Languages and your family in Hong Kong

You can live in Hong Kong for years in English. Your children, though, will meet Chinese at school almost whichever school you pick, and it pays to know what's coming.

The short version

English and Chinese are both official, but the street, the market and the minibus run on Cantonese, written in traditional characters. Mandarin (Putonghua) is the Chinese most international schools teach.
Local public schools teach mainly in Chinese. The Education Bureau supports "non-Chinese speaking" (NCS) pupils with a separate second-language framework for Chinese, and about 720 publicly funded schools, roughly three in four, admit NCS children [3][4].
International and ESF schools usually teach Chinese as a subject rather than a requirement set by the government. Ask each school which Chinese, how many hours, and whether there are beginner sets for late arrivals.
Keeping English strong matters too: a partner whose first language isn't English may need an approved English test for a UK family visa later [1].
For adults, Cantonese is best learned locally: live online lessons are hard to find, so a class or tutor in Hong Kong usually beats an app.

The languages your family will actually hear

Hong Kong is officially "biliterate and trilingual": written Chinese and English, spoken Cantonese, English and Mandarin. In practice:

Language	Where you'll meet it	What it means for you
Cantonese	Markets, minibuses, taxis, the building management office, most of daily life	Learn the basics: politeness and numbers go a long way
English	Offices, banks, government forms, signs, Central and the expat areas	You'll get by for work and paperwork
Mandarin (Putonghua)	Taught in most schools; more common in shops and offices than a decade ago	Usually the Chinese your children learn at an international school
Written Chinese	Traditional characters on signs, menus and letters from school	Children in local schools learn to read and write it
Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia and others	Your helper's home language, and Sundays in Central	A few words show respect; see our helper language guide

The Labour Department's helper portal alone comes in 14 languages, from Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia to Nepali and Urdu, which gives you a feel for how many languages live under the Hong Kong roof [7].

Chinese at school: what your children will meet

In a local public school

Public sector schools give nine years of free primary and junior secondary education [2]. Government and aided schools mostly teach in Cantonese, and Chinese Language is a core subject all the way through. If your child goes local, they'll be one of a growing group the Education Bureau calls NCS students, and the support is real:

A second-language framework. The Bureau's Chinese Language Curriculum Second Language Learning Framework sets out steps, methods and assessment designed for children learning Chinese as a second language [3][4].
Extra money for schools. Schools that admit NCS pupils get additional funding to hire Chinese teachers and teaching assistants [4].
Bridging help. A Summer Bridging Programme runs for NCS pupils in primary schools, and there's a leaflet for Primary 6 children moving up to secondary Chinese [3].
Other routes to a Chinese qualification. The Bureau subsidises eligible NCS candidates who sit Chinese exams under GCSE, IGCSE or GCE AS and A level, and these alternative Chinese qualifications can be used for local university admission through JUPAS. Applied Learning Chinese is another option within the HKDSE [3].
Briefings for parents. The Bureau holds Primary One and Secondary One admission briefings for NCS parents with simultaneous interpretation [3][4].

The Bureau's own advice is to start immersion "as early as possible" and to look for schools with a language-rich environment [4]. Children who start in Primary 1 tend to pick up Cantonese astonishingly fast; arriving at 11 or 12 into a Chinese-medium secondary is a much bigger leap. Our guide to schools in Hong Kong covers the admission system.

In an ESF or international school

Here the teaching is in English and Chinese is a subject. Most schools teach Mandarin rather than Cantonese, and they don't all use the same characters, so ask:

Which Chinese? Mandarin or Cantonese, and simplified or traditional characters.
How much? A few lessons a week makes a confident beginner; a bilingual stream is a different thing entirely.
Sets for late arrivals. A Year 8 pupil from Surrey shouldn't be sitting with classmates who've learned Mandarin since nursery. Most schools have beginner or "Chinese as an additional language" groups; check before you accept a place.
Exams. Chinese at GCSE, IGCSE or A level, or in the IB, can be a genuine asset for UK university applications later.

There's no blanket government exemption for British children at international schools because Chinese isn't imposed on them by law: each school sets its own rules. If your child arrives at 14 with no Chinese, talk to the school about dropping it for another language or taking it at a lower level.

What it means for a British family

Age of arrival matters most. Under-sevens soak up a language from the playground and the helper; teenagers need structure. If you're arriving with older children, budget for some tutoring in the first year, and agree with the school what "catching up" looks like.

Home life helps. Many children's first Cantonese comes from minibus drivers, the uncle at the cha chaan teng and, often, a helper who speaks some Cantonese. Use it: a child who can order their own pineapple bun is a child who's settling in.

Don't panic about English slipping. In an English-medium school, it won't. In a local school, read English books at home and keep up a weekly routine of English writing. Our guide to ESF and international schools covers the English-medium options.

A few words of Cantonese for the grown-ups

You don't need much to be taken more seriously in a market or a taxi. Cantonese has tones, so the romanisation below is only rough; listen and copy.

English	Cantonese	Rough pronunciation
Hello	你好	nay ho
Thank you (for a service), excuse me	唔該	mm goy
Thank you (for a gift)	多謝	daw jeh
The bill, please	埋單	my dan
Stop here, please (minibus)	有落	yau lok
How much?	幾多錢？	gay daw cheen
Hello (Mandarin)	你好	nee how
Thank you (Mandarin)	谢谢	sheh-sheh

"Yau lok" is the one that matters on a red minibus: shout it in good time, or you'll be enjoying a tour of the New Territories.

Learning Cantonese or Mandarin as an adult

Both are hard for English speakers, and Cantonese has more tones than Mandarin. Be realistic: an hour a day for a year gets you comfortable with shops, taxis and small talk, not school meetings.

University courses. The Yale-China Chinese Language Academy at CUHK runs a part-time Foundation Certificate Programme in Chinese (Cantonese) for Non-Chinese Speakers, on weekday evenings or Saturdays at the Shatin campus, with intakes several times a year [5].
A local tutor. For Cantonese especially, live online lessons are hard to find. A tutor in Hong Kong, or a class through your employer, is usually the better route, and apps help with the basics and the tones.
Mandarin is easier to find online and in classes, and it's what your children are probably learning, so some parents learn alongside them.

Keeping your family's English strong

Hong Kong families are often multilingual: a British parent, a partner from elsewhere, a helper from the Philippines or Indonesia, and children switching between all of them.

Bilingual children. One parent, one language works well, and planned mixing is fine. Children aren't confused by two languages; they're confused by inconsistency.
Cambridge English Qualifications. For children whose English isn't their strongest language, Cambridge University Press & Assessment runs exams for schools including A2 Key for Schools, B1 Preliminary for Schools and B2 First for Schools [6]. Younger children can start with the Pre A1 Starters to A2 Flyers tests.
IELTS. Many universities, in Hong Kong, the UK and elsewhere, accept IELTS as proof of English from applicants who weren't educated in English, and some versions of it are used for visas. Check which version a university or the Home Office asks for before booking.
A partner heading to the UK later. If your partner isn't British and you might move back, the UK family visa needs English at CEFR level A1 for the first application, A2 in speaking and listening for the extension at two and a half years, and B1 for settlement after five years, with exemptions for some nationalities, over-65s and holders of degrees taught in English [1]. Starting early in Hong Kong is far easier than cramming in Croydon. Our guide to bringing a non-British partner to the UK later has the detail.
Professional English. If your partner needs polished business English for work here, an exam such as B2 First or C1 Advanced, or IELTS, gives employers something to see.

Other parents are the best source on which schools' Chinese teaching is any good: ask in our community group for Brits in Hong Kong.

If you'd rather learn with a live teacher online, our language partner is below.

Languages and your family in Hong Kong: Cantonese, Mandarin and keeping English strong