Do many people in Hong Kong speak Mandarin?

[trisha2766]

I've always read that people in Hong Kong tend to speak cantonese more than mandarin, but when I was there - granted, mostly in the airport, it seemed everyone who worked there spoke Mandarin.

 

And how many know English too?

 

And one more questions - are people there usually able to read simplified characters?

[kdavid]

In general, they learn Mandarin and English in school, so many, especially younger generations, are trilingual.

 

I'd imagine they can read simplified characters as well.

 

Keep in mind that there's a spout between young HKers and the mainland. Many feel culturally superior as they have access to books, media, news, etc. from the outside world.

 

Additionally, mainland tourists tend to exhibit an "uncultured" demeanor when visiting, giving the impression that they're country bumpkins. Mandarin is therefore considered by many to be a "low-class" language, as would be books published in simplified characters (which are also cheaper than their traditional counterparts).

 

Rich mainland Chinese are also partly responsible for the exorbitant price of HK homes, which have been increasingly difficult for young HKers to purchase.

 

(Source: Numerous conversations with HK classmates.)

[TYFZ2000]

And how many know English too?

No more than 50%

 

And one more questions - are people there usually able to read simplified characters?

No

[stapler]

In my experience there (staying in Kowloon) pretty much no one spoke Mandarin except mainland tourists. I actually found English got me "further" than Mandarin did.

 

I'm not sure about being able to read simplified characters. But I assume its the same way it is for mainlanders: they might have trouble working out some individual characters, but if there is context (eg a sentence) they can probably deduce it.

[tysond]

Last time I was in Hong Kong (about a year ago) I got very little use from Mandarin. 

 

English was very useful.

[OneEye]

Interesting. When I was in Hong Kong (Chinese New Year 2014), I noticed that Mandarin got me a long way "in town" (Central, etc.). I prefer not to use English if I can use Chinese instead, and almost nobody switched to English, though I know they could have. But in Tuen Mun, where I was staying at a friend's place, my Mandarin got a Cantonese response almost every time (though I always tried to start with Cantonese if I could). Wasn't much of a problem, since I could usually enough to be able to fill in the gaps.

[tooironic]

I've been to Hong Kong a number of times as a tourist and always found that the locals could understand Mandarin but no one I spoke to could respond in Mandarin, but Cantonese instead. I found it a bit frustrating, but at least I had English to fall back on.

[Takeshi]

Interesting, I haven't ever been to Tuen Mun yet. I find that in the city, people will see my face and initiate a conversation in English with me, while in New Territories people are more likely to initiate conversations with me in Cantonese.

 

I personally find that the average Mandarin level of the general populace is probably slightly higher than the average English level. But, people think their English level is higher and prefer using it over Mandarin. Indeed, speaking English will "get you farther" than speaking Mandarin.

 

While people tolerate mainlanders who initiate conversations in Mandarin because they figure that's the only way they'd communicate, this tolerance might be a lot less for people who don't have a Chinese face because then they'd be wondering why you didn't speak in English. (I've never tried it so I can't comment.) A common "trick" my friend has told me people use is to initiate the conversation in English, but switch to Mandarin if they are having trouble. Then you get to speak Mandarin but you didn't commit the "sin" of initiating a conversation in Mandarin.

 

As for reading simplified characters, I'm not sure, it probably depends on the person. Again, they may not like it, but I think most people should be able to read it.

[anonymoose]

I have noticed that Mandarin is much more widespread now in Hong Kong than it was even 10 years ago.

 

In fact, I've been surprised the last couple of times I've been to Hong Kong by how much Mandarin is spoken. I'm not sure whether this is just from locals, or whether there has been a large influx of mainlanders now living in Hong Kong (as opposed to just visitors, which of course is very many). For example, I went to a 7-11 a couple of months ago in Hong Kong and the staff were speaking in Mandarin to each other. I also met a member of staff in a larger supermarket who spoke essentially fluent mandarin.

 

I tried to buy some 烧卖 from a roadside stall in mandarin. The seller couldn't understand, but another customer standing next to me translated, so could obviously understand mandarin.

 

All hotel staff that I have had contact with recently have been able to speak mandarin, which I guess is to be expected.

 

So, I would say that many people you are likely to come across in public have some ability in mandarin.

[Flickserve]

Basically, many if not most people in the service industry will have the ability to speak mandarin. This will almost be 100% in the prime areas of the airport, central, causeway bay, mongkok. Add to that the private hospitals!

Those people who limit themselves to living in Hong Kong will have a poorer knowledge - I am a prime example! I got asked a question on the street in mandarin and had to turn to my 9 year old for help who merely pointed to the entrance of the MTR (subway).

Younger people, 20's and younger, will have passable to very good mandarin from their secondary school. It depends how progressive their school was in implementing mandarin.

You will hear mandarin in the New Territories but it's hit and miss to find a local HK person having good ability in mandarin.

I agree with the previous post about using English first and then switching to mandarin. This will get you much further than using mandarin first.

[studychinese]

I like to tell Chinese people:

虽然我的中文能力不太好，但是比香港人更好！

Never fails to get a laugh or agreement.

[skylee]

studychinese, are you sure?

And let's not confuse Mandarin with 中文.

[French]

Like anonymoose said, I found that much more people from Hong Kong are fluent in mandarin. I haven't been on then island for years, in 2014, I've been there at least 5 times.

I've met an old couple and I was worried which language I should use, but they were proficient in English to my surprise.

During the occupation of Central (Admiralty site), I spent a little more than a day, I was exchanging in English with students and in mandarin with people from the pro-democratically party. For the majority of the politicians, they were trilingual but not all of them, so the default language became mandarin.

But I never feel like people wouldn't get what I was talking about if I would switch to 100% mandarin. Not everybody would be comfortable though.

That wasn't the case in Singapore where virtually every person of Chinese descent (华人）would be proficient in mandarin, at least the ones I met.

[trisha2766]

Thanks! Not the answers I expected! I thought more people might know Mandarin, but had no idea so many people there knew English too.  Maybe that shouldn't be a surprise though, given that it was a British colony. On the other hand, I've seen ads to teach English in Hong Kong.

 

So what do you think - do more people there speak Mandarin or English?

 

I wonder if those people taking the English classes, if there really are that many, are otherwise Mandarin or Cantonese speakers?

[skylee]

English is one of the official languages in HK. Everyone studying in ordinary HK schools must learn both English and Chinese (and must get a pass in both languages if they want to get a subsidised place in a local university). Younger generations must also learn Mandarin in school. So in theory the local workforce is tri-lingual and bi-literate. Whether or not people are good at learning languages or like speaking English or Mandarin is of course a different matter.

I, a HKer, don't mind speaking English but do mind speaking Mandarin while in HK. That said, it doesn't mean that I would not reply if someone asks me for directions in Mandarin. It is just that some people in HK (1) are not good at Mandarin, and / or (2) do not like speaking in Mandarin, while others might embrace Mandarin as their own language. Haha.

[carlo]

I'd say Mandarin may get you farther if you do *not* have a Chinese face, because people are less likely to think you are from the mainland, and appreciate instead the fact that you speak any Chinese at all.

 

HK has a very diverse school system, with a bewildering number of choices facing parents, and several changes that have taken place in the last 20 years or so. Assuming you can get past the interviews, you may choose to have your child schooled in English, in Mandarin, in Cantonese or various combinations of all three. As a result, the language landscape is kind of unpredictable. In HK, I find I'm never quite sure what language to use with a complete stranger.

 

Several Cantonese-medium primary schools in my area are currently teaching Chinese through Mandarin, meaning at least one-two hours of Mandarin a day. Many of the kids I see in my local playground (HK Island East) speak perfect Mandarin, as in, before meeting the parents, I thought they were from Shenzhen. Young people do not necessarily speak better English than the older generation, which is kind of counterintuitive if you come from up north, but makes a lot of sense once you understand the changes the school system has been through since the '90s.

[Flickserve]

Skylee, noticed you didn't mention 'lose face' as a reason for not speaking mandarin.

[trisha2766]

So those ads for teaching English in Hong Kong must be nonsense then?

[Flickserve]

So those ads for teaching English in Hong Kong must be nonsense then?

In what sense?

[trisha2766]

Well, if most everyone in Hong Kong already knows English really well, then why would any need to teach - oh, ok - they still need people to come to HK to teach in the high schools, etc? I was thinking people would be growing up speaking the language and wouldn't need any people from outside of HK to come and teach. Sorry