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Interesting findings
Interesting Findings
We see a distinguished difference on the views about Hong Kongers' English Standard between the English native speakers and the Non-English native speakers . The former group thinks Hong Kongers are quite proficient in English and they do not have problems communicating with Hong Kongers and the second group thinks the opposite.
But for non-English native speakers whom their brains are not English conditioned, it is difficult to comprehend another non-English native speaker. They have to deal with another unfamiliar language and adopt to the new accents and new words. They needs to do a lot of translation and estimation when they are communicating with another non native. That's why miscommunication is more common between 2 non native English speakers rather than a native and a non native English speaker.
Therefore, the non native English speakers whom we have interviewed (the Indians, the French and the Turkish people) have more problems when it comes to communicate with local citizens in Hong Kong,
| Interviewing FOREIGNERS is an interesting job. We felt very nervous at the beginning as we did not dare to speak with them. Things got better after several trials. When we were analyzing the information given by the interviewees, we found something EXTRAORDINARY. >@< > 8 < |
| The Difference |
| If you were a British . . . |
- If you were a British or an Australian, English would be you mother language so you did not have any difficulties to understand words that might not be well pronounced. You could also guess the meaning if your interlocutor had difficulties speaking error-free English.
- When you went to an English speaking country, only the accent, common expressions and idioms were different from yours. You still understood what the locals said because you were used to the language and the little difference would not prohibit comprehensibility.
- This is the same if you, as a Hong Kong citizen who speak Cantonese, go on a trip to Guangdong where Cantonese is also spoken, you will not have any problems having effective communication. The language, to a large extent, is the same, only the accent, pronunciations and certain expressions varied.
- So, English native speakers do not have communication problems in Hong Kong because they have already spoken English since their childhood. They are very familiar with the language that they could get use to the difference in accents and choice of expressions.
| Non-English native speakers VS Non-English native speakers |
But for non-English native speakers whom their brains are not English conditioned, it is difficult to comprehend another non-English native speaker. They have to deal with another unfamiliar language and adopt to the new accents and new words. They needs to do a lot of translation and estimation when they are communicating with another non native. That's why miscommunication is more common between 2 non native English speakers rather than a native and a non native English speaker.
Therefore, the non native English speakers whom we have interviewed (the Indians, the French and the Turkish people) have more problems when it comes to communicate with local citizens in Hong Kong,
EN2707 |
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