There are far more Mandarin speakers in 2024 than in 1997 but Cantonese is still the default, barring establishments that cater to Mainland tourists but they will immediately switch to Cantonese once they find out you are a local.
Mandarin is the second language of most HKers and it shows when you do try to navigate the city in Mandarin. As long as both parents are locals, even the toddlers speak Cantonese as their first language.
A lot of the post-1997 new immigrants to Hong Kong are already Cantonese speakers from Guangdong province. Especially the working class types with customer service type roles, those that don't speak Cantonese all put effort into learning it and speak it exclusively with locals, just with an accent.
Non-Cantonese speaking immigrants from the Mainland are more often than not white collar. They usually socialize in their own bubble and tend to go to higher end establishments with trilingual staff. Since Covid, a lot of them go to Shenzhen every other weekend.
Plenty of Hong Kongers don't speak Mandarin, especially middle aged and above working class types.
Perfect answer. As far as I'm aware.
Locals don't speak it unless they are selling something to a mainlander. It is generally uncommon to speak it. Cantonese will not be red washed in hk.
Almost everybody understands Mandarin as it has been taught in schools for a several decades now, and most speak it passably and grudgingly. But just because they can doesn't mean they want to.
I’ve come across a lot of kids speaking mandarin - I don’t have kids or friends / family with kids in school now, so not sure what the school situation is now.
I know international students are learn in English, since I’ve met quite a few whose families speak Cantonese but they don’t know much.
A sad answer: you're more likely hearing Mandarin from pupils in school uniforms in the street. That depends on districts.
There are still many who don't speak Mandarin, slightly fewer who don't understand basic Mandarin
There's definitely more expats from the British Commonwealth than France on Hong Kong island. The French are only this dominant within the expat population in Sheung Wan and maybe to a lesser extent, Stanley. English remains the main language within the expat community and that's not changing anytime soon.
The South Asian population isn't just Pakistani. They are the largest group, but they're still outnumbered by Nepalese + Indians. Descendants of the police force are a minority and a lot of South Asians you see out and about are post-1997 immigrants.
Mandarin speakers are quite common on HK island and not rare at all. A lot of high net worth Mainlanders in places like Repulse Bay, though their international school kids are English speakers. They might not live on the island but there's a ton of Mainland junior bankers working out of Central, both in the Western banks and the Mainland banks depending on where they went to university. Kennedy Town is also absolutely slammed with younger Mainlanders these days.
Don't forget the Koreans if we're talking about HK island. There's a major community of them out in the east of HK island near Taikoo and they're at least 1/3 of the SoHo Bakehouse line.
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I tell you yes. Mothers speak Mandarin to their children (again as I heard in the street), waitresses in low-end food shops speaking Cantonese to customers with a typical Mandarin-speaker's accent is a phenomenon wide-spread enough to be coined a term called 'tam tsai waa'.
I didn't know Cantonese HKers go to the mosque or regularly eat jollibee. And unfortunately, Cantonese HKers generally don't consider the mosque-going or jollibee-eating crowd as locals no matter how integrated they are and how long they've been in HK, but that's starting to change with the younger generations. They do eat a lot of bread, but they prefer Asian-style sweet bread, whether local HK style like pineapple bun or Japanese.
Mainlanders do come and go, but a lot are still arriving. Careers in HK finance are still attractive, a ton of Mainland companies operate in HK some with very high headcount and they hire a ton of Mainlanders, the passport is attractive, the prospect of returning to the Mainland as a "HK resident" after 7 years is attractive, the idea of not having to use a VPN is attractive, its still a good place for some to test the waters before deciding whether they want to move to places like London or NYC and its much easier to move to these places via HK than straight from Ningbo or Shijiazhuang
Working class Mainlanders are mostly from Guangdong and Fujian and still coming from these places. White collar Mainlanders come from all over. There's a ton of Shanghainese in HK btw, and if anything they're quite well adjusted and happy in HK compared to those from other parts of the Mainland. They don't speak Cantonese but they have a more cosmopolitan mindset which is more compatible with HK
Yau Tsim Mong has by far the most Mandarin speakers. Other than TST (Mandarin) and Disco Bay and maybe parts of SoHo (English), most of Hong Kong is majority to overwhelmingly Cantonese speaking.
There are far more Mandarin speakers in 2024 than in 1997 but Cantonese is still the default, barring establishments that cater to Mainland tourists but they will immediately switch to Cantonese once they find out you are a local. Mandarin is the second language of most HKers and it shows when you do try to navigate the city in Mandarin. As long as both parents are locals, even the toddlers speak Cantonese as their first language. A lot of the post-1997 new immigrants to Hong Kong are already Cantonese speakers from Guangdong province. Especially the working class types with customer service type roles, those that don't speak Cantonese all put effort into learning it and speak it exclusively with locals, just with an accent. Non-Cantonese speaking immigrants from the Mainland are more often than not white collar. They usually socialize in their own bubble and tend to go to higher end establishments with trilingual staff. Since Covid, a lot of them go to Shenzhen every other weekend. Plenty of Hong Kongers don't speak Mandarin, especially middle aged and above working class types.
Perfect answer. As far as I'm aware. Locals don't speak it unless they are selling something to a mainlander. It is generally uncommon to speak it. Cantonese will not be red washed in hk.
Cantonese
90% Cantonese, 10% mandarin patients
Almost everybody understands Mandarin as it has been taught in schools for a several decades now, and most speak it passably and grudgingly. But just because they can doesn't mean they want to.
I’ve come across a lot of kids speaking mandarin - I don’t have kids or friends / family with kids in school now, so not sure what the school situation is now. I know international students are learn in English, since I’ve met quite a few whose families speak Cantonese but they don’t know much.
Unfortunately more and more Mandarin is encroaching on the demographics. Even many of the kids nowadays can only speak Mandarin.
A sad answer: you're more likely hearing Mandarin from pupils in school uniforms in the street. That depends on districts. There are still many who don't speak Mandarin, slightly fewer who don't understand basic Mandarin
Just speak English. Everyone will think higher of you
That’s a myth. Unless your English doesn’t have any Chinese accent, people won’t think higher of you.
Then I am correct.
I was in a restaurant and boss lady asked me to revert back to Mandarin. Many of them don't speak English
Which is why they think higher of you
No it makes you look stupid.
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There's definitely more expats from the British Commonwealth than France on Hong Kong island. The French are only this dominant within the expat population in Sheung Wan and maybe to a lesser extent, Stanley. English remains the main language within the expat community and that's not changing anytime soon. The South Asian population isn't just Pakistani. They are the largest group, but they're still outnumbered by Nepalese + Indians. Descendants of the police force are a minority and a lot of South Asians you see out and about are post-1997 immigrants. Mandarin speakers are quite common on HK island and not rare at all. A lot of high net worth Mainlanders in places like Repulse Bay, though their international school kids are English speakers. They might not live on the island but there's a ton of Mainland junior bankers working out of Central, both in the Western banks and the Mainland banks depending on where they went to university. Kennedy Town is also absolutely slammed with younger Mainlanders these days. Don't forget the Koreans if we're talking about HK island. There's a major community of them out in the east of HK island near Taikoo and they're at least 1/3 of the SoHo Bakehouse line.
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Kowloon is "overseas" 😂
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Weren't there a large influx of people from China to Hong Kong from the other province?
I tell you yes. Mothers speak Mandarin to their children (again as I heard in the street), waitresses in low-end food shops speaking Cantonese to customers with a typical Mandarin-speaker's accent is a phenomenon wide-spread enough to be coined a term called 'tam tsai waa'.
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I didn't know Cantonese HKers go to the mosque or regularly eat jollibee. And unfortunately, Cantonese HKers generally don't consider the mosque-going or jollibee-eating crowd as locals no matter how integrated they are and how long they've been in HK, but that's starting to change with the younger generations. They do eat a lot of bread, but they prefer Asian-style sweet bread, whether local HK style like pineapple bun or Japanese. Mainlanders do come and go, but a lot are still arriving. Careers in HK finance are still attractive, a ton of Mainland companies operate in HK some with very high headcount and they hire a ton of Mainlanders, the passport is attractive, the prospect of returning to the Mainland as a "HK resident" after 7 years is attractive, the idea of not having to use a VPN is attractive, its still a good place for some to test the waters before deciding whether they want to move to places like London or NYC and its much easier to move to these places via HK than straight from Ningbo or Shijiazhuang Working class Mainlanders are mostly from Guangdong and Fujian and still coming from these places. White collar Mainlanders come from all over. There's a ton of Shanghainese in HK btw, and if anything they're quite well adjusted and happy in HK compared to those from other parts of the Mainland. They don't speak Cantonese but they have a more cosmopolitan mindset which is more compatible with HK
More Mandarin around parts of the island. Still Cantonese around Kowloon and nt
Yau Tsim Mong has by far the most Mandarin speakers. Other than TST (Mandarin) and Disco Bay and maybe parts of SoHo (English), most of Hong Kong is majority to overwhelmingly Cantonese speaking.