Do Guangdong People still speak Cantonese?

Do Guangdong People still speak Cantonese?

Cantonese remains today as a majority language in Guangdong and Guangxi, despite the increasing influence of Mandarin. Taishanese people may also be considered Cantonese but speak a distinct variety of Yue Chinese, Taishanese.

Why is Cantonese declining?

Also contributing to the decline is the influx of migrant population into Guangzhou as a result of the city’s economic and developmental advantages in the country. Besides the decline of Cantonese in Guangzhou, there is also fear of Cantonese declining in Hong Kong.

Is Cantonese dying in Guangzhou?

In Guangzhou, other Chinese dialects (OCDs) are under more serious threat than Cantonese (Li et al., 2019). These dialects have declined as a mother tongue in Guangzhou, leaving Cantonese and Putonghua as the main choices (Xu and Zhou, 2016).

Why does Guangdong speak Cantonese?

Due to the city’s long standing as an important cultural center, Cantonese emerged as the prestige dialect of the Yue varieties of Chinese in the Southern Song dynasty and its usage spread around most of what is now the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Why is Cantonese important?

Because Cantonese uses the traditional characters, you will have the basic knowledge of the basic radicals. Since Mandarin’s radicals are simplified, it will facilitate learning Mandarin. If you are interested in the culture of Hong Kong and want to delve deeper into the arts, you need to learn Cantonese.

Is Cantonese widely spoken?

It is the traditional prestige variety of the Yue Chinese dialect group, which has over 80 million native speakers. Cantonese is also widely spoken amongst Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia (most notably in Vietnam and Malaysia, as well as in Singapore and Cambodia to a lesser extent) and throughout the Western world.

Is Mandarin and Cantonese different?

Mandarin is the official state language of China and the most widely spoken Chinese dialect in the country. Mandarin is spoken widely in Singapore and Taiwan. Cantonese, however, is spoken largely in Hong Kong, as well as in Macau and the Guangdong province, including Guangzhou.

Why is Cantonese so different from Mandarin?

Both the Mandarin and Cantonese dialects are tonal languages where one word has many meanings depending on the pronunciation and intonation. Cantonese has six tones, whereas Mandarin has just four. Cracking the tones are said to be the hardest part of learning Chinese.

Is Guangdong TV planning to switch from Cantonese to Mandarin?

Nonetheless reports in neighboring Hong Kong said the province’s official broadcaster Guangdong TV was planning to quietly switch most of its programming from Cantonese to Mandarin on September 1. An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Do most people in Guangdong speak Cantonese?

No, only part of population speak Cantonese in Guangdong. As you can see, on the coast of the east part, most people speak Southern Min (the Teochew and Hailufeng) and few part of the Eastern inland (Hokkien). While in west coast, there is Qiong–Lei Min (Leizhou and Hai) (the red one)

How many people in China still can’t speak Mandarin?

But according to a ministry of education statement last year, 30 percent of Chinese — 400 million people — still cannot speak Mandarin. Cantonese is the first language of roughly half the population of Guangzhou, China’s third-largest city and the provincial capital of Guangdong — where for many elderly residents, it is their only tongue.

Will Cantonese fall by the wayside in Guangzhou?

But some in Guangzhou worry that as young people and their parents focus on Mandarin for academic and career reasons, Cantonese may fall by the wayside. “A lot of kids, they speak only Mandarin at school,” said Huang Xiaoyu, a 28-year-old media worker. “And at home, their mum will speak to them in Cantonese but the kids will respond in Mandarin.