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Post by Ah Gin on Aug 12, 2010 23:22:20 GMT -5
Fellow Travelers,
I think Cantonese and indeed Hoisanwa will survive. My circle of relatives, ABC, in their early 60s, mostly speak Hoisanwa and not Cantonese. In fact, at our SF Association meetings, we variously speak Cantonese, Hoisanwa, even Mandarin in rare occasions.
In Hoiping, mostly we can get by speaking Cantonese, although Hoisanwa will be preferred by the locals.
Long live Hoisanwa and Cantonese. Mind you, when I do speak in either languages, I myself have a good laugh as my pronunciation is not exactly correct. "If you live to be as old as I, frankly my dear, I don't care a d**n"
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by chumley on Aug 13, 2010 21:39:27 GMT -5
Hoisan wa was the only dialect spoken in Chicago's Chinatown until the 1970s. There were few who spoke Cantonese and even fewer who spoke Mandarin.
Today, Cantonese speakers probably outnumber Hoisan wa speakers. Although there are several Mandarin restaurants in Chinatown, the shopkeepers are still Hoisan wa and Cantonese speakers.
My spoken Chinese can produce laughs or strange looks from native Hoisan wa speakers and native Cantonese speakers. My parents were both born in Canton (Guangzhou) and both resided in Hong Kong prior to immigrating to the U.S.
My paternal grandparents were born in Sunning District (which was renamed Toishan District in 1914) and my maternal grandparents were born in Hoiping District.
I can speak both the Hoisan wa and Cantonese dialects (though nowhere as fluent as a native born speaker). Although I can speak both dialects, I’ve mastered neither. It’s not uncommon for me to blend both dialects while speaking. There are words in one dialect that I don’t know how to say in the other dialect.
Although my Hoisan wa is better than my Cantonese, what little I can read in Chinese is pronounced in Cantonese. Done laughing yet? It’s due to my childhood Cantonese lessons (which were only for a few years).
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Post by helen on Aug 14, 2010 5:49:49 GMT -5
They often say that I am a country bumpkin - learnt my Cantonese from my Mum. Dad learnt his from a Chinese Sunday School class
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Post by pizzaluvr on Aug 18, 2010 21:29:25 GMT -5
Yes, agree with Chumley ... I too get mixed up between Hoisanwa & Cantonese when I don't know the exact pronounciation of a word in Cantonese or vice versa. I think it's the new immigrants that'll dictates what language(s) must be supported in the Chinatowns. As more & more people from China immigrate to all corners of the world, they will be the new clienteles for existing and new businesses. Here in Ottawa (Canada) the teahouses are now hiring Mandarin speaking girls to push the dim-sum carts. I hope Cantonese & Hoisanwa continues to flourish.
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Post by Ah Gin on Sept 22, 2010 15:45:38 GMT -5
As part of a cross cultural celebration programme, to celebrate the 2010 Mid Autumn Festival, our local library put on a Story Time session for young kids (2 to 6). About 25, with their carers turned up. It was a mixed bag, mostly Chinese kids, but good to see non Chinese kids there as well. I took a poll before I started the fun of story telling and sing songs. There was only one family who spoke Cantonese, the rest spoke Mandarin (Putonghua). So there you are, slowly but surely, more Mandarin being spoken.
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by ziqing on Mar 6, 2011 14:54:06 GMT -5
Hello everyone,
As a Cantonese born speaking Cantonese, I share the same sentiment of my mother tongue. I think the most prominent place to see or "hear" people using this colorful and expressive dialect is on Facebook. Fascinating how a language or dialect evolves along side with the changing landscape through the reflection of a socioecological dynamic culture. On his blog Larry Salibra argued with his 7 Reasons Cantonese is Dying & Mandarin is King (http://larrysalibra.com/2010/02/25/7-reasons-cantonese-is-dying-mandarin-is-king/). Interesting read. My take would be that if there is enough population that speak the dialect or language, it will continue through daily usage. This is especially true with the advance technology in the archival world. Almost anything can be digitally preserved.
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Post by douglaslam on Sept 30, 2012 7:16:04 GMT -5
badcanto.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/a-hong-kong-newspaper-vendor-beaten-for-failling-to-speak-mandarin/This is a piece of old news. I thought it worthy of airing on this board. It highlights the arrogance, conceitedness, and ignorance of some Chinese mainlanders. And how Cantonese is under assault. These days, people in HKG refer to China mainland as 強國 (powerful nation) and the people as 強國人 in a sarcastic way. They want everything in their own way because China has "risen" up. Not only China can say no 中国可以说不, the people can assert their new-found power as they like, as they see fit. People of HKG must be subservient to the mainland, for their very well-being is at the whimp of the mainlanders. They should be grateful for the good grace of the hordes of big spending tourists from across the border. Tyuti1668, can you add to this ?
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Post by carbacca on Oct 4, 2012 17:53:06 GMT -5
saw this on facebook some time ago...there is a facebook group called 保護粵語 刻不容緩 調整推普力度 保育粵語!https://www.facebook.com/CANTONESE.PROMOTION but a lot of it seems like in jest....
蘋果CEO將Siri加入粵語和北京話(或普通話)支持的主要原因是想打入中國/華人/唐人市場,因為中國/華人/唐人市場,包括港、澳、台,實在太大。 想賺其錢,當需對其提供好處。對於為何蘋果要加入粵語的支持,很多大陸人感到迷惑。為什麼加入粵語這個地方語言呢?錯了,粵語或廣東話不是地方語言,它是聯合國認可的中國語言之一。全球大約有超過一億人口日常使用廣東話 (出過國的都應該知道我在講什麼)。 再之, 粵語有完整,但不完善,的白話文文字 (就是口頭語字體),所以將Siri加入廣東話的支持并不困難。但是為什麼不加入其他也在被廣泛使用的地方語言呢?例如,閩南話,客家話,潮汕話等等,這些都在大陸和台灣使用得很普及。 原因很簡單,你們的字打不出來啊!!!,你叫Siri怎麼表達啊?用英文拼音表達?不是吧??更何況,你們台灣人明知大部分人使用閩南話(或台語)和客家話,但非要使用其他方言為官方語言,用意何在呢?
所以啊,想要自己的語言被重視,先由重視自己的語言開始吧
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Post by mugenpower168 on Dec 11, 2012 7:50:44 GMT -5
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Post by douglaslam on Dec 12, 2012 5:15:12 GMT -5
I noticed the young people in the village speaking our dialect not quite the way I expected it to be spoken. It all comes down to the compulsory use of Mandarin as the only medium of instruction. Children talk to each other in Mandarin, Cantonese and local dialects became irrelevant. It flies in the face of cultural diversity of the country. Look at the American, Canadian, and Australian experience where the governments are trying hard to preserve the indigenous dialects. In China, it is the opposite.
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