What Is the Official Language and Lingua Franca of Hong Kong?
What Is the Official Language and Lingua Franca of Hong Kong?There is no such thing as the Hong Kong Language. The official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English, however the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin makes the answer a little more complicated. Answer: Hong Kongers speak Cantonese, a southern dialect of Chinese originating in the Guangdong region. Cantonese is spoken by Hong Kongers and those in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chinatowns around the world. Mandarin the official dialect of China, used through the country for government communication, and the by far the dominant language. It is also used in Singapore and Taiwan. The problem is that Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually intelligible and Hong Kongers can no more understand a Mandarin speaker than they can a Japanese speaker or a Frenchman. So while you may speak ‘Chinese’, if you’ve learnt Mandarin, which is the most popular dialect taught around the world, you won’t be able to use it in Hong Kong. Canton
