HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
both Chinese and English to be spoken at Urban Council meetings, on the understanding that up-to-date simultaneous interpretation equipment will be installed and manned by qualified and trained interpreters. There will also have to be sufficient good translators to translate all Urban Council papers as and when required. Although up-to-date simultaneous interpretation equipment is easily available, it will require a certain length of time to recruit and train interpreters and translators of a standard acceptable for Urban Council proceedings.
The Government is urged to accept this proposal now and to authorise the Urban Council to go ahead with the necessary planning and preparation to implement such proposal. It is estimated that if a decision on this proposal can be made by Government this year, up-to-date equipment and by that Mr. Chairman I mean the latest up-to-date equipment can be obtained within 4 to 6 months thereafter, while the recruiting and training of a team of translators, and particularly interpreters, of an acceptable standard will require a period of 12 to 24 months."
About eight months ago, on 21st February, 1970, to be exact, the Civic Association wrote to the Colonial Secretary urging the training of interpreters and translators for the time when simultaneous interpretation will be permitted in Urban Council proceedings.
On 4th April, 1970, the Colonial Secretary replied as follows:
"As you are aware, the question of allowing the use of both Cantonese and English in the Council is one which the Urban Council has proposed to Government in March 1969 in its proposals on local government reform. These proposals are now under consideration. The question of training interpreters for interpretation whether simultaneous or consecutive is one that will have to be considered in detail when a decision is taken on whether proceedings of the Urban Council are to be conducted in both Chinese and English."
I understand Mr. Chairman through our local "bamboo communication network" that a number of our senior and influential administrators are in favour of the use of Chinese in Urban Council proceedings providing proper interpretation equipment and qualified and trained interpreters are made available to the Urban Council.
It is therefore a matter of surprise and regret that Government cannot yet make up its mind, or shall we say is not decisive enough, to tell the Urban Council that we should go ahead and make concrete plans to introduce simultaneous interpretation in Urban Council proceedings.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Before the Urban Council Ordinance can be changed, careful preparations must of course be made. Only after the Council has trained a cadre of simultaneous interpreters and up-to-date simultaneous interpretation equipment is installed, will it then be possible for the Government to consider amending the Urban Council Ordinance to allow both English and Chinese to be used in Council Meetings.
I would request, Mr. Chairman, that you bring these views to the attention of Government, together with the views of any other speakers who will speak today on this Motion.
(Mr. WOO Po-shing left the meeting at this point).
MRS. E. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, in the quarter of a century since the end of World War II, it has become increasingly clear in Hong Kong that one of the greatest obstacles to the implementation of the fundamental human right to education and to the development of human personality, has been the emphasis placed by law upon the use of English as the medium of communication.
The Government is trying to satisfy the people with promises of translations of all letters and instructions in its correspondence between itself and the people. But it is closing its eyes to the main problems caused by the adoption of English as the official language. The stress laid upon English, and the favour shown to those who have a good command of English, regardless of other qualities or shortcomings of character, amounts to gross discrimination against non-English-speaking people in every aspect of our community life. The difficulty students experience in understanding and expressing themselves in English, and their consequent neglect of their own language, has stunted their intellectual and moral growth, not to mention in detail those whom it has destroyed either physically or morally.
The use of English in the courts, even in the ludicrous situation where the accused and the Magistrate are both Chinese yet both are required to communicate through the English language, has resulted in the negation of justice. Where a Magistrate is English, with little or no knowledge of Chinese, his dependence upon an interpreter has transformed the interpreter into the Magistrate, since there is nothing to stop an interpreter translating as he pleases.
I could give other examples to show how the language barrier curtails human rights, but will refrain at this time.
Here, on the Urban Council, the error is repeated. We claim to be the only body in Hong Kong with any democratic representation—laughable though it is to have to admit that less than 40% of us represent less than 1% of the people of Hong Kong. Nevertheless, we
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