How come people are still speaking English in the Chinese version of a movie?
As Hong Kong was once a British colony, some English words and phrases (like “hello” and “bye bye”) have come into the vernacular. English was the official language of governmental and high-level police proceedings, and so English crept into the daily lingo of these areas as well (e.g, “Yes sir!” or “roger”). Also, nothing sounds worse than poorly-spoken Cantonese, so actors (like Michael Wong) who are not fluent in the dialect are often just allowed to speak English. This also makes things easier for international (English) prints, since not all of the movie has to be dubbed over.
