this kind of economic-oriented policy of laguage is not beneficial in the cultural development in Hong Kong. People would just focus on the funational value of a language instead of its cultural value.
回覆刪除As an international financial hub, Hong Kong inevitably values languages which lead to more benefit. Economic factors are leading the direction of HK language policy. I have always been thinking that language policy should take culture and people's habit heavier yet economy and reputation are the reality. We still have to think about our job and advantage in the global market.Therefore, it is reasonable for the HKSAR to implement policy with a goal that maximizing goods for the majority. However, if the language policy depends too heavily on economic consideration, the whole policy may have to change frequently as the economic status is fluctuating all the time. Other consideration should not be neglect. Even if a language does not help in boosting a country's capital flow, it still worth preserving and be included in curriculum so as to retain the cultural value it bears.
回覆刪除In addition to how economical considerations contributed to the language choices under the official language policy, I believe that the existing language policy in Hong Kong at the same time in turns affect Hong Kong's boosting economy, constructing a inter-related influential cycle. Introducing both English and Chinese into our cosmopolitan city not only facilitate the daily local communication within our society, ideally, fluent English interaction can also be conducted in this international city as well as the outside world. In this case, best services can be delivered, Hong Kong also has the increasingly effective potential in expanding markets globally. This, in the other words, speed up the growth of Hong Kong economically. Apart from that, since trilingualism is encouraged, extension of usage of Putonghua make Hong Kong people gain the advantage of having a close relationship and economical partnership with one of the world's strongest country, China. This aids Hong Kong in terms of economical prospect.
回覆刪除I also notice that economic prospect is a key factor affecting Hong Kong official language. Though Chinese and English have been official languages for a long period of time, recently Mandarin also becomes a new trend used in Hong Kong, even for government department or public corporations. In MTR, we have Mandarin announcement in train. Also, in the New Territories which is near to the boundary between Mainland and Hong Kong, some government published signs and notice are in simplified Chinese. In my own view, a government should only publish in their official language as it symbolizes the autonomy and culture of the region. It is really a good insight for us to reflect whether language used by government should be treated as an economic tool or symbol of the place.
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