Languages of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. Therefore, it has two official languages, viz., Chinese and English. When Hong Kong was a British crown colony, administrative work was primarily carried out in English. Chinese language was not granted the 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 languages of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The majority of the population in Hong Kong have ancestors that were immigrants including immigrants from the rest of China, and from countries such as India, Nepal, United Kingdom and the Philippines.

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 which 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, other Chinese spoken variants like Toisanese, Teochiu, Hakka and Waitau Wah are also there.

English is the 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 by the United Kingdom in 1997, English is still one of the official languages of Hong Kong, and its official status is enshrined in the Basic Law.

Other languages spoken in Hong Kong are the French, German, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Indonesian, Thai, Nepali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic.