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Official Languages Ordinance

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be used in communication between the government and the public. Despite the usage of different dialects in spoken Chinese, the government chose not to specify a dialect as an official language, instead indicating "Chinese" as an official language, allowing any dialect to be used. Since most of the local population spoke
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While no law existed prior to 1974 to designate official languages in Hong Kong, by practice, English was the sole language used in all branches of the British colonial government. Under public pressure, the Official Languages Ordinance was enacted in 1974 to declare that both English and Chinese may
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are declared official languages with equal status in the ordinance, and are to be used in communication between the government and members of the public. It dictates that all ordinances would be enacted and published in both languages, and allows judicial officers the choice of using either language
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An Ordinance to provide for the official languages of Hong Kong, and for their status and use.
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1975, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2011, 2017
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enacted for the purpose of specifying the status and use of
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Index


Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Long title
Cap. 5
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Secretary for Home Affairs
Denis Campbell Bray
First reading
Second reading
Third reading
Hong Kong
official languages
Chinese
English
Cantonese
dialect
"Enactment History of Cap. 5 Official Languages Ordinance"
"Official Languages Ordinance, Official languages and their status and use (Cap 5, Section 3)"
HKSAR Department of Justice
"Official Languages Ordinance, Enactment of Ordinances in both official languages (Cap 5, Section 4)"
"Official Languages Ordinance, Judicial proceedings (Cap 5, Section 5)"
Alister Cumming
"National Profiles of Language Education in 25 Countries"
National Foundation for Educational Research
the original

Official Languages Ordinance 1974
Full text of the Official Languages Ordinance
Flag of Hong Kong
law in Hong Kong

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