Hong Kong English and the professional world

One of the dominant themes of the literature on language in Hong Kong is the belief that English, particularly its spoken form, plays a limited role in the lives of the territory's mainly Cantonese-speaking Chinese community. For this reason, it is argued, there is no societal basis for the development of a nativised variety of English. One of the limitations of the case against Hong Kong English is that it is based on expert opinion rather than empirical evidence about the nature and extent of English use in the lives of Hong Kong bilinguals. This paper examines the results of a survey involving more than 2,000 English users in Hong Kong which sought to generate much-needed baseline data about patterns of language choice and use in one centrally important and hitherto overlooked domain: the professional workplace. The findings indicate that Hong Kong professionals spend a significant proportion of their working lives reading and writing English texts. Although Cantonese is the usual medium of oral communication, spoken English also plays an important role, particularly in formal situations. The findings also suggest that the need for English increases as a professional rises through the ranks.