Three Cantonese speakers share their thoughts about the shifting linguistic landscapes of Hong Kong and Southern China
Three students from southern China and Hong Kong shared their differing concerns about the future of Cantonese, as they said Mandarin is increasing and Cantonese is decreasing in priority in Hong Kong and southern China. Rachel Liu, BYU—Hawaii alumna from China, said, “A lot of the new generation, if they are not taught [Cantonese] by their parents, do not have this feeling that it’s important to learn.” She said, “I am scared this language is going to be dead.” Though she studied TESOL education, her experiences as a Cantonese tutor at the Language & Speech Lab have reminded her how important Cantonese is, she said.
Similarly to Liu, business management senior and Hong Kong native Esmond Poon said he feels a deep “pain” when he thinks about Cantonese today. Though he said the initial purpose of introducing Mandarin to Hong Kong was good and, “it is always good to pick up an extra language,” he said he fears Mandarin is, “taking over the old culture that people used to embrace.”
While Ellie Shek, a senior from Hong Kong majoring in TESOL and a Language & Speech Lab Cantonese tutor, said she personally feels, “the Cantonese language is not in danger at the moment [because] lots of people speak Cantonese.” She also noted there is a trend toward speaking more Mandarin and less Cantonese due to the education system and government promoting Cantonese less.
Though Cantonese and Mandarin share many similarities, Liu said, “I wish everybody understood these are two different languages," instead of Cantonese being a dialect of Mandarin. Liu said even though they have things in common, Cantonese and Mandarin are not interchangeable and are better understood as separate languages. Miming drawing a Venn diagram, she described the two languages’ similarities, like both using Chinese written characters, and differences, like the number of tones. For instance, though the exact number of tones is somewhat disputed, Mandarin is generally understood as having four or five tones while Cantonese has six or nine, says preply.com.
Poon similarly expressed a desire for BYUH students to acknowledge, “the differences between Mandarin and Cantonese,” which he called a sign of respect. One way he said he accommodates native Mandarin speakers is by speaking in Mandarin even when “it is not going to be as eloquent because [he does] not have a native tongue.”
He said he hopes others will make similar efforts to be more inclusive toward native Cantonese speakers, referencing saying hello as a simple example. “A lot of people say, ‘Ni hao,’ to me, and that’s not how Cantonese pronounces, ‘Hello.’” Instead of saying the Mandarin ‘Ni hao’ to Cantonese speakers, he said even those who do not speak Cantonese could say ‘Nei hou.’
There is a trend of younger people being unable to speak Cantonese, Poon shared, and Hong Kong adolescents and children today are beginning to speak better Mandarin than English. However, for people his age, he said Mandarin is often the language out of the three that people from Hong Kong are least comfortable speaking. On campus, he said though many Mandarin speakers might assume all Hongkongers speak Mandarin fluently, he said, “Most of us are not really good at Mandarin.”
The history of Chinese languages
Both Mandarin and Cantonese have become practically synonymous with “Chinese,” but their origins are different. Mandarin is spoken throughout China today as its official language and is used to unify the country, shared Shek. However, Mandarin is rooted in the specific form from northern China, says unravel.com. According to the website, China has vast linguistic diversity with seven main Chinese language dialects traditionally spoken by the Han Chinese people, specifically Mandarin, Yue, Wu, Min, Hakka, Gan and Xiang. However, Babbel information says the language with the most first-language speakers in the entire world is Mandarin, giving it increased power over other dialects.
Meanwhile, Cantonese is the most prevalent dialect of Yue Chinese, says the Cantonese Language Association, a group of dialects traditionally from the southern Chinese region. Though Yue speakers are traditionally from Guangdong Province, Guangxi Province, Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese-speaking diaspora communities today can be found in those places as well as in Singapore, the United States and Western Europe, says unravel.com.
Cantonese is only the third most spoken of the seven main Chinese language dialects with a fraction of the speakers Mandarin has, unravel.com says. However, many factors make Cantonese one of the two most well-known Chinese languages to the Western world, according to the National Archives for the United Kingdom. Its website explains in the early 1800s, Hong Kong and Guangzhou were two of the few port cities open to the Western world, so Americans and Europeans were able to more easily contact Cantonese speakers than other communities in China. After China lost the First and Second Opium Wars, treaties were signed that gave Great Britain more control of the region and ultimately led to Hong Kong becoming a British colony until 1997, says the National Archives.
Through its connections to Europe, Hong Kong developed into an international business hub, says medium.com. Poon said this is something Hong Kong is still known for, comparable with Singapore. Additionally, Medium says people like Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee increased Western awareness of Hong Kong through pop culture. Unravel.com says Cantonese speakers typically founded "Chinatown” communities in the United States and Western Europe. Due to continued immigration from Hong Kong and southern China, the form of Chinese most heard spoken in Chinatowns today is still Cantonese, it says.
Due to historical, cultural and political differences between southern China and Hong Kong in the last 200 years, Shek said Cantonese varies between locations. She and Poon both described Cantonese as being more casual and conversational than Mandarin, with the version of Cantonese spoken by younger generations in Hong Kong being even more so. Unlike Mandarin, Shek said Cantonese’s “spoken language and written form are different.” Cantonese Class 101 says Written Standard Chinese, “was based on spoken Mandarin. Therefore, when one ‘writes in Chinese’, Mandarin speakers write as they speak, Cantonese speakers do not.”
When southern Chinese people speak Cantonese, Shek said they sometimes “use their written [grammar] in their speaking,” a reflection of the increased significance of Mandarin in Guangdong Province over the last few decades. She said, “People from Hong Kong can distinguish those who are from Mainland China because of their accents and sometimes their vocabulary.” She also said southern Chinese people, “use simplified Chinese,” to write, whereas Hong Kong typically uses traditional Chinese.
Liu said while she respects when people say Hongkongers, “speak the most formal and professional accent of Cantonese,” she compared it to saying Americans with different regional accents who still use proper grammar are unprofessional. She said if someone can be understood when speaking, that is the most important thing. “We do speak the same language, but we use different words.” As an example, she talked about how different Cantonese speakers say “you” differently. Sometimes the word for you, 你, is pronounced “nei” and other times “lei.” Though different, she said, “it still can be understood.”
Learning Cantonese in southern China
Shek described the promotion of Mandarin and decline of Cantonese speakers in Guangzhou, a city in China’s Guangdong Province, as a manifestation of China’s, “want to unify because [Mandarin] is the official language.” She said many schools in Guangzhou are, “encouraging the use of Mandarin,” instead of “their mother tongue.” Liu, too, credited this promotion of Mandarin in schools as the reason for many younger people in Guangdong Province being unable to speak Cantonese nowadays.
Liu said she can speak Cantonese through her father and watching Cantonese TV shows. Liu’s church leaders spoke Cantonese and while listening to them, she said she “got used to the tone or the sounds.” Liu’s mother also speaks Cantonese, she shared. “I guess the older generations speak Cantonese better than Mandarin because we’re from the Canton province. That’s what the main language was before.”
She said going to the Hong Kong China Temple was the first time that she got to use Cantonese extensively. “I had to speak Cantonese because some of the people don’t speak Mandarin or English.” Though she felt at the time her Cantonese was not as polished as those she met from Hong Kong, she said she realized she was able to communicate effectively.
In Yangjiang, the city where Liu grew up, she said there were few opportunities to use Cantonese because along with Mandarin, Yangjiang has its own dialect. When she went to Shenzhen or Guangzhou, she “had the ability to speak Cantonese,” but the schools there still emphasized Mandarin.
Telling people she is from Canton, another name for both Guangdong Province and its capital Guangzhou, leads northern Chinese and Taiwanese people to immediately and excitedly comment on their interest in Cantonese, said Liu. She elaborated how Canton is inseparable from Cantonese to them, but they do not understand that many Canton residents can no longer speak Cantonese.
This is a misconception Liu said she shared for many years. When she was younger, she said she found out her friend from Canton, “didn’t know how to speak Cantonese ... After I found out he couldn’t speak Cantonese, I realized not everybody from Guangdong speaks Cantonese.” She said she had another close friend who, “lived in Guangdong for her whole life, but she can’t speak Cantonese.” However, she said she still thinks most people in Canton do speak some Cantonese, even if it’s not a lot.
While some Church members Liu’s age spoke Cantonese, she said, “I didn’t hear most of my friends speak Cantonese at school,” especially those who were not originally from the city where they attended school with Liu.
Cantonese language in education
In past decades, Cantonese was often a focus of education in Hong Kong, with many subjects being taught in Cantonese, said Poon. Shek shared, “In elementary school, we just had an English class and a Mandarin class.” However, both Poon and Shek said they went to high schools where English was the primary form of instruction. Shek clarified this did not necessarily mean students were comfortable speaking English, but they knew enough to understand and follow instructions.
“I learned English since kindergarten, and I started learning Mandarin in third grade,” she shared. Even though she started with English, Shek said she became more proficient in Mandarin as a child because there were fewer opportunities to practice her English and “[Mandarin and Cantonese] are pretty similar.”
Though Poon said he thinks Mandarin is a valuable language to study, he wished the government would focus more on Cantonese preservation. “I can tell a lot of people are starting to sense the crisis of [our] language being lost right now.” Having served a mission in New Zealand, he said many Maori people spoke English at home. “The government wanted to preserve their own culture. That’s why they reinforced the Maori language in school again,” he explained. “The best way to learn a language is to be immersed in that environment, and I feel like education helps you to implement that kind of circumstance.” He said he wished the Hong Kong educational system made people speak the language through Cantonese instruction.
In recent years, Poon said many schools now use Mandarin. He attributed much of this to the immigration of people from mainland China to Hong Kong. Liu also noted the “immigration of people from northern China to Guangdong Province,” has greatly impacted how much less Cantonese is used in Canton today.
Shek said she thinks much of why Cantonese is struggling is due to the absence of a good system for teaching Cantonese. She referenced how online resources like Babbel, Duolingo and Rosetta Stone do not offer Cantonese. “For foreigners to learn Cantonese, it is really hard. I wish someone would develop a really good system for people to learn Cantonese so we can preserve the culture,” she shared. Liu said she believes people not learning Cantonese is not due to a “lack of motivation.” She explained it is simply because language learning is incredibly difficult.
That is why Shek and Liu said it is important for BYUH students to understand the value of language tutors. “The Language & Speech Lab is always here for you to learn a different language ... We’re here to serve you,” said Liu. She said while many students interested in Chinese culture might immediately sign up for a Mandarin class, “One-to-one tutoring is more individualized for each different tutee because there is only one person to teach.” She said it can be more fun and informative than a class because lessons can be geared toward that individual’s level of understanding and interest in specific topics.
Shek said, “It is hard to learn Cantonese without someone [individually] teaching you,” but she thinks one-on-one tutoring makes learning Cantonese realistic. “Cantonese tutoring can be really beneficial if your other half is from Hong Kong,” she shared, or if you want to work in Hong Kong, southern China, Macau or Malaysia. “And it’s really good for your brain as well because it’s one of the hardest languages,” she continued. Liu said, “I want to make sure everybody knows that learning a language is fun, even though it’s hard.”
Pop culture and identity
Though cultural connections to Cantonese make its disappearance worrisome for people in southern China, Shek and Poon both noted that for Hongkongers of their generation, an added political dimension can make this shift even more difficult. “The language is definitely tied to identity,” Shek said.
Referencing a 2019 survey conducted by the Public Opinion Programme at the University of Hong Kong following the 2 million pro-democracy protestors against extradition to China, Poon talked about how over half of Hong Kong people surveyed identified only as a Hongkonger, without directly identifying with China. Poon shared he personally identifies as only a Hongkonger because, “I think Hong Kong already symbolizes [the mixture of Chinese and Western culture].” He said Hong Kong’s cultural identity is inherently “special” because it is “inclusive.” He elaborated, “It is not like I do not want to associate with China.” He shared his familial connections to China and love of Chinese cultural heritage elements like mooncakes and dragon boats. However, he said being a Hongkonger already implies cultural connections to both China and Western countries, so “I don’t think I have to reemphasize [my Chinese culture].”
Even though political feelings can complicate the Hong Kong-China relationship, Shek clarified she has a very loving relationship with the Mandarin language and people. She shared even though she didn't like Mandarin when she began learning it in elementary school, she became more motivated to learn it after watching Taiwanese TV dramas and meeting more Mandarin speakers. "The motivation of students to learn [Mandarin and English] was pretty low,” she said, but developing an interest in the cultures of those languages, such as American or British culture, greatly helped them learn.
Poon similarly noted how TikTok’s popularity among youth has greatly influenced them to speak Mandarin since TikTok itself and many media influencers are from China. Shek further shared serving a Mandarin-speaking mission in Oakland, California, made her realize how “Mandarin is a tool” she could use to serve others. “I feel really happy when I’m talking to people from mainland China,” she said.
Cultural erosion
British colonization has greatly impacted Hong Kong, said Poon. For instance, he explained there are “Cantonese words that take the [English] pronunciation of ‘taxi’ and ‘store’ and become a word in Cantonese,” while Mandarin often uses distinctly Chinese words. Hong Kong’s colonial history is evident not only in its language but physical structures, such as architecture and public transportation, said Poon. In recent years, there have been moves to destroy these cultural elements, which he said is eroding Hong Kong’s unique heritage. When he thinks about the shrinking differences between Hong Kong and mainland China today, he said, “I cannot really differentiate why Hong Kong is special anymore.”
Poon said he went back to Hong Kong in the summer of 2023. While there, he said he noticed the reduction of Cantonese usage while taking public transportation. “When I just graduated high school, it was like 90 percent of people still speaking in Cantonese, but right now I would say probably only 50 percent of people are still speaking Cantonese.” Of the other 50 percent, he said he heard English and Mandarin. “I think that it is extremely important to protect Cantonese ... I just feel like Hong Kong’s not Hong Kong anymore.”