Hong Kong Traditional Romanization System

The Hong Kong Traditional Romanization System is a Cantonese romanization system that originated in Hong Kong during British rule, and has since been used by various Hong Kong public services for the transcription of local names and geographic names. The system is not standardized and has no official name. The phonetic transcription (from the point of view of the English-speaking reader), ^[1] but does not allow the reproduction of the Cantonese syllable from the transcribed version, since it does not distinguish between consonants with aspiration and without aspiration, as well as between many vowels and diphthongs. Many Cantonese words have several possible transcriptions in the traditional system - for example, the surname 秦 (in Cantonese Chyon, [ʧʰɵn] ) has three transmission options: Tseun, Tseon and Chun.

Content

System Description

Record initials

Transfer initials (first consonant syllables):

MFA	Russian transcription	Yutphin	Hong Kong traditional romanization	Russian transliteration	example (in hieroglyphs)
[pʰ] -	nx	p	p	P	Sai Ying P un ( 西營盤 )
[p] -	P	b	p	P	P o Lam ( 寶琳 )
[tʰ] -	mx	t	t	t	T uen Mun ( 屯門 )
[t] -	t	d	t	t	T ai O ( 大澳 )
[kʰ] -	kh	k	k	to	K ai Tak ( 啟德 )
[k] -	to	g	k	to	Tai K ok Tsui ( 大角嘴 )
[kʷʰ] -	khu	kw	kw	square	Kw ai Chung ( 葵涌 )
[kʷ] -	ku	gw	kw	square	Cha Kw o Ling ( 茶果嶺 )
[m] -	m	m	m	m	Yau Ma a Tei ( 油麻地 )
[n] -	n	n	n	n	N am Cheong ( 南昌 )
[ŋ] -	ng	ng	ng	ng	Ng au Tau Kok ( 牛頭角 )
[l] -	l	l	l	l	L am Tin ( 藍田 )
[f] -	f	f	f	f	F o Tan ( 火炭 )
[s] - or [ʃ] -	with	s	s or sh	with or w	S o Kon Po ( 掃捍埔 ) Sh au Kei Wan ( 筲箕灣 )
[h] -	x	h	h	x	H ang Hau ( 坑口 )
[j] -	iotization vowel	j	y or - ^{[i 1]}	u, i, y	Y au Tong ( 油塘 ) Kau U Fong ( 九如坊 )
[w] -	at / -	w	w	at	W ong Tai Sin ( 黃大仙 )
[ʦʰ] - or [ʧʰ] -	wh	with	ch or ts ^{[i 2]}	h or c	Heng Fa Ch uen ( 杏花邨 ) Yau Yat Ts uen ( 又一村 )
[ʦ] - or [ʧ] -	h	z	ts	c	Ts im Sha Tsui ( 尖沙嘴 )

↑ In Hong Kong traditional Romanization, the syllable [jyː] can be simply transmitted as “u”.
↑ This initial is pronounced [ʧʰ] (= [h ^х ]) before the vowels iː , œː , ɵ and yː , in other cases - [ʦʰ] (= [μ ^х ]). But in the Hong Kong traditional system of Romanization, it can be transmitted as either “ts” or “ch”, regardless of the following vowel. Examples: [ʧʰɵi] - Ts ui ( 徐 ) or Ch ui ( 崔 ); [ʦʰou] - Ts o ( 曹 ), but [ʦʰɔːi] - Ch oi ( 蔡 ).

Record final consonants

Transfer final consonant syllables:

MFA	Russian transcription	Yutphin	Hong Kong traditional romanization	Russian transliteration	example (in hieroglyphs)
- [p]	P	p	p	P	A p Lei Chau ( 鴨脷洲 )
- [t]	t	t	t	t	Tsa t Tsz Mui ( 七姊妹 )
- [k]	to	k	k	to	She k o ( 石澳 )
- [m]	m	m	m	m	Sha m Shui Po ( 深水埗 )
- [n]	ny	n	n	n	Tsue n Wan ( 荃灣 )
- [ŋ]	n	ng	ng	ng	Tsi ng Yi ( 青衣 )

Record syllable consonants

MFA	Russian transcription	Yutphin	Hong Kong traditional romanization	Russian transliteration	example (in hieroglyphs)
[m̩]	m	m	m	- ^{[s 1]}	-
[ŋ̩]	yn	ng	ng	yn	Ng Fan Chau ( 五分州 )

↑ In the Hong Kong traditional Romanization system, there is no syllable transfer method [m̩] because this syllable is not used in names and place names.

Vowel Record

Transfer vowels in syllables without a final sound or with a final consonant:

MFA	Russian transcription	Yutphin	Hong Kong traditional romanization	Russian transliteration	example (in hieroglyphs)
aː	a: / a	aa	a or ah	but	M a Tau Wai ( 馬頭圍 ) W ah Fu Estate ( 華富邨 )
ɐ	but	a	a, o or u	oh oh	Tsz W a n Shan ( 慈雲山 ) Hung H o m ( 紅磡 ) Sham Ch u n River ( 深圳河 )
ɛː / e	uh	e	e	e	Ch e Kung Miu ( 車公廟 )
iː / ɪ	and	i	i, ee, z or ze	and	Lai Ch i Kok ( 荔枝角 ) Tat Ch ee Avenue ( 達之路 ) Tung Ts z ( 洞梓 ) Sheung S ze Wan ( 相思灣 )
ɔː / o	about	o	o	about	W o Che ( 禾輋 )
uː / ʊ	at	u	u or oo	at	Kw u Tung ( 古洞 ) Mei F oo ( 美孚 )
œː / ɵ	yo	oe / eo	eu, eo or u	e or y	Sh eu ng Wan ( 上環 ) Nam Ch eo ng Street ( 南昌街 ) Sh u n Lee Estate ( 順利邨 )
yː	Yu	yu	u or ue	Yu	Y u Chau Street ( 汝州街 ) Yung Sh ue Wan ( 榕樹灣 )

Diphthong Recording

MFA	Russian transcription	Yutphin	Hong Kong traditional romanization	Russian transliteration	example (in hieroglyphs)
aːi	a: y	aai	ai	ah	Ch ai Wan ( 柴灣 )
ɐi	ai	ai	ai	ah	M ai Po ( 米埔 )
aːu	a: y	aau	au	ay	Sh au Kei Wan ( 筲箕灣 )
ɐu	ay	au	au	ay	S au M au Ping ( 秀茂坪 )
ei	Hey	ei	ei, ee, ai, ay or i	her and or ah	L ei Yue Mun ( 鯉魚門 ) L ee On ( 利安 ) Kam H ay Court ( 錦禧苑 ) Shui Hau S ai Ngan Ma ( 水口四眼馬 ) To L i Terrace ( 桃李台 )
iːu	Yiwu	iu	iu	Yiwu	S iu Sai Wan ( 小西灣 )
ɔːi	Oh	oi	oi or oy	Oh	Ch oi Hung Estate ( 彩虹邨 ) Ch oy Yee Bridge ( 蔡意橋 )
uːi	ui	ui	ui	ui	P ui O ( 貝澳 )
ou	OU	ou	o	about	Tai M o Shan ( 大帽山 )
ɵy	her	eoi	ui	her	Ma Liu Sh ui ( 馬料水 )

Notes

↑ Jung-Fang Tsai. A Note on Romanization , 1842-1913. - Columbia University Press, 1995. - 375 p. - ISBN 9780231079334 .

[2] In Hong Kong traditional Romanization, the syllable [jyː] can be simply transmitted as “u”.

[3] This initial is pronounced [ʧʰ] (= [h ^х ]) before the vowels iː , œː , ɵ and yː , in other cases - [ʦʰ] (= [μ ^х ]). But in the Hong Kong traditional system of Romanization, it can be transmitted as either “ts” or “ch”, regardless of the following vowel. Examples: [ʧʰɵi] - Ts ui ( 徐 ) or Ch ui ( 崔 ); [ʦʰou] - Ts o ( 曹 ), but [ʦʰɔːi] - Ch oi ( 蔡 ).

[4] In the Hong Kong traditional Romanization system, there is no syllable transfer method [m̩] because this syllable is not used in names and place names.

[1] Jung-Fang Tsai. A Note on Romanization , 1842-1913. - Columbia University Press, 1995. - 375 p. - ISBN 9780231079334 .