Hakka language

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Hak-kâ-fa/Hak-kâ-va (Hakka/Kejia) written in Chinese characters
Native to China, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan (due to presence of Taiwanese community in Tokyo-Yokohama Metropolitan Area), Singapore, Indonesia, Mauritius, Suriname, South Africa, India, Vietnam and other countries where Hakka Chinese-speaking migrants have settled.
Region in China: Eastern Guangdong province; adjoining regions of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces
Ethnicity Hakka people (Han Chinese)
Native speakers 30 million  (2007)ne2007
Language family
Writing system hanzi, romanization[1]
Official status
Official language in none (legislative bills have been proposed for it to be one of the "national languages" in the Republic of China)
Recognised minority language in one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in the ROC;[2] government sponsors Hakka-language television station to preserve language
Language codes
ISO 639-3 hak
Idioma hakka.png
Traditional Chinese 客家話
Simplified Chinese 客家话

Hakka is a dialect of the Chinese language spoken mainly in southern China by the Hakka people and their descendants now living in East and Southeast Asia and countries around the world.

Notes[change | change source]

  1. Hakka was written in Chinese characters by missionaries around the turn of the 20th century.[1]
  2. [2]

References[change | change source]

  • The Hakka Dialect. A Linguistic Study of its Phonology, Syntax and Lexicon, by Mantaro J. Hashimoto. (Cambridge University Press, 1973).