HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
"blank" period can be eliminated, but obviously the owner will reduce it to a minimum, since whilst the site is vacant, it produces no income for him at all.
MR. RAFEEK:—Mr. Chairman, after having submitted my question before this meeting, this matter pertaining to conditions at building sites has been raised in many local Chinese newspapers. I have here a copy of the "Wah Kiu Yat Po" showing a picture of rubbish in an unoccupied flat, and also in one newspaper it mentions a fire which is said to have been caused by cinders left by opium smokers who sleep in the vacant flats at Nos. 44-46, Hill Road. These reports reflect public concern over the matter and I am grateful to the Director of Public Works for his effort to reduce the nuisance to the minimum. Thank you.
MOTIONS.
(1) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, at last I rise to move the motion that
For the more effective discharge of this Council's statutory duties this Council recommends to His Excellency the Governor that the proceedings be bilingual in English and in Chinese (Cantonese) with simultaneous translation into the other language.
It is high time that Chinese was made an official language at the Urban Council. In fact, for years now, many of our notices to the public have been given in Chinese and in English. In recent years I have become more and more conscious that there is much untapped talent amongst Chinese people, mainly Cantonese, who even if they do speak English, consider that their English is not sufficient enough to work with, especially in public meetings of the Urban Council, like indeed this public meeting that we have had to-day. Chinese ladies in particular are most anxious to help on the Urban Council, but are afraid that their English will not be good enough for this Council. This is a cosmopolitan city equivalent in our own very small way to the United Nations Organization. Furthermore, the majority of Hong Kong's population's mother tongue is Cantonese and we, as the City Council, could keep more in touch with the individual citizen of Hong Kong, and conversely, the individual citizen could keep more in touch with us if our meetings were bilingual.
I was listening to a British Broadcasting Corporation programme the other day which described how simultaneous translators were selected for the United Nations and the Geneva and other conferences. First of all, a man or a woman must be naturally good at languages, preferably a University graduate, and then when selected for training, he or she is put through an intensive course over one complete year.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The members of the class who pass out are so expert that they often make a speech sound better in the other language than it sounds as delivered by the speaker in his mother tongue. In my submission such should be the standard of translators throughout Hong Kong and their pay should be consistent with their qualifications. Hong Kong is fortunate in having a number of Hong Kong University graduates and indeed a number of other men and women who have taken the lesser School Certificate, whose Chinese and English standards are faultless, and if the money was voted to train them and pay them as simultaneous translators, I guarantee that Hong Kong would be more efficiently run and the Government of Hong Kong be enabled to keep more in touch with the people of Hong Kong. For too long has an interpreter's duty been regarded as equivalent to a clerk's. In my submission and as experience in the United Nations has shown, an interpreter's duties are very highly skilled.
A criticism has been voiced that Chinese Members would feel compelled to speak Chinese. I hope that they would regard themselves as at liberty to use either language, but certainly if they want to speak Chinese even though they have full command of English, why should they not?
The world is coming to the stage where only by the use of skilled translators can international negotiations be conducted. I submit that in this city, which is part of the British Commonwealth but whose majority population speak Cantonese as their mother tongue, it is imperative to use the same methods in our Government. At present, both the Elected and the Appointed Members come largely from a closely knit sphere, doctors, big businessmen, teachers, accountants, lawyers and the like. I can see no other alternative to this unless the language bar is removed. I admit that the majority of the work of the Urban Council is done on select committees, but once the principle of simultaneous translation is accepted, it can be applied to select committees as well as to the public meetings. It only means that the translators would have to take an oath of secrecy in common form. I urge this Council, Mr. Chairman, to be progressive and not to get into the rut of carrying on 19th Century traditions in the latter part of the 20th Century.
Mr. Chairman, I now move the motion that stands in my name.
MRS. E. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion proposed by my friend, Mr. BERNACCHI, and I should like to associate myself with every one of his remarks.
We live in a community predominantly Chinese-speaking. Over 90% speak Chinese in this Colony and of these, over 80% speak Cantonese as their mother tongue. The electorate also is predominantly Chinese.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
"blank" period can be eliminated, but obviously the owner will reduce it to a minimum, since whilst the site is vacant, it produces no income for him at all.
MR. RAFEEK:—Mr. Chairman, after having submitted my question before this meeting, this matter pertaining to conditions at building sites has been raised in many local Chinese newspapers. I have here a copy of the "Wah Kiu Yat Po" showing a picture of rubbish in an unoccupied flat, and also in one newspaper it mentions a fire which is said to have been caused by cinders left by opium smokers who sleep in the vacant flats at Nos. 44-46, Hill Road. These reports reflect public concern over the matter and I am grateful to the Director of Public Works for his effort to reduce the nuisance to the minimum. Thank you.
MOTIONS.
(1) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, at last I rise to move the motion that
For the more effective discharge of this Council's statutory duties this Council recommends to His Excellency the Governor that the proceedings be bilingual in English and in Chinese (Cantonese) with simultaneous translation into the other language.
It is high time that Chinese was made an official language at the Urban Council. In fact, for years now, many of our notices to the public have been given in Chinese and in English. In recent years I have become more and more conscious that there is much untapped talent amongst Chinese people, mainly Cantonese, who even if they do speak English, consider that their English is not sufficient enough to work with, especially in public meetings of the Urban Council, like indeed this public meeting that we have had to-day. Chinese ladies in particular are most anxious to help on the Urban Council, but are afraid that their English will not be good enough for this Council. This is a cosmopolitan city equivalent in our own very small way to the United Nations Organization. Furthermore, the majority of Hong Kong's population's mother tongue is Cantonese and we, as the City Council, could keep more in touch with the individual citizen of Hong Kong, and conversely, the individual citizen could keep more in touch with us if our meetings were bilingual.
I was listening to a British Broadcasting Corporation programme the other day which described how simultaneous translators were selected for the United Nations and the Geneva and other conferences. First of all, a man or a woman must be naturally good at languages, preferably a University graduate, and then when selected for training, he or she is put through an intensive course over one complete year.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
307
The members of the class who pass out are so expert that they often make a speech sound better in the other language than it sounds as delivered by the speaker in his mother tongue. In my submission such should be the standard of translators throughout Hong Kong and their pay should be consistent with their qualifications. Hong Kong is fortunate in having a number of Hong Kong University graduates and indeed a number of other men and women who have taken the lesser School Certificate, whose Chinese and English standards are faultless, and if the money was voted to train them and pay them as simultaneous translators, I guarantee that Hong Kong would be more efficiently run and the Government of Hong Kong be enabled to keep more in touch with the people of Hong Kong. For too long has an interpreter's duty been regarded as equivalent to a clerk's. In my submission and as experience in the United Nations has shown, an interpreter's duties are very highly skilled.
A criticism has been voiced that Chinese Members would feel compelled to speak Chinese. I hope that they would regard themselves as at liberty to use either language, but certainly if they want to speak Chinese even though they have full command of English, why should they not?
The world is coming to the stage where only by the use of skilled translators can international negotiations be conducted. I sub- mit that in this city, which is part of the British Commonwealth but whose majority population speak Cantonese as their mother tongue, At it is imperative to use the same methods in our Government. present, both the Elected and the Appointed Members come largely from a closely knit sphere, doctors, big businessmen, teachers, account- ants, lawyers and the like. I can see no other alternative to this unless the language bar is removed. I admit that the majority of the work of the Urban Council is done on select committees, but once the principle of simultaneous translation is accepted, it can be applied to select committees as well as to the public meetings. It only means that the translators would have to take an oath of secrecy in common form. I urge this Council, Mr. Chairman, to be progressive and not to get into the rut of carrying on 19th Century traditions in the latter part of the 20th Century.
Mr. Chairman, I now move the motion that stands in my name.
MRS. E. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion proposed by my friend, Mr. BERNACCHI, and I should like to associate myself with every one of his remarks.
We live in a community predominantly Chinese-speaking. Over 90% speak Chinese in this Colony and of these, over 80% speak Cantonese as their mother tongue. The electorate also is predomin- antly Chinese.
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