English in the Asian Continent

In much of Asia, including China and India--two of its demographic and economic giants-
-the learning of English has become an integral component of early education. Meanwhile, given
their heritage of British governance, Singapore and Malaysia have also consistently promoted the
learning of English such that their English-speaking populations are perhaps the most proficient in
the region, based on online tests conducted by some language-oriented organizations. Nearby, the
Philippines still holds the title of having the 3rd largest English-speaking population in the world
after the US and India.

English in China
As if to affirm the status of English as a lingua franca, China has been pushing for state-
sanctioned English education years ago, in a similar effort to buoy their vibrant economy.
Reportedly, such sustained efforts will eventually empower China to even outperform English-
acclimatized India in the services sector that requires extensive use of English. To illustrate the far
ranging implications of these developments, the numbers of Chinese children that are learning
English--more than a hundred million--now exceed the entire population of the United Kingdom.

Hong Kong English:

Hong Kong English is the English language as it is used in Hong Kong. The variant is
either a learner interlanguage or emergent variant, primarily a result of Hong Kong's British
overseas territory history and the influence of native Cantonese speakers.

Background

English is one of the official languages in Hong Kong, and is used widely in
the Government, academic circles, business and the courts. All road and government signs are
bilingual. English is what distinguished most and those who spoke English or were taught
English were considered the elite, meaning those able to be taught English were considered
upperclassmen.

Since the Handover, English in Hong Kong remains primarily a second language, in contrast to
Singapore where English has been shifting toward being a first language. The falling English
proficiency of local English language teachers has come under criticism. The proportion of the
Hong Kong population who report using English (that is, all forms) as their "usual spoken
language" increased from 2.8% in 2006 to 4.3% in 2016, with a further 41.9% and 48.9%,
respectively, reported being able to speak a form of the language.

Evidence suggesting variant established

In the literature examining the existence of Hong Kong English as a distinct variety, scholars
have sought evidence of expression of the variant which may be classified according to the
following criteria:

 Standard and recognisable accent; research has demonstrated the existence of, and
local preference for, a local Hong Kong English accent.

 Distinctive vocabulary; local media, such as newspapers, clearly show a shared common
vocabulary used among English speakers in Hong Kong.

 History; a continuous link can be drawn between Hong Kong English and early pidgin
forms used to communicate between traders in Canton before the establishment of Hong
Kong as a colony.

 Literature using the variant; there is a growing corpus of literature produced in English
which is meant for local consumption, such as the work of Nury Vittachi.

 Reference works; reference texts describing Hong Kong English are beginning to
emerge, such as A Dictionary of Hong Kong English: Words from the Fragrant Harbor.

Using these criteria, scholars have said that Hong Kong English possesses the attributes of a
distinct variety.

Hong Kong English is also featured as a separate entity in the Oxford Guide to World English,
under the sub-heading of "East Asia". Hong Kong English is also included as a separate variety
of English within the International Corpus of English, with a dedicated local research team
collecting data to describe the usage of English in Hong Kong.
Singapore English is the English language spoken in Singapore, of which there are two main
forms, Standard Singapore English and Singapore Colloquial English (better known as Singlish).

Singapore is a cosmopolitan city with 42% of its population born outside the
country. Singaporeans, even those of the same ethnic group, have many different first languages
and cultures. For example, in 2005, among Chinese Singaporeans, nearly a third spoke English
as their main language at home while almost half spoke Mandarin, and the rest spoke various
mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese. In the Indian community, most Singaporeans of
Indian descent speak either English or Tamil at home. The English language is now the most
popular medium of communication among students from primary school to university. Many
families use two or three languages on a regular basis, and English is often one of them. In the
past, some children received fewer years of English education than others. As such, the level of
fluency in English among residents in Singapore varies greatly from person to person.

Classification of Singapore English:

Singapore English can be classified into Singapore Standard English (SSE) and Singapore
Colloquial English (Singlish). The language consists of three sociolects; Acrolect, Mesolect, and
Basilect. Both Acrolect and Mesolect are regarded as Standard Singapore English, while Basilect
is considered as Singlish.