They are the quasi-official languages in Hong Kong. Therefore, people from Hong Kong should be able to speak Standard Mandarin Chinese, but in fact, many people from Hong Kong speak fluent Cantonese and poor Mandarin.
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Can most Hong Kongers speak Mandarin?
Hong Kong’s recent census report states that Mandarin is the second language most spoken on the island following Cantonese. Cantonese remains dominant with 96% percent. As for Mandarin, 48% of Hong Kong’s population can speak it, compared to 46% of population that can speak English.
Is it bad to speak Mandarin in Hong Kong?
The present-day Hong Kong government recognizes Cantonese, English and Putonghua (Mainland’s version of Mandarin) as official spoken languages, which means speaking Mandarin in Hong Kong is a legally protected right.
Do Cantonese people understand Mandarin?
No, they are completely different languages. Although Cantonese and Mandarin have many similarities, they are not mutually intelligible. This means that, presuming one has no significant exposure or training, a speaker of Mandarin will understand little to nothing of Cantonese and vice-versa.
Is Mandarin compulsory in Hong Kong?
Students may not bother to study the language even if they are forced to learn it at school.Cantonese is our native language and it is widely spoken in the city. Languages are tools for communication and what we need in Hong Kong is simply Cantonese. It doesn’t mean that we should forget about Mandarin.
Should I learn Cantonese or Mandarin?
It really depends on what you want to do. If you’re in Hong Kong, then by all means learn Cantonese. If you want to read Tang poetry, then learn Cantonese, because the poems still rhyme in Cantonese, where they may not in Mandarin. But if you want a generally useful language, learn Mandarin.
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.
Is Cantonese still spoken in Hong Kong?
The principal language of Hong Kong is standard Cantonese (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.
Is English an official language in Hong Kong?
Chinese and English are the official languages of Hong Kong. English is widely used in the Government and by the legal, professional and business sectors.
Does 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.
What is the hardest language to learn?
Mandarin
Mandarin
As mentioned before, Mandarin is unanimously considered the toughest language to master in the world! Spoken by over a billion people in the world, the language can be extremely difficult for people whose native languages use the Latin writing system.
Can Chinese speakers understand Japanese?
Well, the answer is NO. When it comes to express their language verbally, it seems hard for them to understand each other. But it is also true that some educated Chinese and Japanese speakers can read each other’s written language.
What language does WAYV sing in?
It is worth noting that all seven members are quite fluent in both Mandarin and Korean.
Do Hong Kong students learn Mandarin?
Although most pupils in primary and secondary schools have also already been learning some Mandarin under the city’s language policy since the handover from Britain to China in 1997, it is currently not part of the local university entrance exam system.
How do you say hello 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.
Is Cantonese still spoken in China?
Cantonese is spoken by more than 60 million people in China, according to the state-run China Daily — on a par with Italian in terms of native speaker numbers. But some in Guangzhou worry that as young people and their parents focus on Mandarin for academic and career reasons, Cantonese may fall by the wayside.
What is the easiest language to learn?
And The Easiest Language To Learn Is…
- Norwegian. This may come as a surprise, but we have ranked Norwegian as the easiest language to learn for English speakers.
- Swedish.
- Spanish.
- Dutch.
- Portuguese.
- Indonesian.
- Italian.
- French.
Do all Chinese understand Mandarin?
Do All Chinese Speak Mandarin? Most Chinese speak standard Mandarin but not all. Mandarin is the most widely spoken dialect of Chinese, which is the worlds most spoken language, English coming 2nd, Spanish 3rd.
Is Cantonese a dying language?
According to these experts, Cantonese isn’t dying at all. For now. “From a linguistic point of view, it’s not endangered at all. It’s doing quite well compared to other languages in the China region,” said Mr Lau.
Is Shenzhen in Hong Kong?
Shenzhen is a city located in south-central Guangdong sheng (province) in southeastern China. It lies along the coast of the South China Sea and is located immediately north of Hong Kong.
Is Guangzhou Mandarin or Cantonese?
Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton, is the capital of Guangdong province – and the home of Cantonese. Spoken by 73 million people across the world, Cantonese has had great global influence because most of the early Chinese immigrants came from southern China.
