ABSTRACT
Societal multilingualism is typically found in Hong Kong albeit Cantonese being the only language spoken by the majority of the population as their first language. Among the 7.34 million residents, 8% are native speakers of English, Filipino, Indonesian, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Pakistani, Nepalese, Thai, Korean, Japanese, other European languages, etc. (Census and Statistics Department, 2016). At the level of individual multilingualism, the majority of Hong Kong residents are able to speak three languages. Language policy, among others, is an important factor contributing to multilingualism. A number of language policies have been implemented by the Hong Kong government since the 1980s primarily to address the language problems in the education sector. Such language-in-education policies inevitably help to enhance students’ language proficiency. However, is it justifiable to claim that the Hong Kong government has taken a lead in turning Hong Kong into a multilingual global city? If yes, how can language-in-education policies be transformed and have a wider impact on the linguistic make-up of the community? If no, what are the other key players involved in the process of Hong Kong becoming a multilingual global city? In addition, do Hong Kong government’s language policies play a role in social diversity? Or vice versa? The present chapter adopts a historical-political-economic-social perspective in viewing multilingualism, language management, and social diversity in Hong Kong through addressing the above questions.
