English in Macau | Transportation signage in need of improvement, says public

As an international city with a centuries-old history of being frequented by people from the corners of the world and today’s focus on the tourism industry, Macau has always been a cross-cultural place.

Throughout the world, the English language is considered one of the most valuable spoken languages when it comes to multicultural areas, as well as when traveling. However, the question must be asked, is there enough English in Macau, or is there space for improvement?

The Times sought to answer this question.
Interviewed by the Times on this issue, Keith Buckley, the Chairman of the British Business Association of Macao (BBAM) said, “[Regarding English language signage] there is definitely room for improvement. As an international tourist destination as well as having non-resident workers, English signage in Macau would benefit those of us who don’t speak Chinese or Portuguese.”

Buckley went on to provide some examples. “[In the] New Taipa Ferry terminal – the building above ground level has good signage in three languages. However, upon entering the basement car park English language, for some reason, disappears.”

He also noted, “recently a new style of parking meter is being installed in Macau. There are no English instructions on how to use the meter. When I first used one of these meters, I had to stop a passer-by to explain it to me in English.”

However Buckley did not only point to examples in traffic and transportation, but also highlighted an apparent lack of consistency across government departments. “There are government department notices posted in buildings but there appears to be no consistency in the format. Some are in all three languages; others are only in Chinese and Portuguese. A government department notice will usually convey information or rules to the public. The inclusion of English language to the notices would obviously be of benefit,” he concluded.

Issues regarding travel and transportation were also mentioned by another interviewee. Huang (22) from Indonesia is touring Hong Kong for a few days and decided to traverse the river delta to see Macau too. In her first experience in the region Huang said, “it’s difficult to travel around,” adding, “if you are coming in a tour group may be easy because [it is] all organized already but I like to travel free and explore so I came by myself.”
Regarding the provision of information in English, she pointed out a few problems that she discovered in only a few hours in the MSAR.

“Taxi [drivers] do not speak or understand any English, not even the name of hotel. I tried to pick up a taxi at Ferry port [Outer Harbor] but three refused to take me because they can’t speak or understand me. Eventually, I took the bus by the suggestion of another tourist but it was very difficult to find my hotel on the list. I searched [a long time] for it.”

Faith (30) is a Filipino non-resident worker in Macau. She told the Times that she generally does not encounter many problems in relation to the proliferation of English in either government departments or daily life, as, “we always find someone that is willing to help.”

For her, there are more significant issues that she encounters in her work at a Service Information Counter. She explained, “well I feel like I’m useless sometimes. Because even if I know how to solve [a problem], I can’t because I can’t use English.” She elaborated by saying “at work if I want to use the computer [to check something or solve a problem] I can’t because I can’t use it as it’s in Chinese [and I can’t read Chinese]. Even if I know a little [conversational] Cantonese, it’s useless if I need to use the computer.”

English for new parking meters under consideration

Recently there have been several voices of complaint in local communities regarding the fact that new parking meters do not provide any information or instructions in English. This complaint was echoed by Keith Buckley, Chairman of the British Business Association of Macao.

In the words of users, this “makes them very difficult to use without the help of someone that knows either Chinese or Portuguese.”

The Times questioned the Transport Bureau who in a written reply said, “at present the new parking meters are in Chinese and Portuguese because they are the official languages of Macau. The Transport Bureau has asked the company responsible for running the metered parking spaces to study adding English to the meters.”

In the past, several government bureaus – one of the most notorious, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau – have been criticized for the total absence of information in English at their service counters, official websites, as well as the lack of update on whether information will be provided in English in the future.

At the moment, the majority of the government bureaus, departments and agencies already have an English language version of their online pages with a few exceptions. RM