Before leaving for Hong Kong many people asked me if I needed to be able to speak Chinese. I told them no, that in Hong Kong people speak English and all signs are in English and Chinese.
After being here for going on three weeks I can now say that this was definitely incorrect. While communication at the university is in English, and most of the faculty and most of the professional staff at CityU speak English, the larger population does not speak English.
The Chinese spoken here is Cantonese (the dialect of those who come from the southern province of Guangdong) and that is how the Chinese communicate with each other as it is their native tongue, and the most comfortable form of expression. All students I see on campus talk to each other in Chinese. Thus, communication with people outside the university -- in stores, restaurants, on the street – poses challenges.
This pattern is more pronounced in Kowloon, where I reside, than it would be on Hong Kong Island, but it is the norm throughout Hong Kong. In many areas of Hong Kong that I have walked through all signs are in Chinese. So, a knowledge of Cantonese would be a very useful skill.
I start my class on Friday, so I will see how all this plays out in the classroom.
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