Where is cantonese most spoken

As a third generation Cantonese speaker in Singapore, I find it rare to get the chance to practise speaking the dialect with someone of my generation. Chinese dialects are very rarely an option in formal school curricula, given that Mandarin is the official Chinese language of Singapore, and as families see no real need to learn dialects—apart from the smattering of dialect already part of the national macaronic vernacular, Singlish—they are hardly touched upon in the home front too.

Slowly and surely, English is taking the lead as the language of choice in the average Singapore home. And from what little I know of the experiences of Cantonese-speaking friends in China and Hong Kong, I find it hard to believe the dialect would ever be anything more than a vernacular. On the bright side, the impressive pool of Cantonese speakers around the world is a promising sign of the times—that languages can survive even in locales where its status is solely socio-cultural.

The reason the north has fewer tones is also due to the general rule that the languages in colder regions of the world have fewer tones. There was an academic paper about this phenomenon published less than a year ago.

Hi Yong Huang! Indeed, Chinese languages up north have fewer tones likely due to Altaic influence, from contact with non-tonal languages like Manchu and Mongolian. Learning Cantonese is the best to my thoughts, it is important to communicate each day with the Cantonese language.

These are also mentioned in several teaching videos on Cantonese sounds, to educate HK youngsters. Historically, it was decided by Dr.

Rather he chose a dialect spoken in a town in BJ that spoke the imperial mandrin There was an article on this. The spoken Mandrin in Shanghai if you listen to the broadcast, songs and films in the 30s — 40s were different. Why there are not much written Cantonese unlike written Mandrin, I am no expert. But I will be very surprised if the day to day written Cantonese, used by the commoners in Qing Guangdong, is the imperial BJ dialect.

The advice above is largely true in Macau as well, although locals there are a little less sensitive to speaking 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.

Both Cantonese and Mandarin share the Chinese alphabet, but even here there is some diversion. China increasingly uses simplified characters that rely on simpler brushstrokes and a smaller collection of symbols. Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore continue to use traditional Chinese that have more complex brushstrokes.

This means that those who use traditional Chinese characters will be able to understand the simplified characters, but those accustomed to simple characters won't be able to read traditional Chinese. In truth, such is the complexity of written Chinese that some office workers will use basic English to communicate by email, while most schools teaching Chinese focus on the verbal language rather than reading and writing. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. But the Chinese government's interpretation of reform angered the public. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in unprecedented protests in The reform proposal was vetoed by pro-democracy politicians in , and today, Hong Kong seems stuck in a political stalemate. Against this backdrop, Cantonese has not just survived but thrived in a totally unexpected way, according to linguistics expert Lau Chaak-ming.

Starting about 10 years ago, writing in vernacular Cantonese, in addition to standard Chinese, began appearing in public in advertisements. Mr Lau said this trend has greatly accelerated in the past four years. Previously, advertisements and newspapers used only standard written Chinese, which is easily comprehensible to all Chinese-literate readers, whereas non-Cantonese speakers might struggle to understand the written vernacular.

Mr Lau dates the rise in written Cantonese to greater awareness of a local Cantonese identity, as opposed to a more general Chinese sense of self. Mr Lau and a number of volunteers are compiling an online Cantonese dictionary, documenting its evolution. Working in parallel, Mr Bauer, the Cantonese expert, will soon be publishing a Cantonese-English dictionary, which will be available online and in book form.

According to these experts, Cantonese isn't dying at all. For now. It's doing quite well compared to other languages in the China region," said Mr Lau. But he and others worry about the long-term consequences of the rise of Putonghua in Hong Kong, especially as more schools seem to be keen to teach in the medium.

It will become endangered. He cited the history of Cantonese in Guangdong province, where he believes efforts to spread Putonghua have been too successful, with children now not using their mother tongue.

Contrary to what had been predicted, she says, Cantonese has maintained, and even extended, its dominant position after the handover in the areas of politics and law. It has been "transmuted", she maintains, from a low-status dialect to a high-status form that displays all the full functions of a standard language - which is something quite unique and unprecedented in the Chinese context.

As the birthplace of Cantonese, China is an example of a country where the Cantonese language is most widespread. The Chinese government discourages the use of another language except for Standard Chinese but despite the discouragement Cantonese still enjoys widespread use in China and is used in public transport in some regions of the country.

Contrary to popular belief, the origin of the use of Cantonese in Hong Kong is relatively recent, going back to the midth Century. Foreigners originating from the city of Canton were responsible for introducing Cantonese in Hong Kong after they migrated in their thousands between and to work as merchants and laborers. Cantonese also has extensive usage in Malaysia where thousands of people are native Cantonese speakers.