從東南西北中看到新加坡以英文寫blog, 香港以中文寫blog的爭論:
爭論的源頭在Simon World:
(節錄)
Singapore and Hong Kong are well known rivals. Usually Hong Kong has the upper hand. But when it comes to blogging Hong Kong is, let's be honest, woefully behind Singapore. Singapore blogs have bigger readerships, are more diverse and more interesting.
Why?... ...
1. The language factor is key. Hong Kong is dominated by Cantonese speakers with English quickly being relegated to the third language after Mandarin. Much to the elite's chagrin English proficiency is decling in Hong Kong. Thus those that feel most comfortable in writing in English are expats or "international Chinese". The downside to this is my inability to read Chinese excludes me from much of what happens locally in both the media and out there in the real world. On the other hand in Singapore English is a primary and commonly used language.
2. The nature of blogs in the two places is also shaped by the social and political environment. That's what Mr Brown was getting at and I can only agree. I have nothing against personal diary style blogs and indeed enjoy reading many of them. but the potential for blogging as a new medium and political tool is vast and only just starting to be realised.
3. Blogs themselves often reflect their setting. Singapore seems a more collegial place compared to the individuality of Hong Kong. And so it is with blogs.
There's far more to this and I welcome more debate.
More importantly I implore the Hong Kong Government to not sit idly by while Singapore overtakes our beloved city in this cutting edge field. To the HK Government here's my proposal:
1. Give an immediate grant of HK$50 million to me to set up a project to develop and expand blogging in Hong Kong.
2. I need exclusive use of a Government jet to travel back and forwards to Singapore and other places to better understand the issues.
3. I need a massive grant of free land, cheap loans and preferential treatment to develop a massive property venture on Hong Kong Island, to be called Blogport. To help fund this I will need to be allowed to build 10 luxury condiminium complexes. It's happened before.
There's no time to lose!
東南西北的回應是:
(節錄)
Would language make a difference? Could there many more Chinese-language blogs than English-language blogs in hong kong? as compared to the Chinese-English ratio in Singapore. I am not aware of any accurate census counts for blogs. Here are some hong kong chinese-language blogs that no english-language ones can touch?
Hung One Bean: http://hungonebean.blogspot.com/
Cafe Horizon: http://www.littlelittle.org/
These people can read and write in English, but they use Chinese instead, and I don't even imagine how these results are deliverable in English...
大家不妨到他們的blog中作回應.