blueper4mancez

iTrader: (25)

hey guys i'm thinking about moving to hong kong for a few years , just because i'm so sick of living in the usa and i need a temporarily change . i was born and raised in vietnam but my grand parents from hong kong . so i'm half viet and cantonese . anyways i don't speak the language , how hard is it to communicate with people there in english ? i will learn cantonese while i'm over there . and how expensive is it to live there ? i planned on staying for 2 years .

lgear080

iTrader: (21)

feel you and i'm the farthest thing from asian.

usa is just not vibing w me.

interested in the forthcoming input.

*ICE*

iTrader: (48)

people speak broken english in hong kong so u should be good... hong kong was owned by the British for many years back in the day until 97 so people still carry the tradition of speaking both english & chinese. Just like how most place in American both speak spanish & english

hali

Although Hong Kong people doesn't speak perfect English and many of them have heavy accent, I don't think you will have any communication problem. Yes, many people like a shop sales person, taxi driver, waitress speak broken English, but you can still communicate with them and able to get what you want. If you are going for clubbing or bars in LKF, there shouldn't be a problem as many of them are from other countries, they speak fluent English. Living in Bay Area for years, I can tell you there is a significant differences between USA and HK. HK is more like NY, city life, shops and restaurant close very late, clubs close at 6AM, unlike U.S, they close at 2 AM. Many Chinese fast food restaurant( Cha Chan Tang) are like 24 hours! The public transportation in Hong Kong is so convenient, MTR, Bus, mini bus, light rails, taxi is everywhere and they are cheap, they all have tight schedule so there's no 30 or 10 min wait. so car is not necessary at all! However, bare in mind that the weather in Hong Kong is extremely humid, if you're not use to it, whenever you go out, you'll want take a shower.
For living expense, best thing is you don't have to pay any tax for eating, shopping, or any thing you buy from the street. Normally, you don't have to pay tips. Whether it's expensive to live in Hong Kong or not, its all depends on you. Your living expense can be cheap or gets really expensive.
So from my opinion, if you're young and want to have fun, Hong Kong is such a great place to live!
Hope this help.

blueper4mancez

iTrader: (25)

thanks for the input everyone . but i'm actually moving there to live and pursue my career (entertainment industries), i'm actually learning cantonese already it has alot of similarity to vietnamese . good thing i have a steady income in the u.s so if i'm outta work there i still have money to pay for rent and food .

blueper4mancez

iTrader: (25)

anymore input would be apriciated guys . if anyone lives in hong kong want to help me find an apartment and show me around i would really apriciate it alot .

dreamspeed

iTrader: (1)

hong kong is super tourist friendly so that means non cantonese speakers can get by there pretty easily.

If you are in the "white collar" areas like Central then pretty much everyone will know english. If you are in more of a "blue collar" area like Mongkok then you may run into some areas where they speak very little to no english.

Pretty much all the signs in Hong Kong are in both english and chinese...and any kind of announcement on PAs are in cantonese, mandarin, and english.

the only areas you might run into trouble are the older parts of hong kong, which realistically you wouldn't really visit cause there is nothing there.

DB8

iTrader: (3)

blue......

look me up on msn

rexchris66@hotmail.com

Moved back to HK about 4 years ago, will try and help ya out the best I can

badra100

Good idea to move to Hong Kong. It is a nice city and also has many facilities to live.