I think it's a shame for young people not to take advantage of learning a second language if offered to them but to be honest i find it odd for you to rant about Hong Chinese people's lack of English skills. You live in there country and it is up too you to learn the local language rather than expect them to know yours so you can communicate with them. I doubt there would be many UK, Australian, American people in there home countires that could deal with a question in cantonese if asked in a supermarket, shop or restaurant.
Just my take on things
well put.
Are you a non Chinese? Those grammars are made up for foreigners so that they feel they have a measured progress Yes I was taught the concept of subject, object, predicate etc at school, but these concepts are imported into the Chinese languange from western languanges. If you say a lot of Chinese people do not have good grammar, that can only mean those are not important and people do not need to follow those rules. Can a foreign student of Chinese language criticise and correct people their mistakes, and expect people to listen?.
Mango. I was born in Hong Kong, studied here before doing graduate students in the US. I went there to correct my Putonghua pronounciation. It is just that in Hong Kong the teaching is done by practise with little emphasis on grammar. It is like native English speakers whom have poor English grammar. A lot of Chinese people have this problem too.
good points.
1) Some teachers have told me that the HK system uses straight memorization vs. understanding (I don't think this is news for anyone). Therefore users learn by repetition and may not be able to cope when presented with a new scenerio that they did not previously memorize. Rather than take responsibility, the students cry foul in these situations (as is in the nature of the HK default response "not my fault / problem").
2) I know people (born in Canadia) who, when benchmarks are applied, have terrible English grammar (relatively terrible according to the Canadian Standards, which IMHO are/were excellent).
3) In conjunction to point #2 with
Those grammars are made up for foreigners
, unfortunately, some teachers may not be perfect. Hence, varied results. Some people get bruce lee... others get kareem abdul jabbar... I'm referring to basketball, of course.
I think Mango has poor Chinese skills or did not attend a few classes in Chinese. Grammar rules were not invented by the English. The Chinese have had it a long time ago.
I believe Mango was referring to the English Grammar rules in this thread. Every language has a set of rules, even pseudo languages like Cantonese.
