Pronunciation of Hong Kong

The pronunciation of Hong Kong varies depending upon the language of the native speaker, be it 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. There are three main ways to romanise 香港 in Cantonese , and a plethora of others used for Mandarin romanisation.

Some linguists believe that the name of the territory, Hong Kong , is an approximate transliteration of the Chinese name based upon its Cantonese pronunciation. However, "Hong Kong" sounds only somewhat similar to the Cantonese, and some believe that the term is derived for the name for the area, which is romanised as ''hiong1 gong3'' . 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.

Romanisations

;Romanisations of 香港

*
* Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2
* : Hēunggóng


* POJ: Hiong-kang


*
* Pinyin: Xiānggǎng
* Wade-Giles: Hsiang1-kang3

;Romanizations of 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區
Cantonese
*IPA:
*Jyutping: zung1 waa4 jan4 man4 gung6 wo4 gwok3 hoeng1 gong2 dak6 bit6 hang4 zing3 keoi1
*Yale: Jūngwàh Yàhnmàn Guhngwòhgwok Hēunggóng Dahkbiht Hàhngjingkūi

Hokkien
*POJ: Tiong-hoa Lang-bin Kang-ho-kok Hiong-kang Tek-piat Hang-cheng-khu

Mandarin
*IPA:
*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

Hong Kong's full name in simplified Chinese characters

In People's Republic of China some characters for Hong Kong's full name, as it normally written, differ from the traditional:
* In : 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區
* In : 中华人民共和国香港特别行政区