Cantonese: Child Teacher/ Child Toucher

A few weeks back we were in the United States; the only sources I had for information on Hong Kong were two tourism books, the internet and a few acquaintances.  By all accounts, Frommer's and web alike, Hong Kong was THE place in Asia for English speakers.  Let me set that straight. 

This is not some semi-chinese english wonderland.  THIS IS CHINA! 

SOME CONTEXT: until 1997 Hong Kong was a province occupied by British rule.  Before the "handover" in 1997, when HK became an official territory of China, the official language here was English.  An additional complication is that Hong Kongers (as they are so referred) speak a different dialect than the majority of Chinese people- in HK the locals speak Cantonese.  To call the distinction between these two tongues a dialect is kind. In fact, the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese is less like the difference between Staten Island Jew and Southern drawl, and more like the difference between Italian and Spanish.  

A NOTE ABOUT CANTONESE The Official Language and most widely spoken language in mainland China is Mandarin. Mandarin, although intensely foreign, is allegedly learnable. A key concept in Chinese language is tones- in other words, one phonetic spelling annunciated two different ways can mean two different things.  Mandarin has four basic tones, however, Cantonese has nine.  The pitch in which a syllable is pronounced can mean the difference between saying, "I am a school teacher", and"I am a child molester".      

Langauge is constantly debated in HK- vying for attention all at once are English (thanks to the large population of ex-patriots and history of British colonialism), Mandarin (due to Mainland's quest for true nationalism), and Cantonese (for obvious reasons).  

In HK, English has lost the battle.  If it ever had a chance...