In China, English is used as a lingua franca in several fields, especially for business settings, and in schools to teach Standard Mandarin to people who are not Chinese citizens. English is also one of the official languages in Hong Kong.
Mandarin Chinese is known as 普通话 (Pǔtōnghuà), the “common speech,” and it has only been the official language of China since the 1930s, when the country established it as the standard dialect and began pushing to make this a reality nationwide.
This is why many of the countries where English is an official language were former British colonies, including Canada, Australia, South Africa and the United States. English is also widely spoken in India and in parts of Africa.
Chinese and English are the official languages of Hong Kong. English is widely used in the Government and by the legal, professional and business sectors.
Chinglish is slang for spoken or written English language that is either influenced by a Chinese language, or is poorly translated. In Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong and Guangxi, the term "Chinglish" refers mainly to Cantonese-influenced English.
For decades, English has been a compulsory subject in all Chinese schools from primary school through high school — the only class to receive this status apart from Chinese and math. But that could be about to change.
Globally, countries that are former British colonies or members of the Commonwealth tend to follow British English, as is the case for English used within the European Union. In China both British English and American English are taught.
On 1 July 1997, Britain officially transferred authority over Hong Kong to China, ending over 150 years of British rule. This is known in the English-speaking world as the 'handover'. Today, Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China.
But it's always good to equip yourself with some of these greetings: Hello – Nei hou (你好) Thank you – Mm goy / Doh jeh (唔該/ 多謝)
Is English widely spoken in Taiwan? English is spoken a bit more in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, than in other places. As the capital city, Taipei houses an advanced and well educated population with an English speaking inclination. They have a tendency to communicate in English.
The United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, where the overwhelming majority of native English speakers reside, do not have English as an official language de jure, but English is considered their de facto official language because it dominates in these countries.
Australia. Still hailing the Queen of England as the one omnipotent sovereign, Australia is one of the many English-speaking countries that rank in the richest cities of the world. In terms of GDP per capita, however, Australia is the wealthiest of all the English-speaking countries.
The United States does not have an official language, but some states list English as their official language. Although the most commonly used language is English, people in the U. S. speak or sign more than 350 languages. Some individual states list English as their official language.
China's first contact with the English language occurred between Chinese and English traders, and the first missionary schools to teach English were established in Macau in the 1630s. Between 1911 and 1949, English was popular, and it was taught in missionary schools and thirteen Christian colleges.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
Zhōngguó (中國) is the most common Chinese name for China in modern times.
In Cantonese, "Po Po" is the term used to identify the grandmother who is the mother of the mother (you mom's mother).
LAY HO MA!! That's “how's it going” in Cantonese 👋🏻
Although British imperialism never politically took hold in mainland China, as it did in India or Africa, its cultural and political legacy is still evident today. Honk Kong remains a significant center of global finance and its government still functioned in much of the same ways as it did under British colonialism.
Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire and later a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War.
Was China colonized by any country? Yes, China was colonized directly by Britain, Portugal, Russia, and China. Many other countries had control over trade in much of China.
The “American English” we know and use today in an American accent first started out as an “England English” accent. According to a linguist at the Smithsonian, Americans began putting their own spin on English pronunciations just one generation after the colonists started arriving in the New World.
Chinese people's English proficiency has improved in the past year relative to other non-English speaking countries, a report released on Tuesday said. China's ranking rose seven places to 40th among 100 countries and regions, according to Swedish education company EF Education First's 2019 English Proficiency Index.
UK English is the preferred variant in most European countries as well as in English-speaking countries in Africa and South Asia (i.e. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh).