The start of a new Hong Kong blog and writing of things that only a non-resident would find amusing. I have been living in the Special Administrative Region for a number of years now and still only managed to learn only a few world of the language here, Cantonese.
Fortunately English is widely spoken and it's not too hard to get the message across - most of the time. Across the border in Guangdong province, on the China mainland, the locals have been marching, protesting and generally making a lot of noise about the Chinese Governments plans for the language.
Beijing feels that Mandarin should be spoken more and has propose that media broadcasts should now be in Mandarin rather then Cantonese. Fulled by rumors of stamping out the local language the peoples have taken to the streets both across the border and here in Hong Kong to vent their opinion on the matter and will fight to keep their culture intact.
Whatever the outcome of the battle, both languages are still alien to me and I would still need to learn one. Cantonese is the obvious choice but then again, more often than not, I have been given advice from my protesting Cantonese speaking friends.
Learn Mandarin they say - Understanding the Chinese people is another thing.
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