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24
PAPER
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The following paper was laid on the table:-
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of May 1980.
QUESTIONS
1. DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question (in Cantonese): (a) A citizen has recently written to the press complaining that the application form for hiring Council tennis courts is only available in English. Is that true?
(b) Chinese has been an official language of Hong Kong for many years and the authorities have, for a long time, claimed that both English and Chinese should be used in the documents of various Government departments. Has the Council got a concrete plan to implement the policy of bilingualism? If there is such a plan, how long will it take to have it fully implemented?
DR. KIM Y. S. CHAM, CHAIRMAN OF THE ADMINISTRATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns the use of Chinese as an official language.
The answer to the first part of the question is that there is no application form for the hiring of Council tennis courts either in English or Chinese. Bookings are accepted in person at the relevant booking office. The booking procedure is displayed prominently in both Chinese and English at booking offices.
As for the second part of the question, the Council has already fully implemented its plan to introduce bilingualism. All public meetings of the Council and all meetings of the Standing Committee are provided with simultaneous interpretation. All publications, pamphlets, guides, application forms, licences, press releases, the Annual Report and all other forms or documents produced by the Council are in both English and Chinese. In addition, correspondence received by the Council or the Department is answered in either Chinese or English, as appropriate.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-First of all, I wish to thank Dr. CHAM for giving me the answer that what I read from the press is not a fact. It was printed in one of the 'Notes to the Editor' that the application forms were only available in English and not in Chinese. Perhaps I should have checked first before raising the question. However, I would like to ask Dr. CHAM now, of all the venues and places managed by the Urban Council, are they all provided with English and Chinese application forms wherever applicable?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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25
DR. CHAM (in Cantonese): --Mr. Chairman, I have reconfirmed many times that the tennis courts of the Urban Services Department are not provided with application forms. As for the second point raised by Dr. HUANG, all our forms and documents are provided in the appropriate language, say in English or in Chinese. They might be on different sheets of paper, say one sheet only English and one sheet only Chinese, and the public can use the appropriate sheet according to their own needs.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, for the second part of the answer, I am very glad to hear that Dr. CHAM has confirmed that the Urban Council is implementing its plans of bilingualism, but I do not feel that way. I would like to know, say for instance, in April 1971 there was the Chinese Language Report, the second report on the use of Chinese, and it was stated very clearly that the Urban Council, the Legislative Council and the Executive Council would in future have Members who could only speak Chinese. Under these circumstances, I do not think that we have minutes of our meetings in Chinese. So I wonder if Dr. CHAM can inform me if the situation should arise in future that we have a Member who only knows Chinese how can he read the minutes?
DR. CHAM (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, in 1973, at the Standing Committee of the Whole Council meeting, we discussed this matter. At that time, because the cost was very high, the Urban Council had delegated the authority to the various committees to decide whether they would need simultaneous interpretation of both languages. However, most of the committees had voted against accepting simultaneous interpretation. The Urban Council agreed then that if the need should arise, then a Chinese Language Officer should be sent to sit next to that Member who needed the service to explain to him the procedures of the meeting. Up to date, no Member has raised this need in the Council. I am sure Members are aware on the other hand that we cannot use Chinese to translate all the documents because if the documents are for internal circulation and our Councillors are familiar with the English language, then there is no need to do the translation, so we have decided to use English as the internal language. If the need does arise, then the Urban Council can allow the various Council Members to arrange for translation service and fees would be paid accordingly. I would like to add that in some sub-committees now, we have members of the public who are members of our sub-committees and the Urban Council does provide Chinese Language Officers for them.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-I wonder if I could ask the question of whether the Council is really bilingual. According to Dr. CHAM, if you are a Councillor and you do not know English, then you could allot part of your allowance to employ a translator, say from the $4,000. This means that we are not following the recommendations of the Chinese Language Committee because in this case English and Chinese are not on equal par. If you do not
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is not present in the original text, hence not included. The last line "Page 28 of 12" is incorrect and seems to be a scanning error, it is not included as per the original text.Page 28 of 120
24
PAPER
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The following paper was laid on the table:-
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and
Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of May 1980.
QUESTIONS
1. DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question (in Cantonese): (a) A citizen has recently written to the press complaining that the applica. tion form for hiring Council tennis courts is only available in English. Is that true?
(b) Chinese has been an official language of Hong Kong for many years and the authorities have, for a long time, claimed that both English and Chinese should be used in the documents of various Government departments. Has the Council got a concrete plan to implement the policy of bilingualism? If there is such a plan, how long will it take to have it fully implemented?
DR. KIM Y. S. CHAM, CHAIRMAN OF THE ADMINISTRATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns the use of Chinese as an official language.
The answer to the first part of the question is that there is no application form for the hiring of Council tennis courts either in English or Chinese. Bookings are accepted in person at the relevant booking office. The booking procedure is displayed prominently in both Chinese and English at booking offices.
As for the second part of the question, the Council has already fully implemented its plan to introduce bilingualism. All public meetings of the Council and all meetings of the Standing Committee are provided with simultaneous interpretation. All publications, pamphlets, guides, application forms, licences, press releases, the Annual Report and all other forms or documents produced by the Council are in both English and Chinese. In addition, correspondence received by the Council or the Department is answered in either Chinese or English, as appropriate.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-First of all, I wish to thank Dr. CHAM for giving me the answer that what I read from the press is not a fact. It was printed in one of the 'Notes to the Editor' that the application forms were only available in English and not in Chinese. Perhaps I should have checked first before raising the question. However, I would like to ask Dr. CHAM now, of all the venues and places managed by the Urban Council, are they all provided with English and Chinese application forms wherever applicable?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 28 of 120
25
DR. CHAM (in Cantonese): --Mr. Chairman, I have reconfirmed many times that the tennis courts of the Urban Services Department are not provided with application forms. As for the second point raised by Dr. HUANG, all our forms and documents are provided in the appropriate language, say in English or in Chinese. They might be on different sheets of paper, say one sheet only English and one sheet only Chinese, and the public can use the appropriate sheet according to their own needs.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, for the second part of the answer, I am very glad to hear that Dr. CHAM has confirmed that the Urban Council is implementing its plans of bilingualism, but I do not feel that way. I would like to know, say for instance, in April 1971 there was the Chinese Language Report, the second report on the use of Chinese, and it was stated very clearly that the Urban Council, the Legislative Council and the Executive Council would în future have Members who could only speak Chinese. Under these circumstances, I do not think that we have minutes of our meetings in Chinese. So I wonder if Dr. CHAM can inform me if the situation should arise in future that we have a Member who only knows Chinese how can he read the minutes?
DR. CHAM (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, in 1973, at the Standing Com- mittee of the Whole Council meeting, we discussed this matter. At that time, because the cost was very high, the Urban Council had delegated the authority to the various committees to decide whether they would need simultaneous interpretation of both languages. However, most of the committees had voted against accepting simultaneous interpretation. The Urban Council agreed then that if the need should arise, then a Chinese Language Officer should be sent to sit next to that Member who needed the service to explain to him the procedures of the meeting. Up to date, no Member has raised this need in the Council. I am sure Members are aware on the other hand that we cannot use Chinese to translate all the documents because if the documents are for internal circulation and our Councillors are familiar with the English language, then there is no need to do the translation, so we have decided to use English as the internal language. If the need does arise, then the Urban Council can allow the various Council Members to arrange for translation service and fees would be paid accordingly. I would like to add that in some sub-committees now, we have members of the public who are members of our sub-committees and the Urban Council does provide Chinese Language Officers for them.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-I wonder if I could ask the question of whether the Council is really bilingual. According to Dr. CHAM, if you are a Councillor and you do not know English, then you could allot part of your allowance to employ a translator, say from the $4,000. This means that we are not following the recommendations of the Chinese Language Committee because in this case English and Chinese are not on equal par. If you do not
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