W hen you are proficient (adjective) in English, it means you are very skilled or very good in English. Since English is an official language here, most Hong Kong people should be proficient in English. But the survey found that Hong Kong is only in the "Moderately Proficient" category, which also includes Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. We are less proficient than India and even Argentina. Both Singapore and Malaysia are in the "High Proficiency" category even though English is not an official language in Malaysia. English is an official language in Singapore, just like in Hong Kong. So why does Singapore have a higher English proficiency than Hong Kong?
I think it is because Singaporeans (the people of Singapore) often speak in English. Most Hong Kong people do not speak in English. But as I have said before: use it or lose it, which means, for example, if you have won a free plane ticket valid for six months you must use it or you will lose it, meaning the ticket will no longer be usable after six months. If you don't use English you will lose it, meaning if you don't speak it, you will not be proficient in it. Hong Kong can, of course, decide that English is not that important and we should learn Putonghua instead. But if we decide to do that, we should no longer make English an official language.
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今日在香港，無論到哪裏，都會聽到普通話。在某些地方，我聽到的普通話比廣東話還多。 但我現在幾乎沒有（hardly ever）再聽到英語了；然而，英語卻是香港官方語言之一。我在香港長大，過往常常聽到人說英語。在回歸之前，華人公務員也有時會以英語交談，但今天的政府官員卻幾乎沒有（hardly ever）用英語交談了，他們也少有（hardly ever）上英語電台或電視節目。香港的英語水平下降，我已留意了好一段時間。因此，近日有調查指出，香港的英語流利程度（proficiency，名詞）位列亞洲第四，我毫不感到意外。
說你是proficient（形容詞）in English，即是你很精通或說得一口流利英語。由於英語是這個地方的官方語言，大部份的香港人都應該精通（proficient）英語。但調查發現，香港只是處於「尚算熟練（Proficiency）」的類別，與印尼、南韓、日本和越南並列，我們還不比印度甚至阿根廷熟練（proficient）。新加坡和馬來西亞都位列「高度熟練（Proficiency）」，即使英語並非馬來西亞的官方語言。新加坡跟香港一樣，英語是官方語言，那為甚麼新加坡的英語熟練程度（proficiency）比香港更高？
我認為那是因為新加坡人（Singaporeans）常常說英語，大部份香港人都不說英語。正如我之前曾說過：不用白不用（use it or lose it），即是說，例如你有張六個月限期的免費機票，要麼你就用，要麼就作廢了（use it or you will lose it），因為機票在六個月後就不能再用。If you don't use English you will lose it，即是說若你不說英語，你就不再精通（proficient）英語。當然，香港可以決定英語不再重要，然後人人都去學普通話。但要是我們決定這樣做，我們也不應再將英語定為官方語言了。
mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=262297§ion_name=wtt&kw=126