Languages of Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, is officially bilingual with Chinese and English. When Hong Kong was a British crown colony, administration was mostly done in English, with Chinese not being granted official status until 1974. After the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China in 1997, both Chinese and English remained the official language of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Since Chinese became an official language, most signs in public areas and government documents in Hong Kong are bilingual.
The majority of the population in Hong Kong have ancestors that were immigrants. These include the immigrants from the rest of China, and foreign countries such as India, Nepal, United Kingdom and the Philippines. This has led to a diversity in the languages that can be heard in Hong Kong.
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Chinese
Spoken Chinese
The majority of the population in Hong Kong speak Cantonese, which is the Chinese spoken variant that originated in Guangdong province. More precisely, most Hong Kong people speak standard Cantonese, the dialect originated from the area around present-day Guangzhou. Standard Cantonese enjoys a de facto official status in Hong Kong, and is used by the government and in broadcasting.
However, there are also speakers of other Chinese spoken variants like Toisanese, Teochiu (especially in West Point and North Point), Hakka (especially in Yuen Long and Kam Tin). The diversity in Chinese spoken variants in Hong Kong is due to the fact that some families in Hong Kong were immigrants from other regions in the rest of China in different periods in history.
Some older people in Hong Kong, especially those living in walled villages, speak Waitau Wah (Chinese: 圍頭話, which means "language used in walled village"). This term includes dialects of Cantonese and Hakka. The Tanka people from the fishing villages also speak their own Cantonese dialect.
China has numerous regional and local variants of spoken Chinese, many of which are mutually unintelligble. Most are only used in their own native areas, but some, particularly the various languages of Guangdong and Fujian have spread to other areas by emmigration from those provinces. Since the 1950s, the widespread use Standard Mandarin in education, the media, and official situations has resulted in nearly everyone in mainland China and Taiwan being able to understand and speak Standard Mandarin in addition to their own native dialects. In Guangdong, many Cantonese speakers are in effect bilingual, in the sense that they speak two mutually unintelligble variants of Chinese.
However in Hong Kong Cantonese speakers do not speak Standard Mandarin as it was never used. At the time of the widespread introduction of Standard Mandarin in mainland China and Taiwan, Hong Kong was a British colony and English and the local variant of Chinese, Cantonese, were the most widely used languages in Hong Kong. Cantonese was and continues to be used in education, the media, and in daily life. This has resulted in Cantonese being the only Chinese variant apart from Standard Mandarin to have an official status.
Although Cantonese is widely spoken in Hong Kong, Standard Mandarin is the official spoken Chinese variant throughout China. The number of Mandarin learners in Hong Kong had not been large before 1997, but since Hong Kong's transfer to the PRC, Mandarin has become a mandatory subject in most schools. As Hong Kong now has a much closer relationship with the rest of China in terms of trade, economic ties and exchange of people, the importance of Mandarin is rapidly increasing. Many adults acquire the language voluntarily to attain better career prospects, and the usage of Mandarin in Hong Kong is increasing. For instance, the announcements on the MTR trains were only made in Cantonese and English before, but are now trilingual - in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. However, the promotion of Mandarin in Hong Kong has not shown much progress up to now, and many Hong Kongers are not able to communicate in fluent Mandarin. A few extremists may also regard Mandarin as a cultural invasion from the rest of China. Through real-time NICAM, though, some Mandarin television programmes are viewed by the local audience.
Written Chinese
For written Chinese, traditional Chinese characters are widely used, and is the de facto writing standard in Hong Kong. In mainland China, however, simplified Chinese characters are used. Owing to the increasing number of tourists from mainland China, simplified Chinese characters are now more frequently used in Hong Kong. Simplified Chinese characters can be found on posters, leaflets, flyers and signs in the tourist areas. In schools, students are fond of using simplified Chinese character too, because of its efficiency.Although Cantonese is the mostly widely spoken Chinese variant in Hong Kong, the standard writing system is Standard Written Chinese. Standard Written Chinese is based on Standard Mandarin (Putonghua/Guoyu) and is different to Cantonese in grammar and vocabulary. It is the standard throughout China (including Taiwan) and also Singapore.
There is also a writing system based on the vocabulary and grammar of spoken Cantonese, which people write according to the way they speak. Written Cantonese is gaining popularity in newspapers and magazines for quoting conversation, but such writing is usually unintelligible to Chinese people outside Hong Kong, Macau and some other Cantonese speaking communities, and is considered non-standard by many, notably educators. Some have credited this system to the challenges the standard Chinese writing system has faced in pop culture in recent years.
Although Russian is not widely spoken in Hong Kong, it acts as a unique symbol of Eastern European culture there. Baptist University are presently the only tertiary institution offering Russian language courses, through their School of Continuing Education; a few private schools, such as the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions Spare-Time Study Center [link] and the Russian Cultural Association of Hong Kong [link], are also engaged in the teaching of Russian.
Recently, the Latvian pop-star Vitas, an ethnic Russian who sings in the Russian language, has enjoyed increasing popularity among some Hong Kong youth.
Other East Asian languages
Japanese
A significant number of Japanese businessmen work in Hong Kong, so it is not uncommon to hear Japanese conversation in the city. Moreover, Japanese is the most learnt foreign language in Hong Kong (beside English, of course), as Japanese culture, including anime, manga, sushi and pop music, has been popular in Hong Kong for more than two decades. Bookstores selling Japanese magazines are easily found in Hong Kong.
Written Japanese appears not just on the menus of Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong. Sometimes Hong Kongers like to replace Chinese characters with Japanese words. For example, Aji Ichiban, a snack and candy chain, uses the hiragana の in place of the Chinese character 之, rendering their name as 優の良品. Another example would be the use of the Japanese Kanji 駅 to substitute 站 (lit. station), as in Nu Front (東角駅), a shopping mall for Hong Kong youngsters in Causeway Bay. 東角 (Cantonese IPA /təʊŋ55 kɔk33/; Jyutping dong1 gok3) is the old name of the place. Also, Metro Town, a new private estate in Tseung Kwan O, has the Chinese name 都會駅. These loanwords are pronounced by Hong Kongers as if they were their Chinese counterparts (i.e. の as 之, and 駅 as 站).
It should be noted that the Japanese Kanji 駅 is actually the Shinjitai form of the Chinese character 驛. However, 驛 refers to posts for horses in ancient times, and is replaced by 站 in the modern era, which refers to stops for vehicles. Some youth mistakenly pronounce 駅 as if it were the Chinese character 尺, according to the folk wisdom "read the side if any", an often false rule for reading unknown characters.
As Japanese culture is so popular in Hong Kong, some Japanese terms have been absorbed into Hong Kong Chinese, not just for stylistic purposes. The most notable example is the term "人氣" (popularity). The term "花火" (firework) is also often used in Cantopop. The terms "大搜查" and "事件簿" were once very popular, and were much used by the local media.
Korean
Korean culture is becoming more and more popular in Hong Kong in recent years, especially after the success of Korean pop music in the Hong Kong market. More recently, several Korean television series, such as Dae Jang Geum (Korean Hanja and Chinese: 大長今 ; Korean Hangul: 대장금), have been shown on local television channels, gaining large audiences. This interested many people in Hong Kong in learning Korean, leading some to predict that Korean may surpass Japanese to become the most learnt Asian language in Hong Kong. McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong used a Korean catchphrase, Dea Dan Heyo (Korean Hangul: 대단해요, Revised Romanization: daedanhaeyo, McCune-Reischauer: taedanhaeyo, "it's great"), in one of their commercials in 2005.Vietnamese
Vietnamese is used in Hong Kong among Chinese Vietnamese who had settled in Vietnam and then moved to Hong Kong, and by the boat people who left Vietnam following the wars.A Vietnamese-language broadcast made by the Hong Kong government in 1988, which announced that Hong Kong was going to receive no more Vietnamese refugees, has become part of the collective memory of many Hong Kongers living in that era. The beginning words, "Bắt đầu từ nay", which mean "from now on", are probably the only Vietnamese phrase that most non-Vietnamese in Hong Kong know. The phrase Bắt đầu từ nay was then used by some locals to disparagingly refer to the Vietnamese people.
Southeast Asian languages
Tagalog
Tagalog and other Philippine languages are used by Filipinos in Hong Kong, most of whom are domestic helpers. Most Filipinos in Hong Kong have Sunday as their fixed holiday, upon which they congregate in Central to socialize, eating self-prepared food, singing, playings cards, and even selling various items. This is such a long-standing practice that the "No littering" signs in those areas are written in Tagalog as well as Chinese and English.
Tagalog can also be seen in some branches of Philippine corporations in Hong Kong; newspapers and magazines in Tagalog can also be easily bought in Central. There are also a small number of churches in Hong Kong that have masses or services in Tagalog, for example the afternoon masses provided by the St. John's Cathedral in Central.
Many Filipina maids address their employers as either sir or ma'am . Some of them learn to speak Cantonese, and one of the most common Cantonese terms they utter is pengyau ("friend" in Cantonese), which they use to address a stranger. Some are even familiar with certain Cantonese slang and curse words.
Indonesian
Indonesian is the common language for the significant number of Indonesians working in Hong Kong; most of them are domestic helpers. On Sunday and public holidays, they usually gather at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to socialize. Many shops sellings Indonesian items can be found in Hong Kong, for instance, on Sugar Street in Causeway Bay.Thai
Thai prevails among the Thai population in Hong Kong, who are mostly working as domestic helpers, while a minority work as shop- or restaurant-owners. Thai can be found in many shops and restaurants opened by Thais in Kowloon City. A number of Thai movies have been imported in recent years, such as The Wheel in the medley Three, Jan Dara, the Iron Ladies series and My Little Girl. The most remarkable ones, though, are the films starred by Tony Jaa, the most famous Thai actor known to the Hong Kong audience, including and Tom-Yum-Goong. Some few-minute-long Thai lessons can be found on some bus RoadShow TV programmes every now and then, one of which was taught by Sandra Ng, a local comedienne and actress.
South Asian languages
A significant number of Indians and Pakistanis can be found mainly in Tsim Sha Tsui. Signboards written in Hindi or Urdu can be seen in the area, and conversation in South Asian languages including Nepali, Sindhi and Punjabi, as well as Urdu and Hindi, can be heard.
The Indian and Pakistani populations are more integrated into Hong Kong culture than Westerners dwelling in Hong Kong, at least linguistically. While few Westerners and "" in Hong Kong can speak fluent Cantonese, many Pakistanis and Indians speak almost-perfect Cantonese. In 2004, the Home Affairs Bureau and Metro Plus AM 1044 jointly launched radio shows Hong Kong-Pak Tonight in Urdu and Harmo Sagarmatha in Nepalese.
Middle Eastern languages
Arabic
Arabic is used frequently among members of Muslim communities in Hong Kong. Arabic words can also be found in the menu and the decorations in the restaurants that serve Chinese Islamic cuisine in Hong Kong. Hong Kong University are presently the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong teaching Arabic-language courses [link]; some Islamic organisations teach the language as well [link].
Persian
African languages
In early 1990s, a famous local rock band called Beyond released a song called Amani. The song is about the harm that wars had brought to the children in Africa, and sends out the message of peace. While most part of the song is in Cantonese Chinese, a sentence "Amani nakupenda nakupenda wewe" is kept repeated in the song. That sentence, as well as the title of the song, was in Swahili, a lingua franca for East Africa and surrounding areas. The sentence actually means "I love you, Peace". The song was once pretty popular among Chinese teenagers in Hong Kong, but few of them knew that the title was Swahili.Apart from that, there seems to be a significant number of Ghanians in Hong Kong, as court interpreters who know Twi are perenially sought by the government [link].
A number of African restaurants can be found in Chungking Mansions, Tsim Sha Tsui, where African languages are sometimes used in menus.
External links
- [A book list on languages in Hong Kong]
- Bruce, Nigel (1996) "Language in Hong Kong Education & Society: A Bibliography" [link]
- [The British Council]
- [Alliance Française]
- [Goethe-Institut]
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