Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation (not an official title) is the method of romanisation used in Hong Kong. This article illustrage and explain how the proper nouns in Hong Kong are transcribed and romanised, and the corresponding pronunciations of the spellings with respect to IPA and Jyutping.

Usage

It is used in romanising names of people, when the applicant do not produce one by her/himself, and geographical names, for places which do not have an English name.

For place names, "Street" and "Road" are often used instead of "Do" and "Kai", with just a handful of rare examples (for example, Lan Kwai Fong). "Wan" and "Bay", "Tsuen" (or "Chuen") and "Estate", are, however, equally common. Some places, such as "Un Long", was later renamed as "Yuen Long" according to this standard.

When the romanisations are spoken in an English conversation, they are pronounced in the English manner. A good everyday example are the broadcast of the names of stations on MTR trains.

Some Internet instant messenger users, who are having problem to type in Chinese characters, model this rule of romanisation to communicate.

Phonology

It is not a fully standardised system, and many of the phonemes correspond to more than one letter combination, or the other way round. All tones are omitted. Distinctions between aspirated and unaspirated stops are also omitted.

Under the following table, geographical names are used to illustrate. (Biographical names are not used as people have the right to decide how their names be romanised, although the same rule usually applies.)

Consonants

Initials

Finals

Vowels

* no geographical example.

See also

• List of common Chinese surnames shows how they are romanised in this scheme.
• Jyutping

External links

• Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK)
• Jyutping Pronunciation Guide