[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.47]this is the Education Report.
[00:05.25]People in Hong Kong speak a rich mixture of languages.
[00:11.50]Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 156 years
[00:16.61]before was returned to Chinese control in 1997.
[00:21.91]English was the only official language until 1994.
[00:27.58]Most people in Hong Kong today speak Cantonese,
[00:32.52]but Mandarin and other dialects also are heard,
[00:36.84]and English as the British used
[00:39.96]is still widely spoken and taught here.
[00:43.11]Now however, many people are choosing to learn English
[00:47.76]as it spoken in the United States.
[00:50.73]Victor Chan, for example, has children
[00:54.63]who attend school called Nature EQ on Saturday and Sunday,
[01:00.53]they are learning to say words the American way.
[01:04.63]Mr Chan says he wants his sons to learn American English,
[01:09.69]because he plans to send them
[01:12.09]to the United States for further study.
[01:15.21]Nature EQ is one of a growing number of schools
[01:20.51]in Hong Kong that offer American English classes.
[01:24.77]Frankie Ng opened the school 17 years ago,
[01:29.38]at that time, he had only 40 students.
[01:33.69]Today, the school has 350 students,
[01:37.90]it does not have space for any more.
[01:41.19]Mr Ng says American English is clear and defined,
[01:47.00]he says it is easy to teach and easily understood.
[01:51.59]That, however, is not the main concern of the children.
[01:56.66]Student Sam Yu has another reason
[02:00.66]for studying English spoken the American way.
[02:04.07]"I think [American English] is getting more and more important,
[02:10.51]and is maybe taking over the dominance of British English,
[02:16.08]so I'm willing to learn," said Sam Yu.
[02:18.60]Public schools in the former British colony
[02:22.11]still teach mostly British English.
[02:24.96]But the number of private language schools
[02:28.26]teaching American English is growing.
[02:30.86]In Hong Kong's Tseung Kwan O district, for example,
[02:35.81]the "American English Workshop school" had 20 students a week
[02:41.07]when it opened one year ago.
[02:43.42]Today, it has more 180 each week.
[02:47.68]Some observers say American English
[02:51.65]is becoming the language of international business.
[02:55.10]Increased contact with American culture,
[02:59.21]like movies, television programs, computer games
[03:03.06]and the Internet is spreading American expressions and accents
[03:07.91]in areas other than business.
[03:10.26]Language teachers in Hong Kong say wealthy people
[03:15.42]who live in mainland China are helping
[03:18.38]to increase the demand for classes in American English.
[03:22.04]Mainland Chinese are crossing into Hong Kong
[03:25.87]because it has more educational choices.
[03:29.68]But for now, people hearing English in the streets of Hong Kong
[03:34.59]are mainly hearing traditional British English.
[03:38.56]"We can understand both, but for what we speak,
[03:43.16]we speak [with] the British accent," said one local woman.
[03:45.41]"The British is better I think," commented a local man.
[03:47.12]And that's the Education Report.
[03:50.57]Listen again for another Education Report from VOA Learning English.
[03:56.02]I'm Avi Arditti.