REGISTRY Ns.51
18 JAN 1974
ник 813
1
Friday, January 11, 1974
OFFICIAL STATUS FOR CHINESE LANGUAGE
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Chinese and English are to be formally made official languages
of Hong Kong under new legislation which will shortly be introduced into
the Legislative Council.
Both will have equal status and will be the official languages in
communications between the government and the public.
The Official Languages Bill 1974, published in today's gazette
also makes it possible for Chinese, besides English, to be used in Magistrates'
and Juvenile Courts, in Labour Tribunals and Tenancy Tribunals, and in
any inquiry by a coroner.
Commenting on the Bill, a government spokesman said today it
embodied the final and main recommendation of the Chinese Language Committee
to confirm by law the equal status of English and Chinese.
"The recommendation has been under consideration since the report
of the Committee was published but it was felt inappropriate to change the
law until a pool of trained interpreters and translators was more readily
available to take up the important work," the spokesman said.
"Since last April when the Home Affairs Department took over the
administration of government translation and interpretation services, a
new division
the Development, Training and Research Division has been
set up to improve translation standards, over and above a big expansion of
the Translation Services Division itself.
"Ten new senior Interpreter/Translator and 28 additional Interpreter/
Translator posts have been created and two prominent scholars have joined
to head the two translation and interpretation Divisions.
"The use