Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: John Edwards (St Francis Xavier University, Canada)
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Volume: 24 Number: 5 Page: 386–412
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The Use of English by Chinese Professionals in post-1997 Hong Kong
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Stephen Evans and Christopher Green
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This paper presents the findings of a large-scale empirical study of the use of English by Chinese professionals in post-1997 Hong Kong. The study used three data collection methods: a questionnaire survey of 1475 professionals working at different levels in five key occupational fields in
the public and private sectors, focus-group discussions, and case studies. The findings indicate that writing and (particularly) reading in English play an important role in the subjects' professional lives. The documents which the subjects read and write most frequently in English are emails,
faxes, memos and letters. By contrast, spoken English apparently plays a more limited (though not unimportant) role in the professional workplace in Hong Kong. The evidence suggests that professionals in the fields of Engineering, Construction/Real Estate and Manufacturing have a greater need to
communicate in English for various purposes than their counterparts in Business Services and Community/Social Services. Finally, it would appear that the higher a Hong Kong Chinese professional rises in his/her field, the more likely he/she is to have to use English: those subjects occupying senior
ranks were found to read, write, speak and listen in English more than those in junior and middle-ranking positions.
Keywords: HONG KONG, ENGLISH, CHINESE, WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE SURVEY
© 2003 Multilingual Matters
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