1. Hong Kong People Have
With Spoken English
8 Common Problems

2. Nice to
meet you.
But we’ve
met before?

3. Nice to meet you.
Hong Kong people will sometimes open a
conversation with ‘Nice to meet you’.
This is fine if it is the first time you are meeting
the person you are talking to.
But if you have met before you should say
something like ‘It’s nice to see you again’ or ‘It’s
great to see you’.

4. Nice to meet you.
Or they might use it to close a conversation.
Again this is fine if it is the first time you are
meeting the person you are talking to.
But if you have met before you should say
something like ‘It’s been nice to see you again’
or ‘It’s been great to see you’.

5. Did you
have a nice
flight?
Of course.
Wow - this
guy is so
rude!!!

6. Of course
Hong Kong people will use ‘of course’ as a
straight synonym for ‘yes’.
This is fine when you want to show your
enthusiasm for a request -
‘Can you close the window?’
‘Would you mind opening the door for me?’
‘Can I borrow your pen for a minute?’

7. Of course
But if you use ‘of course’ to mean ‘yes’ to a
question which asks for information it strongly
implies you think the person is asking a stupid
question - that is that they should already know
the answer is ‘yes’ -
‘Did you have a nice flight?’
‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’

8. Let us give
you to see.

9. Give you to see
It is natural to try to translate your own
language directly into English but this does not
always work.
Hong Kong people sadly have a very strong
habit of saying ‘give you to see’ when they
mean ‘show you’ because this is a direct
translation from Cantonese.

10. It will be ready
next, next day.

11. Next, next day
‘Next, next day’ is another common piece of
translated Cantonese in English. It should be ‘in
two days time’.
‘Last, last day’ is used for two days ago and of
course ‘next, next week’ means ‘in two weeks
time’.

12. I like Japan
food.
I like Thailand
food.

13. Nations and Nationalities
In most cases English distinguishes between
the nation and the nationality by using a proper
noun (e.g. China) and a capitalized adjective
(e.g. Chinese).
We use the adjective to describe the people
and things (such as language and food) from a
particular country.

14. Numbers
Hong Kong people
have difficulty using
numbers correctly in
English, particularly
years and amounts
in currencies.
I was born in
one nine nine
four

15. I am boring!
I am boring!
I am boring!

16. ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ Adjectives
It is very easy to use ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ adjectives
around the wrong way.
‘ed’ adjectives are used to described how we
feel - “I am bored.”
‘ing’ adjectives are used to describe what
makes us feel this way - “This lecture is boring.”

17. Let’s play the rollercoaster at Ocean Park

18. Let’s play ...
In Cantonese the verb which is used to mean
engage in an activity translates into English as
‘play’ and this is used for everything by Hong Kong
people.
But in English we use ‘play’ for games and use
‘ride on’ or ‘go on’ for the things we can ride and
use ‘do’ for many other things.
Some more examples ...

19. We don’t play water skiing - we go water skiing

20. We don’t play the banana boat - we ride
on the banana boat

21. We don’t play hiking - we go hiking

22. We don’t play fireworks - we watch fireworks

23. But we do play
badminton

24. Big Tick
Big Tick is a small developer of iPhone apps
which make learning English a little easier.
We currently have apps solving problems about
talking about numbers and using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’
adjectives.
In time we will have apps to help with ‘country
adjectives’ and using ‘of course’ correctly.

25. Find us on:
iTunes
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
Sino Weibo

26. Photo Attributions
http://www.retireinasia.com/people-and-culture-in-hong-kong/
www.internations.org
http://www.neonpunch.com/sonys-psp-go-hong-kong-sony-festiva/
http://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/interview_sara_jane_ho
http://dimetravel.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/hongkong-girls2.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/huffstutterrobertl/galleries/72157624816892659
http://bobpickard.com/guest-lecture-to-pr-students-in-hong-kong/
http://favim.com/image/41361/
http://www.wakescout.com/directory/asia/hong-kong/cities/hong-kong/2113/wake-plus-wakeboarding-club-(sai-kung)
http://www.sassyhongkong.com/guide-to-planning-a-boat-trip-hk/
http://partnernet.hktb.com/filemanager/intranet/PRESS/EnglishPress/CCPR2009-E/10GOHKLaunchCeremony-
E_1.html
http://newyearseveblog.com/new-years-eve-fireworks-hong-kong/
http://english.sina.com/sports/2009/0511/240500.html
"Smiley" by Pumbaa80 - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smiley.svg#mediaviewer/File:Smiley.svg