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"
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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....
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.