Four expatriate perspectives on the uses and prospects of the language at the time of the changeover in Britain's last Asian colony.

CRYSTAL ball-gazing has become a favourite occupation in Hong Kong as the territory moves closer to the changeover of sovereignty on July 1, 1997. In a city where speculation fuels the money markets, second guessing about corporate futures is commonplace throughout the business community. The “what will happen in 1997?” question inevitably focuses on the post-colonial future of English in Hong Kong. English, the official language of government and commerce, is set to be replaced by Chinese as the primary language of administration according to the Basic Law, the territory's future constitution. This move has particular relevance for the territory's promotional industries, currently employing one per cent of the population in advertising and public relations (Vocational Training Council, 1996).

JOURNALISM is a craft that uses language as its tools. It involves a close embrace with the linguistic medium of its transactions. Hong Kong students studying journalism in English are doubly disadvantaged by their lack of familiarity with English and by the role of English as a prestige language in a society that mostly speaks another tongue. English is used in a narrow range of contexts in Hong Kong: in elite domains of international business; as the language of colonial government; among the expatriates who play key roles in the political, economic and cultural life of the territory; and in the classroom where hundreds of thousands of primary to tertiary students labour under archaic methods of teaching that emphasise grammatical rules and rote learning of set texts. English is not used in the street, in the media or in the home of the average Hong Konger. It is a foreign language.

AT FIRST glance the status of English in Hongkong appears as a traditional legacy of colonialism. English is the language of laws and government documents, of schools and universities, of place and street names, of courts and councils. A variety of subtle inducements, and some not so subtle, encourage intercourse with Britain for educational, legal and business purposes, and the language of such intercourse is English. But at the end of June that will all be over. Hongkong will be returned to Chinese sovereignty and the advantages of English will disappear. What next?

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