Letters | Hong Kong protesters should not be afraid to use English to tell the world their side of the story

Overseas media reports of the protests here lack a genuine local voice, in part because many Hongkongers shun speaking in English for fear of making mistakes

Reading Time:2 minutes

A protester adds notes to a “Lennon Wall” at Hong Kong International Airport on July 26, during one of a series of demonstrations since early June sparked by opposition to a proposed extradition law. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:55am, 10 Aug 2019Updated: 7:55am, 10 Aug 2019

As I read media reports overseas on the protests in Hong Kong, I notice that the representation of this crisis lacks a genuine voice from Hongkongers. One factor, of course, is the popularity of Cantonese in everyday usage.

Another factor, I would argue, is that Hongkongers are afraid to speak English that is different from that spoken by “native English speakers”, which usually means British or American English.

I grew up in Hong Kong with Cantonese as my first language. The ability to speak “proper English” is praised in Hong Kong. Our education system stresses the importance of following standard English, making Hong Kong youth especially self-conscious when using English. We are afraid to be wrong.

At the same time, speaking good English is also seen to be pretentious.

Because no one wants to be judged for using “improper” English or perceived as being pretentious, many of us shun speaking English. For these reasons, its usage in Hong Kong is limited.

To solve this problem, we should embrace Hong Kong English, a variant of the language unique to us. It follows the structure of British and American English, yet also has its own features – even though, according to the rules of standard English, these features are often considered “grammatical errors”.