Eason Chan Xmas song

Before Xmas is just a memory... Eason Chan's Xmas single My Private Christmas and the adventurous hedgehog insists on the nice rabbit animation version. Below Eason having fun in Vancouver speaking British and Hong Kong English to Canadians. But this is concert man! 5.45 no music wtf?

Jacky Cheung - Everyday is Christmas

Jacky Cheung's English track from his Private Corner album, which came out on January 29th. For once I am not a year out of date! It is a jazz album with songs by Roxanne Seeman, including Everyday is Christmas. A bit early for Christmas, but then every day is Christmas with Jacky, right? A cool track with a little Hong Kong English in the title - 'everyday'?

Gweilo English teacher

Click the picture and read. This ad for a gweilo English teacher was standing at the bus stop on Bonham Rd outside Hong Kong University last week. So what exactly is a gweilo English teacher? If you know Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore you won't need me to tell you. For those who don't, a gweilo is a (male) white ghost (female: gweipoh) or a white foreigner - a fairly affectionate term mostly used by gweilo's themselves.

Hong Kong isn't going overboard for native-speaker English teachers quite as much Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan, but it is a selling point. With a gweilo you get a little bit extra - you know that your native speaker will also be foreign, white and male.

But how about 'practical secrets to communicating effectively and with passion'? What kind of bullshit is that?

Try my breast

Here is an interesting case of the politicization of language... This is Saturday's Apple Daily having great fun at the expense of Gary Chan Hak Kan. At 32, Gary is the youngest member of the HK Legislative Council elected in September on the pro-China Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) ticket. And what better way to start his Legco career than tell the world that he will 'try his breast'. In fact, that is an easy enough mistake to make under pressure. There is no 'r' sound in Cantonese (a word like 'friend' becomes 'fen' in Cantonese), so Cantonese speakers tend to put them into English words where they are not really needed. But because Gary Chan is an irritating young upstart pro-China politician, who was eased into an almost guaranteed Legco seat ahead of his elders and betters, Apple Daily can still get some milk out of his English more than a month later. As a native speaker of English, I really shouldn't join in the fun. The adventurous hedgehog, on the other hand, says he deserves everything he gets.