Pronunciation of Hong Kong

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The pronunciation of Hong Kong varies depending upon the language of the native speaker, be it Cantonese or Standard Mandarin. The widespread usage of these languages has created many different ways to pronounce the Chinese characters 香港, which mean Hong Kong. The lack of a standard Cantonese romanisation standard has created different ways to romanise 香港 based upon the pronunciation in Cantonese.

Some linguists believe that the English name of the territory, Hong Kong, is an approximate transliteration of the Chinese name based upon its Cantonese pronunciation. However, "Hong Kong" y sounds only somewhat similar to the Cantonese, and some believe that the term is derived for the Hakka name for the area, which is romanised as hiong1 gong3 (IPA: [hiɔŋ₄₄ kɔŋ₃₁]). This pronunciation is closer to the standard English version, and is spoken as the first language by the natives of many villages in the New Territories.

[edit] Romanisations

Romanisations of 香港 (Hong Kong)

Cantonese

• IPA: [hœːŋ₅₅ kɔːŋ₃₅]
• Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2
• Yale: heūng góng

Mandarin

• IPA: [ɕjɑŋ₅₅ kɑŋ₂₁₄]
• Pinyin: Xiānggǎng
• Wade-Giles: Hsiang-kang

Romanizations of 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區 (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China)

Cantonese listen (help·info)

• IPA: /tsəʊŋ₅₅ wɑ₁₁ jɐn₁₁ mɐn₁₁ kəʊŋ₂₂ wɔ₁₁ kwɔk₃₃ hœŋ₅₅ kɔŋ₃₅ tɐk₂₂ pɪt₂₂ hɐŋ₁₁ tsɪŋ₃₃ kʰɵy₅₅/;
• Jyutping: zung1 waa4 jan4 man4 gung6 wo4 gwok3 hoeng1 gong2 dak6 bit6 hang4 zing3 keoi1;
• Yale: jūng wàh yàhn màn guhng wòh gwok hēung góng dahk biht hàhng jing kūi;

Mandarin listen (help·info)

• IPA: /tʂʊŋ₅₅ xwɑ₃₅ ɻən₃₅ min₃₅ kʊŋ₅₁ xɤ₃₅ kwo₃₅ ɕjɑŋ₅₅ kɑŋ₂₁₄ tʰɤ₅₁ pjɛ₃₅ ɕiŋ₃₅ tʂəŋ₅₁ tɕʰy₅₅/;
• Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Xiānggǎng Tèbié Xíngzhèngqū;
• Wade-Giles: Chung1-hua2 Jen2-min2 Kung4-ho2-kuo2 Hsiang1-kang3 t'e4-pie2 Hsing2-cheng4-ch'ü1