Education Bureau ‘sorry’ for dialect remark: Locals upset Cantonese is not considered a language

WHAT do you consider to be the language of Hong Kong? An articlewritten by the Education Bureau said Cantonese is a Chinese dialect, not an official language. It has sparked debates over what is our city’s native language.  The article was meant to promote the importance of the ‘biliterate and trilingual’ policy. This means reading and writing two languages, and being able to speak three languages. It stressed the need to improve our command of spoken Putonghua and English. A second aim of the article was to promote teaching Chineselanguage lessons using Putonghua.  The online post was later removed. The Bureau replaced the article with an apology. “The Bureau deeply apologises for the misunderstanding caused by the explanation,” it said.  In Hong Kong, nearly 97 percent of the local population speaks Cantonese as their mother tongue.Currently, all Chinese language lessons are taught in Cantonese.  Netizens expressed mixed opinions on the Education Bureau’s article. 1. dialect (n) 方言 2. spark (v) 引發 3. promote (v) 推廣 4. stress (v) 強調 5. mother tongue (n phr) 母語 6. express (v) 表達