Survey on Attitudes to English in Hong Kong

Take part in our scientific, anonymous survey on attitudes to English in Hong Kong at

http://bit.ly/HKEnglish2018

Together with Dr. Alison Edwards from the University of Leiden, I am working on a project investigating attitudes to English in Hong Kong. The English language was brought to the territory through British colonisation. In 1997, control over Hong Kong returned to China and since then it has been governed under the "One country, two systems" model. The English language continues to be important in Hong Kong, and many people use this language on a daily basis. At the same time, Cantonese and, to a degree, Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese), dominate in certain areas. There also substantial minority populations speaking other languages.

Questions of language use and language attitudes often cause controversy, and Hong Kong is no exception. Should English be more widely taught in Hong Kong? Do enough people in Hong Kong speak English and do they speak it well enough? Or is English overrated in Hong Kong? Or should Cantonese or perhaps Putonghua be strengthened? Should people emigrating to Hong Kong learn Cantonese or is English sufficient? Your voice counts in these matters. This survey gives you a chance to share your opinion.

We are interested in when people in Hong Kong use English and what their attitudes to using English in certain contexts are. If you live in Hong Kong, no matter your level of English, nationality, origin or place of birth, we invite to share your opinions with us and complete the survey at http://bit.ly/HKEnglish2018 The survey is available in English, Cantonese in the traditional script and Putonghua in the simplified script.