Hong Kong - Eleven years after it ceased to be a British colony, English remains the most important language to master in Hong Kong's business and professional world, according to a survey released Friday.

Written English was rated the most important language skill in a survey of more than 2,0000 ethnic Chinese professionals, followed by the local dialect Cantonese and then spoken English.

On a scale of one to six, written English was ranked at 5.08 in importance while Mandarin, the language spoken by the majority of people in mainland China, was ranked at only 3.79.

More than 90 per cent of respondents in the survey by Hong Kong's Polytechnic University said they believed both written and spoken English were as important as ever in their professional lives.

Mandarin has become more important in the past decade, a majority of interviewees agreed, but most of them said the use of the language in spoken business communication was infrequent.

English professor Dr Stephen Evans said the findings suggested English has actually increased in importance in the 11 years since Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty.

The findings demonstrated that English is the "default medium of written communication in the workplace" he said, in particular in emails, reports, letters and memos.

The need for good spoken and written English became increasingly important the more senior a position a professional held in the city of 6.9 million, Dr Evans added.

Businesses complain that English standards have fallen in Hong Kong since 1997, particularly since a "mother tongue" teaching policy was introduced in many schools that previously taught in English.

The policy has resulted in fierce competition for places in remaining schools teaching in English and a sharp rise in the number of local children applying to fee-paying international schools. (dpa)