Hong Kong
The Hong Kong accent
Hong Kong English inherits a British model from the colonial era and a Cantonese sound system underneath it. Long and short vowels merge, so “heat” and “hit” fall together, and the assimilation and elision that smooth British speech are largely absent, which makes each syllable land fully formed. The voiceless TH fronts to F and the voiced TH stops to D.
Take the quiz and see how close your accent is →
How to recognise a Hong Kong accent
- Long and short vowels merge: “heat” and “hit” sound the same.
- “Three” starts like “free”; “this” starts like “dis”.
- Dark L in a coda becomes a vowel, so “ball” ends in a “w”-like sound.
- Hong Kong vocabulary: “chop” for a stamp, “jetso” for a discount, “add oil”.
Also known as Hong Kong accent, Hong Kong English, HK English, Cantonese-English accent. Spoken in Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong pronunciation fingerprint
These are the answers the quiz expects from a Hong Kong speaker on its 14 pronunciation questions. Where a feature varies within the region, more than one answer counts as a match.
“bath” takes the broad vowel of “father” — the trap–bath split
The Trap–Bath Split: Does “Bath” Rhyme With “Cat” or “Father”?
non-rhotic — “car” ends in a vowel, with no R sound
a clear T in the middle of “bottle”
“cot” and “caught” rhyme — the cot–caught merger
The Cot–Caught Merger: Do “Cot” and “Caught” Sound the Same?
two of “Mary”, “marry” and “merry” match and one differs
“day” is one flat sound — deh
“go” is one flat sound — gaw
“tune” keeps its Y — “tyoon”
no — they sound different
one — “film”
“Film” or “Fillum”? The Helping Vowel in Highland and Irish English
no — they end in a vowel
a d-like sound — “dat”
“ship” and “sheep” share a vowel — the kit–fleece merger
Ship or Sheep? The Vowel That Divides Native and Learned English
“put” and “putt” have different vowels — the foot–strut split
TH-fronting — “three” sounds like “free”
the H in “house” is pronounced
“fur” and “fair” stay distinct
“beer” and “bear” stay distinct
“happy” ends on a long “-ee” — happy-tensing
“wine” and “vine” start with different sounds
“school” starts straight on the S
“bed” keeps its voiced ending, apart from “bet”
an approximant R, made without contact
Everyday words in Hong Kong
Speakers with a Hong Kong accent
Tony Leung
Hong Kong
A Hong Kong English reference profile; Leung was born and raised in Hong Kong.
Jackie Chan
Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
A Hong Kong English reference profile; Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong.
Accent profiles are anchored to primary-source regional recordings from the International Dialects of English Archive, not to any individual performance.
Is my accent Hong Kong?
The only way to answer that against real data is to compare your own speech to the profile. The quiz takes about two minutes: answer 28 questions, pin the town where you grew up, and see your closest accent matches ranked by how well they fit — plus where people who answer like you actually live.