Going to Hong Kong : So what's the deal with language?

[Fergus_1]

Hi Phyrex,

I always found Taxis easy as I was only ever going to/from Central to Wanchai or to taikoo Shing on HK island, never really had to get into detail about the road to take as there was only one road...they knew the MTR stations. Re restaurants, I tended to stay in tourist and expat areas I guess and sometimes went to cheaper local restaurants on HK side, but never found it much trouble. All staff at ParkN, Watsons, Mannings, Wellcome supermarket...they spoke English in my experience...every shop I went to to buy stuff HK side I found English speaking staff. English was widely spoken in banks, at Drs, hospitals.

I can honestly say, if you stay in expat areas, there is no real stress involved in English communication...but I accept if you were traveling north of lion rock, in the New Territories, eating in local restaurants in Yuen Long etc, then yes, you'd really need a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin too but there is still quite a possibilty they will speak limited to decent English. As I say, very very few expats in Hong Kong speak much cantonese and it is mostly cause there just is not the need to do so when staying within certain areas in which most live and work. I spoke little cantonese really...and knew loads of expats like me...and found HK a really easy lifestyle, very convenient, comfy...so I'd tell anyone moving there not to worry much at all about their lack of Chinese language skills..it never seemed a big problem.

[phyrex]

Very interesting, thanks Fergus!

[Fergus_1]

Hi Phyrex

My pleasure. My experience reflects my limited interaction, and probably my lazy attitude, towards interactiing with local Chinese culture over a decade in Hong Kong as it was just very very easy to fall into the home from home lifestyle Hong Kong offers-Asia lite it is, nothing like the mainland at all to me. Even Dongzhimen/sanlitun-considerd an expat area in Beijing doesn't have anything like the concentration of expats you encounter stepping out the door in Soho in central HK Island. HK central and esp Soho/Mid Levels felt like a laowai village to me at times, locals being about 25% , the rest being expats/overseas chinese.

[zozzen]

I hardly saw any expats talking Cantonese or trying to learn Cantonese, but in Beijing now I see many expats speaking Mandarin, which is one of the biggest differences between the two expat communities.

Yeah, it's true. In my experience, most expats who can speak Cantonese either work for Mormon or AIDS Concerns. Weird is that most correspondents working for western press don't speak practically usable Cantonese at all.