The Chinese Languages: A New Lexicographical Perspective from Hong Kong

People in Hong Kong live in a unique language environment. On one hand, the community is essentially Chinese: we speak, read & write in Chinese in our daily life. On the other hand, we need to maintain a high standard of English to ensure the city's global economic competitiveness. Our Government's language education policy is to enable our people to be biliterate (in written Chinese & English) & trilingual (in spoken English, Cantonese & Putonghua). Continuous efforts have been made to enhance the language proficiency of both our students & our working population. These include the development of appropriate standards-referenced assessment to gauge the progress of language learners & a learner-centred direction for on-going local curriculum reform. In this paper, however, I argue that the language proficiency of Hong Kong people will be strengthened by a set of Bi-Tri (biliterate & trilingual) dictionaries: basic, intermediate & advanced. The role & functions of such a range of dictionaries in enhancing the use of the Chinese languages in particular will be addressed. The effectiveness of such an endeavour will also be examined. Adapted from the source documen