Comments on: Which language do Hong Kong people speak better? English or Mandarin??

By: sellatieeat

sellatieeat — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

The older generation there will only speak cantonese.
The younger generation will speak english, cantonese and mandarin. I tihnk they speak english better than mandrin.
There are still a lot of people in hong kong who don’t know how to speak mandarin.

By: lestermount

lestermount — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

The young people speak English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, the older ones may speak English and mostly speak Cantonese.

It depends on their age and education.
It seems to me most speak Cantonese, and understand English.

By: floozy_niki

floozy_niki — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

They speak both Mandarin and English, with a butchered Cantonese accent. I would say their English is probably much better than their Mandarin since they’ve only started to speak Mandarin 10 years ago. The young uns could speak Mandarin well but not the older ones in their 30s.

By: sandra y

sandra y — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

it is mandarin. a few can speak English. I have to practise my Mandarin knowledge when I talk to them

By: Ice

Ice — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

HK people speak English with an cantonese accent. A lot of those people can speak mandarin now.

By: Moe A

Moe A — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

The Hongkongnese people speak Cantonese as their first language, and english as their second, because it used to be a colony of england, until 1997.

By: First L

First L — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

Many of the posters above probably have never actually been to HK. I wonder what pipes they are smoking when they wrote their responses.

When I was actually in HK, right after the handover, VERY FEW people on the streets could even understand the most basic English phrases. They are even less able to say anything beyond the most basic greeting in English. Before going to HK, I have also heard the above rumors that "everyone speaks English" over there. But that was total BALONEY in reality. If you have actually been there and tried to ask for the simplest directions, you would know what I’m talking about.

Almost EVERYONE there could only understand and speak Cantonese. Some can speak mandarin, and a very small percentage could actually converse in English.

Since that was the case even shortly after the 1997 handover, what do you logically think is the case now?

By: Tai

Tai — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

I worked 7 years in Hong Kong. Many people can write pretty decent English, but verbal English is not that popular among average people.

Nowadays most people understand Mandarin, many can speak with Cantonese accent.

By: chewhwee

chewhwee — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

Chinese. (Note: some people will "look down" on you if you speak Chinese…. but of course, there are also nice people around.. but i should think this problem should go away with time)

By: yu1234

yu1234 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:43 +0000

From the Hong Kong people I have heard singing Mandarin karaoke, their pronunciation is horrible, and I have only studied Mandarin for a year.
Some people can have a long conversation in English like Opticians, H.K. tourism board workers, airport employees, maybe some students that studied in an English-speaking country, but generally, keep your English conversations basic and textbook style. and then there are those who did not do well in school, did not study overseas, or could never grasp a decent command of English.
My friends from H.K. who are in their early 20s said that they only took three years of Mandarin, so they don’t speak it with very much confidence. They are definitely more confident in English.