Welcome help as English skills evolve

It's amazing that an under-reported TV and radio license change for fewer hours of broadcasting in English has been a hit on the mainland's Weibo top-search list.

Contrary to a new mandate demanding airtime for the National Security Law, the Office of the Communications Authority announcement to lower the bar for English program air time from 80 percent to 55 percent on English channels has failed to draw as much attention from the media.

That's interesting.

English has always been an essential part of the city, a fact that can be best summarized by its various chief executives.

Among all the predecessors of John Lee Ka-chiu, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is undoubtedly fluent in English - but not as native as Tung Chee-hwa, whose accent is probably the most prominent among all the CEs.

Leung Chun-ying is also a skilful English speaker, whereas Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Lam draw equal, with their English skills rich in Hong Kong characteristics.

I'm not trying to be ironic as it is clear among the CEs that English is important.

But it may be ironic that parents nowadays seem to have found a daily substitute for the English programs as they spend their hard-earned money to educate their children - albeit sometimes not without a struggle.

In the old days when only the rich could afford to hire housekeepers and native English-speaking teachers were largely exclusive to elite schools, parents anxious to see their children learn good English could only switch the TV to English channels even though they themselves had no idea what was being said.

It is most effective to learn a foreign language through regular exposure to it from a young age, preferably at least from the age of 10. Early exposure determines whether or not a child can speak like a native.

Such a learning pattern might have been common during the childhood time of most CEs but Tung's accent was acquired through his years spent in the UK and the United States.

Times have changed. Not only are there far fewer TV viewers but there is also a ready substitute for the English programs as far as English learning is concerned: the jie jie domestic helpers from the Philippines.

In order to enable children to start learning English at a very young age, families scramble for helpers who can speak relatively good English.

In the labor market, parents are often willing to pay more for jie jie who can speak the language fluently.

In addition to doing routine household work, their presence in the home also incentivizes children to communicate with them in English.

Although some mainland netizens have given many thumbs up to the reduced hours of English programs, it would not surprise me that many of them - especially the famous ones - are equally, or even more, eager to let their children learn good English.

English is not superior, but it is extremely useful.

Unless Hongkongers think they can live without international connections, then speaking the mother language would be sufficient for most daily purposes.