Getting back on topic, I was of the understanding (perhaps mistaken) that there was a convention/rule that inflight announcements be in at least the language of the originating and destination ports for the segment or flight.

I have found that this as a minimum on every flight I have been on with every airline.

So the Mandarin only really needs to occur on flights in and out of officially speaking Mandarin speaking ports (China mainland/Taiwan).

I wouldn't expect it HKG to almost anywhere else.

haha! Very funny. And very keen.

Scott

YMMV - depends on whether the native Cantonese speaker is 1) comfortable speaking in English (or Mandarin) to you if you're a non-native speaker, and whether they appreciate you speaking their mother tongue (similar to many Mexicans who appreciate you speaking Spanish even if your accent is atrocious). I've encountered both situations as a non-native Cantonese speaker (and my accent is far from native).

On CX684 from Mumbai to HKG a few days ago, there were only a handful of passengers from Hong Kong and they made almost no attempt to have any announcements in Cantonese. This, despite the fact that the ISM is from Hong Kong and her English is incomprehensible to begin with.

Actually, the English standards of staff on CX are very high, much better than OZ (well known for good service but poor English) and most airlines originating from non-English native countries. IME, I've never met an FA even an ISM with with incomprehensible English.

Agreed - I've never had a problem with CX staff's English fluency, and yes, they are far better than the Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese airlines in this regard.

True, I guess being a British Colony for a century has its benefits. I am very surprise someone even bumped into any CX staff that can't speak fluent English, I always thought it's a requirement.

+1. In recent years I have been on several airlines originating from non-English native countries, and CX FA's English skills are all better than the others. They may have some Hong Kong accent, but in general they are very good.

This is a surprise. I find the CX speaks English fluently and better than in AK, OZ, and MH.

Like many places, language is a very sensitive issue.

I tend to talk to people in their native language. It is really inconvenient (to put it politely) when westerners struggle to speak broken Chinese to me. I just reply in English. I guess it might not make them feel good though ("Is my Chinese that bad?")

In Taiwan, a lot of it is political but there are still people who honestly don't understand Mandarin. To compensate for the "discrimination" (depending on whom you ask) during the old days, no one dares to reduce any Taiwanese language presence. The Hakkas, who are very powerful, say "wait, if Taiwanese gets it, then Hakka should too". They have been teaching Taiwanese in school for the last many years - a huge departure from the old days when you were not even allowed to speak Taiwanese.

On EVA, for example, I think they switched the order around at one point. If my memory serves me right, it was originally "Taiwanese->Mandarin->English" but switched to "Mandarin->Taiwanese->English".

I remember there was a huge discussion during the Prodigy days (early 90s) whether CX treated Cauasians better than Asians. The impression seemed to be CX treated people who spoke Catonese better and the Cauasians were complaining.

My own impression is that in the early days, China/Taiwan was weak and we did not have much pride. We felt we were looked down by westerners and HK people. (That used to be the complain of Taiwanese tourists to HK.)

Now, there is a lot more pride. Overseas Chinese know the importance of teaching their children Chinese and the Mandarin speaking tourists expect service providers to speak their language. (The common thought is - why can't we have Chinese everywhere like they have Japanese.)

The Chinese (like many minorities) feel offended when the only signs in their languages are those prohibiting bad behavior, feeling targeted. In light of the EWR incident...that selfish idiot has shamed us all :(

When I went to HK in the 90s, I spoke English. Now I proudly speak Mandarin and I do not think they would treat me better because I speak English. I do think they would treat me better if I spoke Cantonese :D I think some societies treat their own better, others treat their guests better. I think HK is the former and Taiwan is the latter.

Mandarin is now taught in schools in HK so I think with time, most people will speak Mandarin well. Still, I don't expect Catonese (or any Chinese dialect) to be gone from HK or the overseas Chinese communities. I suppose there is a decent amount of sensitivity on this Mandarin vs. Cantonese issue in HK now. Looking at Canton, Shanghai...you see where it is going (or not going)...

That's exactly what it's like on the Taipei metro transit (subways). They make announcements in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and then English. A lot of times when the train has already stopped at the next station, the announcement is still going on because it's too long.

If they were to do this on planes, it will bug the hell out of me, especially when I'm watching a movie.

Good points
 

I'm quite in agreement with the many points made by username on the sensitivities of language.

I, too, like to try to use the language comfortable to others - although part of it is that I like to learn languages.

About CX's supposed bias towards treating one nationality or group of passengers over another - I always thought they had traditionally tended to treat or cater to Westerners over Asians...but it may be different these days.

And in the old days, many HK Chinese would really give non-Cantonese speaking ethnic Chinese visitors the stink-eye. Nowadays, it's not so much, and in fact, Mandarin is more accepted as a lingua franca in Hong Kong than before. Nowadays, HK local people will be at a competitive disadvantage in the job market if they do not have Mandarin fluency, and not just in the traditional travel and retair sectors.

I would say it's changing too. During the early 1990s it was the worst (my own experience), but ever since China is getting richer and richer the situation changes. In fact many HK corporations told me they rather deal with Chinese bizmen rather than foreigners now because of the revenue they bought in. I take it the same trickles down to restaurants, retail stores, etc. In the past the mainland folks are your blue-collar, illegals, but now they are investors, rich tourists, etc.

Also I must say I'm seeing more and more FAs helping out Chinese folks who can't speak English, and in the past it's "get over it" attitude, but now I'm seeing a lot of "are you satisfy" service, excellent improvements.

They should just speak English like they do on UA.. seriously :)

Got back from a run to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines.

From HKG to KUL: all announcements were done in Malay and English by the same person followed by a Chinese-speaking flight attendant in Mandarin right afterwards with no delay. Most announcements begin first in Malay, though a select few begin in English first. This includes all pre-take off welcoming spiel (even announcement from the cockpit) which CX does in English only on all flights. On CX, the first announcement in Chinese or any other language would only come after take off.

From KUL-HKG: Almost all announcements were done in Malay/English/Mandarin, though I remember a few announcements were not repeated in Mandarin.