When English-speaking tourists head to “Asia’s World City” (locals call it “the Big Lychee”) they sometimes assume that because Hong Kong was under British rule from 1842 to 1997, that Hong Kongers should all speak perfect English. As someone who has spent an extensive amount of time in that Great city, I knew long ago that this was not the case. My uncles, aunts, and cousins, when “forced” to speak English, will mumble “umm… ahhh” for a little while before they “switch” into English and get on with the conversation. As any long-suffering Expatriate in Hong Kong will tell you, here are some common errors in the English language as spoken by the Cantonese people of Hong Kong.

One of the most infamous errors in Hong Kong English is the fact that many Cantonese speakers cannot tell the difference between “l” and “r”. This is not just a Cantonese thing as Japanese speakers often have the same problem, but nonetheless it is present. As a result, terms such as “Fried Rice”, a staple of the Expatriate community in Hong Kong, becomes “flied lice”, which is unfortunate as this became the butt of British jokes about their former Crown Colony for years. Also, Hong Kong speakers tend to drop the last “r” of many English words, so “computer” becomes “coom-puu-tah” and “the Edmonton Oilers” become the “Edmuntun Oylah” and so on. Also, “w”, “v”, and “f” masquerade for each other. (“Wancouwah Cannut”-Vancouver Canucks. “Thick” becomes “Fick” and so on.)

Hong Kong people have always had an independent streak which means that they can find humour in many things. When the British named the streets of their colony, they gave them the honour of dignified Victorian names such as “Waterloo Road” or “Granville Road.” The Cantonese, who composed 95% of the population of Hong Kong (and still do), and immediately dubbed them “wo-da-lo loe” and “ga-leen-wai-lo loe” respectively. This brings us to another common pronounciation problem in Hong Kong, namely that Cantonese speakers often drop the final hard “t” or “d” in their English. Another example of this would be the word “find”, which comes out like the word “fine.” (ie, “I fine this alleddy.”)

Two common errors in Hong Kong English are exact opposites, so to speak. The first one is the prevalence of dropping “l” endings from many words. For example, “bell” becomes “bew” and “tell” becomes “tey-O.” (“Tey-o them dat they in big tlabo!”) On other words, however, the opposite happens and the “l” ending is over-stressed, leading to words such as “impossible” being pronounced “imm-pall-see-boll”.

Yet more confusion sets in when Hong Kongers use “l” and “n” interchangeably. So “No” becomes “lo” (as in “lo and behold.”) and “never” is “levah”. Finally, “Z” is often pronounced “E-zed”, and I really have no idea why.

In conclusion, it is very clear that Hong Kong English has a lot of pronounciation problems. The Cantonese accent has been much-ballyhooed for some of its faults, and the Hong Kong Government is trying to find ways to improve the people’s English. However, a red flag on this matter went up when the Hong Kong Government administered a test of English for all English teachers in Hong Kong and over 40% failed. If 40% of English TEACHERS in Hong Kong fail an English test, what does this mean for the future of English in Hong Kong? Well, it is what it is, and on the flip side of that statistic 60% did pass the test, meaning the future of English in Hong Kong is not totally hopeless.

Works Cited

“Hong Kong English”.
(Accessed March 22, 2007)

Hao, Henry. Chinglish
(Oleander Press, 2003)

Kingsley, Bolton. Hong Kong English
(University of British Columbia, 2003)

Emanuel Leung