Between British accent and American accent, most people who have that Hong Kong accent sound more like British than American, especially they way the deal with the rhotic ‘r’ sound. Also, more older people (for example those professors in my university – HKU) sounds more British.
Contents
What is Hong Kong accent?
Hong Kong Cantonese is a dialect of the Cantonese language of the Sino-Tibetan family. It is the native and de facto standard language of Hong Kong. A similar dialect is also spoken in Macau.
Why do people in Hong Kong have American accents?
Acting Head of English at Hong Kong’s City University, Dr Rodney Jones, said: “There’s no doubt that the American accent is becoming more prevalent here. The main reason is because people are more exposed to it. “In the past in Hong Kong there was a sense that speaking in a British accent made you sound more educated.
Do Hong Kong speak English?
English is one of the official languages in Hong Kong, and is used widely in the Government, academic circles, business and the courts. All road and government signs are bilingual.
Can Hong Kong speak Mandarin?
Hong Kong’s recent census report states that Mandarin is the second language most spoken on the island following Cantonese.As for Mandarin, 48% of Hong Kong’s population can speak it, compared to 46% of population that can speak English. Previously, English was the second most spoken language.
Is Singapore English speaking?
The population of Singapore today is more than 75% Chinese, about 15% Malay, about 8% ‘Indian’ (mainly Tamil), and roughly 2% other origins, but about half of the population now speak English (or Singlish) at home. And Singlish is the neutral language between members of different ethnic groups.
Is Chinglish a language?
Chinglish is slang for spoken or written English language that is either influenced by a Chinese language, or is poorly translated.
At what age can you learn a language without an accent?
The ability to perceive these phonemic contrasts evidently persists for several more years, as evidenced by the fact that children can learn to speak a second language without accent and with fluent grammar until about age 7 or 8.
What causes an accent?
Accents are formed based on the way people pronounce their vowels and consonants for particular words, which is also called the prosody of speech. Prosody refers to the tone of one’s speech or its musicality. For example, we’ve noticed that the word ‘five’ is usually pronounced as a single syllable.
Can your accent change in your 20s?
Though it’s likely your accent won’t change drastically once you’ve hit your 20s, it can be influenced by the changing environment around you.Your accent is also prone to picking up external influences, though these changes are typically more subconscious and subtle.
What is the first language in Hong Kong?
Cantonese
Official languages
| Native languages of Hong Kong (2016) | |
|---|---|
| Cantonese (official) | 88.9% |
| English (official) | 4.3% |
| Mandarin | 1.9% |
| Other Chinese varieties | 3.1% |
How safe is Hong Kong?
OVERALL RISK : LOW
Hong Kong is quite safe with some petty crimes like thefts, vandalism, and burglaries. Serious crime acts are rare in Hong Kong, especially against tourists. Because there is no place in the world with 100 safety rates, it is always recommended to be watchful to avoid becoming a victim.
Does China use British or American English?
At the beginning, China English uses British or American English as its standard, which is now generally regarded as just two English varieties. And many countries have announced the “independence” of their Englishes and treat them as the equal varieties as British English and American English (Li & Yang, 2001, p. 67).
Can you live in Hong Kong without knowing Chinese?
You don’t need Cantonese or Mandarin to live and work in Hong Kong in most cases.However, if you want to know the place you call home and interact with the people that share it with you, then you should learn Cantonese, at the very least. Perhaps focus on Mandarin if you go to the Mainland for business.
How many Hong Kongers can speak English?
1. The results of the 2016 Population By-census showed that the proportion of the population aged 5 and over who reported that they could speak English, either as the usual spoken language or as another spoken language, increased from 43.9% in 2006 to 51.9% in 2016.
Is Guangdong Cantonese?
Languages and ethnicities
The majority of the province’s population is Han Chinese. Within the Han Chinese, the largest subgroup in Guangdong are the Cantonese people. Two other major groups are the Teochew people in Chaoshan and the Hakka people in Huizhou, Meizhou, Heyuan, Shaoguan and Zhanjiang.
How do you say hello in Hong Kong?
Neih hou (pronounced “nay-ho”) is used to say hello in Hong Kong. The pronunciation of hou is something between “ho” and “how.” But realistically, saying a simple hello (same as in English but with a little more “haaa-lo”) is extremely common for informal situations!
What are people from Hong Kong called?
Hongkongers (Chinese: 香港人), also known as Hong Kongers, Hong Kongese, Hongkongese, Hong Kong citizen and Hong Kong people, typically refers to legal residents of the city of Hong Kong; although may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the city.
How do you say hi in Cantonese?
1. Non Time-Sensitive Hello in Cantonese. The universal greeting in Cantonese is 你好, which literally translates as “you good.” Both of the syllables should be pronounced using rising tones, with the second tone slightly higher than the first. If someone says 你好 to you, you can simply respond with 你好 as well.
How many Chinese accents are there?
Linguists generally accept that there are seven major modern Chinese dialect groups: Mandarin, Wu, Xiang, Gan, Kejia, Min and Yue. The primary divide is between Mandarin and all of the rest dialect groups, which are all southern dialects.
How do you say hello in Singapore?
Hello – Ni hao (Nee how) How are you? – Ni hao ma? (Nee how ma) Very good – Hen hao (hun hao)
