Language matters in Hong Kong’s birth rate debate, not just money
Dr Zhisheng (Edward) Wen is an associate division head and senior lecturer in the College of Professional and Continuing Education at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he researches and teaches second language acquisition, translanguaging and cognitive science.
When Hong Kong debates how to raise its birth rate, the conversation usually revolves around money: bigger baby bonuses, tax concessions, housing support, cheaper childcare and so on. These economic measures are necessary. Lowering the cost of raising a child removes some real and immediate barriers.
However, there is another, lesser-known factor that works more subtly and implicitly. It comes not from economics but from the structure of the language or languages we speak each day.
Consider a simple contrast. In English, one says, “Yesterday it rained. Now it is raining. Tomorrow it will rain.” In Chinese, the same three sentences need no such grammatical marking. The verb does not change. The future is not grammatically separated from the present.
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