The

Basic Law of Hong Kong The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ar ...

states that

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

are the two

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

s of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. During the British colonial era, English was the sole official language until 1978 but has remained a strong

second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...

in Hong Kong. As the majority of the population in Hong Kong are descendants of migrants from China's

Canton Province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, the vast majority speak standard

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

or other

Yue Chinese Yue () is a group of similar Sinitic languages spoken in Southern China, particularly in Liangguang (the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces). The name Cantonese is often used for the whole group, but linguists prefer to reserve that name for t ...

varieties as a first language, with smaller numbers of speakers of

Hakka Language Hakka (, , ) forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people throughout Southern China and Taiwan and throughout the diaspora areas of East Asia, Southeast Asia and in overseas Chinese communities around th ...

or the

Teochew dialect Teochew or Chaozhou (, , , Teochew endonym: , Shantou dialect: ) is a dialect of Chaoshan Min, a Southern Min language, that is spoken by the Teochew people in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong and by their diaspora around the world. I ...

Southern Min Southern Min (), Minnan (Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwan ( ...

. In addition, immigrants and expatriates from the West and other Asian countries have contributed much to Hong Kong's linguistic and demographic diversity. The geographical element of this diversity can be seen in the Hong Kong Language Maps, which shows oral languages from the 2011 Census, and oral and written languages from the 2016 Census. Statistics for the 27 self-reported spoken languages/dialects reported in the 2011 Census, can be found in the report: Language Use, Proficiency and Attitudes in Hong Kong.

Official languages

English was the sole official language of Hong Kong from 1883 to 1974. Only after demonstrations and petitions from Hong Kong people demanding equal status for Chinese did the language become official in Hong Kong from 1974 onward. Annex I of the 1984

Sino-British Joint Declaration The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance of the territory after ...

provided that English may be used in addition to Chinese for official purposes in the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In March 1987, the

Official Languages Ordinance The Official Languages Ordinance is an ordinance of Hong Kong enacted for the purpose of specifying the status and use of official languages of the territory. Both Chinese and English are declared official languages with equal status in the ordi ...

was amended to require all new legislation to be enacted bilingually in both English and Chinese. In 1990, the Hong Kong Basic Law affirmed English's co-official language status with Chinese after the 1997 handover.

Chinese languages

As a result of immigration into Hong Kong from Canton Province, Cantonese is the dominant Chinese variant spoken in the territory with smaller numbers of speakers of other dialects. There are also numerous Chinese languages spoken by the native peoples of the

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

, many of which are mutually unintelligible. There is also a written language based on the vocabulary and grammar of spoken Cantonese known as

written Cantonese Written Cantonese is the most complete written form of Chinese after that for Mandarin Chinese and Classical Chinese. Written Chinese was originally developed for Classical Chinese, and was the main literary language of China until the 19th cent ...

. Although the "biliterate and trilingual" policy implies an absence of support for written Cantonese, it has gained popularity in news media where entertainment and local news are related. Written Cantonese is unintelligible to non-Cantonese speakers and is considered nonstandard by some educators despite its widespread usage in Hong Kong. Some have also credited written Cantonese for solving the challenges that standard written Chinese had faced in popular culture.

Traditional Chinese character Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took at ...

s are widely used, and are the ''de facto'' writing standard in Hong Kong. Simplified Chinese is seen in some posters, leaflets, flyers and signs in the tourist areas.

Cantonese

The principal language of Hong Kong is

standard Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

(粵語, 廣州話, 廣東話, 廣府話, 白話, 本地話), spoken by 88.9% of the population at home daily. As an official language, it is used in education, broadcasting, government administration, legislation and judiciary, as well as for daily communication. As a result of its predominance throughout the community, Cantonese is virtually the exclusive language of official discourse at all levels of the executive, legislature and courts of Hong Kong. welcoming signboard KCR

Native Yue dialects

A few closely related dialects to standard Cantonese continue to be spoken in Hong Kong. Most notable is the

Weitou dialect The Weitou dialect (; Jyutping: Waitau Waa) is a dialect of Yue Chinese. It forms part of the Guan–Bao (莞寶片; , Dongguan– Bao'an) branch of Yuehai. It is spoken by older generations in Luohu and Futian districts in Shenzhen, a ...

(圍頭話), which is mostly spoken by the older generation living in walled villages in New Territories. Additionally, the

Tanka people The Tankas or boat people are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China who have traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang and along the Yangtze river, as well as Hong Kong, and ...

(蜑家人/疍家人/水上人) from the fishing

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

s on outlying islands speak their own variant of Cantonese. However, this dialect is now largely limited to those middle aged and above.

Hakka

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

is indigenous to many villages in the

and within Hakka communities in Hong Kong. Nowadays, outside these rural villages and older populations, younger Hakka Chinese populations communicate primarily in Cantonese.http://www.hkilang.org (''in Chinese Traditional'')

Minnan Chinese

Teochew,

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

, and

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

are the Minnan (Southern Min) Chinese dialects commonly found in Hong Kong. However, their usage is largely limited to recent migrants from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

and middle aged descendants of immigrants from native Chinese regions of these variants.

Taishanese

Taishanese Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisan-wa, is a dialect of Yue Chinese native to Taishan, Guangdong. Although it is related to Cantonese, Taishanese has little ...

originates from migrants from

Taishan __NOTOC__ Taishan may refer to: *Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China *Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China *Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China **Gre ...

County in Mainland China. The variant can still be found in some areas in Hong Kong where migrants concentrated, such as

Sai Wan Sai Wan, also known as Western district, or simply Western, is an area in Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong that corresponds to Sai Ying Pun, Shek Tong Tsui, Belcher Bay and Kennedy Town. It formed part of the City of Victoria. West Point, a for ...

Shanghainese

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the Districts of Shanghai, central districts of the Shanghai, City of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as ...

, or

Wu Chinese The Wu languages (; Romanization of Wu Chinese, Wu romanization and Romanization of Wu Chinese#IPA, IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] (Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languag ...

in general, was commonly spoken by migrants who escaped Shanghai after the communist takeover of China in 1949. Their descendants assimilated into mainstream Cantonese-speaking society. However there is still a sizeable immigrant community after China's economic reform in 1978, and about 1.1% of the population speaks Shanghainese according to a 2016 census.

Mandarin

When Hong Kong was a colony of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

(普通話/現代標準漢語/國語/北方話) was not widely used in Hong Kong. Since the 1997 handover, the huge increase in inbound tourism from the mainland has led to much more widespread use of Mandarin, particularly in tourism-related commerce, though little impact has been seen in locally based commerce or public services. In addition, the large number of ''soeng1 fei1'' (雙非) children (children born in Hong Kong whose parents are both from the Mainland) has increased the number of Mandarin-speaking people, particularly in districts close to the border, such that Mandarin-speaking children make up large proportions or even the majority of primary-school students in those districts, causing the beginnings of a

language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceiv ...

in those areas.

English

English is a major working language in Hong Kong, and is widely used in commercial activities and legal matters. Although the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

by the

in 1997, English remains one of the

s of Hong Kong as enshrined in the Basic Law.

Code-switching between Cantonese and English

Many

Hong Kong people Hongkongers (), also known as Hong Kongers, Hong Kongese, Hongkongese, Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong people, typically refers to residents of the territory of Hong Kong; although may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the ...

use both Cantonese and English, or "code-switch", in the same sentence when speaking. For example, " make sense!" ("Wow, it does not make sense!"). The code-switching can freely mix English words and Chinese grammar, for instance " un understand?" ("Do you understand?") which follows the Chinese grammar syntax 'verb - not - verb' to ask "Do you ''(verb)''?". Some code-switched words are used so often that they have become

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

s in Cantonese, for example, *"like", pronounced "lai-kee" /laːi⁵⁵kʰi³⁵/. *"Partner", pronounced "pat-la" /pʰaːt̚⁵⁵laː²¹/. *"File", pronounced "fai-lo" /faːi⁵⁵lou³⁵/. *"Number", pronounced "lum-ba" /lɐm⁵⁵pa³⁵/. *"Case", pronounced "kei-see" /kʰei⁵⁵si³⁵/.

Other European languages

French

In Hong Kong, French is the second most studied foreign language after Japanese. Many institutions in Hong Kong, like

Alliance française An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, provide French courses. Local universities, such as the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

, the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

and

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a publicly funded tertiary liberal arts education, liberal arts institution with a Christian ethics, Christian education heritage. It was established as Hong Kong Baptist College with the support of Ame ...

, offer programmes which aim at developing proficiency in French language and culture. The language was included as a subject in the

HKCEE The Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE, 香港中學會考) was a standardised examination between 1974 and 2011 after most local students' five-year secondary education, conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment ...

, but not in

HKALE The Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE, 香港高級程度會考), or more commonly known as the A-level, conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), was taken by senior students at the end of their matric ...

, the two former public exams that Hong Kong high school students take, with accordance to British

International General Certificate of Secondary Education The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainm ...

(IGCSE) standards. The IGCSE French syllabus used by the

University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) is a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, which operates under the brand name Cambridge Assessment, and is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It prov ...

(UCLES) is adopted in the examination. The only French book store, Librairie Parentheses, in Hong Kong is located on Wellington Street,

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

developers in Hong Kong sometimes name their buildings in French, such as ''Bel-Air'', ''Les Saisons'' and ''Belle Mer''. This kind of

foreign branding Foreign branding is an advertising and marketing term describing the use of foreign or foreign-sounding brand names for companies, products, and services to imply they are of foreign origin. This can also be used for foreign products if the countr ...

is also used in

boutique A boutique () is a small shop that deals in fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (''apothēkē'') "storehouse". The term ''boutique'' and also ''d ...

s and

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s. An example is

Yucca de Lac Yucca de Lac was a high-end restaurant in Hong Kong, famous for frequently serving as a scene for the black-and-white Cantonese films made in the 1960s. Located at Tai Po Road, Ma Liu Shui, near the Chinese University of Hong Kong, it was opened ...

Ma Liu Shui Ma Liu Shui is an area in Sha Tin District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The area faces Tide Cove (Sha Tin Hoi) and Tolo Harbour. The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Science Park are located in Ma Liu Shui. Name ety ...

. Sometimes only French elements such as

article Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

s and

preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

s are added to the name, as in the case of the restaurant chain

Café de Coral Café de Coral Holdings, Ltd. () is a fast-food restaurant group that owns and operates fast-food chains and restaurants, including Café de Coral, Super Super, The Spaghetti House, Oliver's Super Sandwiches, Ah Yee Leng Tong, and others. Foun ...

. Similar mixing of English and French can be seen on the menu of

Délifrance Délifrance is a bakery company that produces "French style" bakery, savoury and snacking products in over 100 countries on five continents. It has been in operation since 1983. The sister company of Délifrance is '' Grands Moulins de Paris,'' ...

, a French-style restaurant chain in Hong Kong.

German

The number of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

speakers in Hong Kong is about 5000, significant enough for the establishment of the

German Swiss International School The German Swiss International School (GSIS; german: link=no, Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule; ) is an international school in Hong Kong established in 1969 by German and Swiss families looking for a bilingual German-English educ ...

(''Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule''), which claims to number more than 1,000 students, at The Peak of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

. Many institutions in Hong Kong provide German courses. The most well-known one is the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

, which is located in

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to th ...

. After spending a certain period in learning German, students can take the German Test as a Foreign Language (''Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache''; ''TestDaF'' for short) and Start German A1-C2. There are currently two test centres for TestDaF in Hong Kong: the Goethe-Institut and the

(HKBU). The latter one also offers a European Studies degree course of German Stream,

Bachelor of Social Science The academic undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Social Science (BSS, B.Soc.Sc., or B.Soc.Sci.) requires three to four years of study in the social sciences at an institution of higher education, primarily found in the Commonwealth of Nations. I ...

in European Studies (German Stream), in parallel with the French stream. A minor programme of German is offered at the Language Centre of HKBU. The

Hong Kong University The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fir ...

offers a Major in German. The

offers a Minor in German and popular summer courses. The

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Clear Water Bay Peninsula, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991 by the British Hong Kong Government, it was the territory's third institution ...

offers German for science and technology.

Other East Asian languages

Japanese

There are over 25,000

Japanese people in Hong Kong Japanese people in Hong Kong consist primarily of expatriate business people and their families, along with a smaller number of single women. Their numbers are smaller when compared to the sizeable presence of American, British, and Canadian e ...

, so it is not uncommon to hear

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

conversations. More than 10,000 people in Hong Kong had taken the

JLPT The , or JLPT, is a standardized criterion-referenced test to evaluate and certify Japanese language proficiency for non-native speakers, covering language knowledge, reading ability, and listening ability. The test is held twice a year in Japan a ...

in 2005. Hong Kong-based R by R Production produces a television travel show set in Japan, which, as of April 2016, is broadcast on

ViuTV ViuTV is a Cantonese language general entertainment television channel in Hong Kong operated by HK Television Entertainment (HKTVE), whose parent company PCCW also operates the IPTV platform Now TV and the media streaming service Viu. The chann ...

. However, the language is often misused. Nu Front Hong Kong

Japanese culture, especially the popular culture, has been popular in Hong Kong for decades. Hong Kong people occasionally replace

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

with Japanese

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

. In addition, the Companies Registry also permits the

hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

‘''no’'' in Chinese business names that are registered in Hong Kong. The hiragana の is usually used in place of the Chinese character (zi1) and is read as such in Hong Kong. In fact,

Aji Ichiban Aji Ichiban () was one of the largest snack food franchises in Hong Kong, established in 1993 by Lai Chan Yuk Hing and Lai Hin Tai, which was the president and managing director, respectively. Despite having a hiragana syllabary '' no'' (の) i ...

has adopted の in their company name (). There are also borrowings from Japanese

shinjitai are the simplified forms of kanji used in Japan since the promulgation of the Tōyō Kanji List in 1946. Some of the new forms found in ''shinjitai'' are also found in Simplified Chinese characters, but ''shinjitai'' is generally not as extensiv ...

‘eki’ to substitute (

Jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates for ...

: ''zaam6'';)(both 站 and 駅 mean "station" in their respective languages), as in Nu Front (), a shopping mall for Hong Kong youngsters in

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

. There are also some private estates named with the kanji . These loanwords are pronounced by Hong Kong people as if they were their Chinese counterparts (i.e. as , and as ). The Japanese is the

of the hanzi (Jyutping: ''jik6'';). However, 驛 has fallen out of usage to in modern Cantonese and become obsolete. Therefore, it is not uncommon to mispronounce as its phonetic compound (Jyutping: cek3;)).

Korean

Koreans in Hong Kong Koreans in Hong Kong formed a population of 13,288 individuals as of 2011, a mid-range size compared to Korean diaspora populations in other cities in China and Southeast Asia. Migration history Some Koreans came to Hong Kong with the Imperial ...

only make up a small minority while

Korean culture The traditional culture of Korea is the shared cultural and historical heritage of Korea and southern Manchuria before the division of Korea in 1945. Manchuria refers to the ancient geographical and historical region in Northeast Asia, includ ...

has gained popularity since the early 2000s.

Korean pop music K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

was the first Korean media to enter Hong Kong's market. Since then, several Korean TV series such as

Dae Jang Geum ''Dae Jang Geum'' (; literally "The Great Jang-geum"), also known as ''Jewel in the Palace'', is a 2003 South Korean historical drama television series directed by Lee Byung-hoon. It first aired on MBC from September 15, 2003 to March 23, 20 ...

have been broadcast to numerous audiences. There are roughly 1,000 students that took Korean courses at the

each year, including undergraduates as well as professionals who enrolled in continuing education programs. Roughly 3,000 people have taken the

Test of Proficiency in Korean The Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) is a Korean language test for non-native speakers of Korean. The test is offered six times annually (Jan, Apr, May, Jul, Oct, Nov) within Korea and less often to people studying Korean in other countrie ...

since its introduction to Hong Kong in 2003. Surveys and statistics from course enrolments have shown that nine-tenths of the students studying Korean in Hong Kong are female.

Southeast Asian languages

Filipino

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

and other

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...

are used by

Filipinos in Hong Kong Filipinos constitute the largest ethnic minority in Hong Kong, numbering approximately 130,000, many of whom work as foreign domestic helpers. The Eastern District has the highest concentration of Filipino residents in Hong Kong, with 3.24% ...

, most of whom are employed as foreign domestic workers. Newspapers and magazines in Filipino can also be easily found in

Central, Hong Kong Central (also Central District) is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in Central and Western District, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloo ...

. There are also a small number of

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

es in Hong Kong that have masses or

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...

in Filipino, for example the afternoon masses provided by the St. John's Cathedral in Central.

Indonesian

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

is the common language for the significant number of Indonesians working in Hong Kong, though Javanese is also widely spoken. Most are domestic workers; On their days off, they often gather at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

where Indonesian languages can be heard.

Thai

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

prevails among the Thai population in Hong Kong, who mostly work as domestic workers. The Thai language is found in many shops and restaurants owned by Thais in

Kowloon City Kowloon City is an neighbourhood, area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Kowloon City District. Compared with the council area of Kowloon City District, the Kowloon City area is History As early as in the Qin dynasty (221 BCE ...

. A number of Thai movies have been imported since the early 2000s, such as ''The Wheel'' in the medley ''

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

'', '' Jan Dara'', the ''

Iron Ladies ''The Iron Ladies'' ( th, สตรีเหล็ก or ''Satree lek'') is a 2000 Thai comedy film directed by Youngyooth Thongkonthun and written by Visuttchai Boonyakarnjawa and Jira Maligool. It was Thongkonthun's directorial debut. The f ...

'', ''

My Little Girl ''My Little Girl'' is a 1986 American drama film the directorial debut of Connie Kaiserman that was released in the U.S. in 1987. It is also Geraldine Page's final role and both Jennifer Lopez and Erika Alexander's film debut. Plot Franny Bett ...

'', and '' Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior'' and ''

Tom-Yum-Goong ''Tom-Yum-Goong'' ( Thai: ต้มยำกุ้ง, ) is a 2005 Thai martial arts action film starring Tony Jaa. The film was directed by Prachya Pinkaew, who also directed Jaa's prior breakout film ''Ong-Bak''. As with ''Ong-Bak'', the fights ...

'' starring

Tony Jaa Tatchakorn Yeerum ( th, ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์, , ; formerly Phanom Yeerum ( th, พนม ยีรัมย์, ); born 5 February 1976), better known internationally as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom ( th, จา � ...

Vietnamese

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

is used in Hong Kong among the ethnic Chinese from Vietnam who had initially settled in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and returned to Hong Kong. The language is also used by Vietnamese

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

who left their home during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

South Asian languages

In 2006, there were at least 44,744 persons of South Asian descent living in Hong Kong. Signboards written in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Nepali, Sindhi and Punjabi, as well as Urdu, Hindi and Tamil can be heard. Hong Kong has two Nepalese newspapers, ''The Everest'' and the ''Sunrise Weekly Hong Kong''. In 2004, the

Home Affairs Bureau The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau () is one of the policy bureaux of the Hong Kong Government. One of the important roles of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau is to enhance liaison and communication with all sectors of the community inclu ...

and Metro Plus AM 1044 jointly launched radio shows ''Hong Kong-Pak Tonight'' in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Nepalese.

Hindi

The history of Indians in Hong Kong can be traced back to the early days of British Hong Kong. When the Union flag of the United Kingdom was hoisted on 26 January 1841, there were around 2,700 Indian troops that participated, and they played an important role in the development of Hong Kong in the early days. The most prominent contributions were the founding of the

(HKU), the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and the Star Ferry. Although nearly all of the Indian people who live in Hong Kong speak and write Indian English, some have maintained the usage of Hindi as a second language.

Middle Eastern languages

Arabic

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

is used frequently among members of

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

communities in Hong Kong. Some Islamic organisations do teach the language as well, but the current status can best be described as developing.

Sign language

Hong Kong Sign Language Hong Kong Sign Language (香港手語), or HKSL, is the deaf sign language of Hong Kong and Macau. It derived from the southern dialect of Chinese Sign Language, but is now an independent, mutually unintelligible language. Origins The origin o ...

is used by the

Deaf community Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

of Hong Kong; it is derived from the southern dialect of

Chinese Sign Language Chinese Sign Language (abbreviated CSL or ZGS; ) is the official sign language of the People's Republic of China. It is unrelated to Taiwanese Sign Language and is known in the Republic of China as ''Wénfǎ Shǒuyǔ'' (). History The first D ...

, but is now an independent, mutually unintelligible language.Fischer, S.; Gong, Q. (2010). "Variation in East Asian sign language structures". In Brentari, Diane. Sign Languages. p. 499. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511712203.023. .

References

Bibliography

* Bruce, Nigel (1996)
''Language in Hong Kong Education & Society: A Bibliography''
* Pennington, Martha C. ed. (1998). ''Language in Hong Kong at Century's End''. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. . * *

External links

Civil Service Bureau.
The British Council

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

of Hong Kong.
Alliance Française
Hong Kong.
French at The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong.
HKU HK dialects website
Hong Kong. {{Navboxes , title = Articles Related to Languages of Hong Kong , list = {{Asia in topic, Languages of {{English dialects by continent {{English official language clickable map Ethnic groups in Hong Kong