They scared me in Odessa that when I arrive to Hong Kong, it will be difficult for me to communicate, because very few people speak English. But, it is all the fears caused by poor knowledge of the country. In Hong Kong, almost all people know English. Well, I have never met the person there, who couldn’t speak English at least a little.
Frankly speaking I know English not very well. I can speak at a conversational level and understand simple texts. But I can’t express myself good in it. But it’s a question of time. Today, I am intensely straining myself to learn English.
So, about Hong Kong. Of course, they speak in it. But how? In Hong Kong, there is the most terrible Cantonese accent of English, it is when banal words turn into a set of sounds. There were moments when I was in the taxi, holding out a business card with the address in English, an elderly taxi driver photographed it on his iPhone, sent to a friend or to his company, and they sent him the translation of the address in Cantonese.
Of course not all people speak like this. People who work in the prestigious positions, for example, top managers have perfect English. Many of them studied in London, some lived in the United States.
But the attendants, shop assistants, and workers in the cafe speak creepy. For example, how I was looking for sushi in the mall. I walked over to the guard and asked him:
– Sorry, where is this sushi restaurant?
– Susi? What is it susi?
– It is rice and fish on top (showing gestures)
– Aaa! Shushi … Is hheereeeeee!
But it all doesn’t go to any comparison with the mainland China. As one of my friend told me, in reason to understand the owner of the plant, with whom he wanted to make a deal, he needed a Pakistani, because only he could understand the Chinese version of the owner’s English. Filipina understood well Pakistani and translated it to my friend. That’s how the four of them walked through the plant.
And in the end of the sentence Hong Kongers have a funny drawl. It is like: Thank youuuuuuuu!
In the end of my trip, I began to suffer from this too.
Goodbyyyyyyye!
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