As a native Cantonese speaker, I grew up surrounded by it. It took me a few steps away from home to appreciate how fascinating Cantonese truly is. The colour and expressiveness of Cantonese can sometimes be hard to capture in the English language. It can probably be said both ways but that’s for another day. Today, I wanted to start from the beginning.
The origin of Cantonese?
Cantonese (廣東話), is sometimes referred to as Yue Language (粵語). Although not strictly the same, I like keeping things simple. Sources I can find suggest it started sometime during the Qin Dynasty 青朝 that's 221-206 BC! Obviously, it evolved over time, but essentially it is a language mix with Han Chinese (essentially 90+% of modern-day Chinese) 漢族人 and Baiyue people 百越族 due to migration over the dynasties, sprinkles some of the Tai language that is spoken by the Zhuang people 壯族人, you have the base of “Yue Language” that is mainly spoken in Southern China such as the modern-day Guangzhou 廣州. Guangzhou, one of China's busiest port cities and soon enough, it also became a cultural centre of the region. So by the Tang dynasty 唐朝 (618-906 AD), Guangzhou’s dialect was immortalised and popularised via poems and operas.
How "Yue" becomes “Cantonese”
Maybe a bit of geographic context here can help. Guangzhou is the major city within the Guangdong 廣東 province. My Irish family may resonate strongly with the following. In the late 19th century, the English postal authorities transliterated the city of Guangzhou in the Canto. And ‘naturally’, Cantonese becomes the language spoken in the city of Canto. And with their colonial influence at that time, they quickly popularised the name.
Cantonese vs Mandarin
Cantonese, with its rich history and influence, is estimated to have more than 85 million speakers worldwide, a number exceeding the population of the UK. That’s a pretty impressive figure and although it is usually labelled as a "dialect”, Cantonese retains unique grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary distinct from Mandarin. No wonder there is some controversy around Cantonese being the “traditional Chinese” or the more “authentic” Chinese language.
No matter which camp you might be, in 1956, the People’s Republic of China made Mandarin China’s official language. The pressure certainly was felt with fewer new generations of mainland Chinese speaking Cantonese. Hong Kong on the other hand was largely unaffected due to its unique situation under British rule and, later, its Special Administrative Region status. However, recently the political pressure from China is likely to shake things up a little.
Cantonese was never traditionally a classroom language but was kept alive in families, neighbourhoods, and communities through daily conversation. Interestingly, Cantonese sometimes are referred to as 白話 (baak 6 waa 2)- meaning plain/colloquial speech - likely due to this reason. With the political shift, there is likely less and less incentive to speak Cantonese. If the older generation doesn’t speak their native tongue at home, Cantonese will slowly dwindle over the next few generations.
We all know the phrase “if you don’t use it, you lose it”. This is especially true for families raising children in non-Cantonese-speaking countries. That’s why we at Voiceling are trying to create a community and provide resources to help families create more language opportunities. Language learning, especially for children, flourishes through play and interaction. So while you are sharing Cantonese’s rich culture, you’re also creating memorable moments with your child. Two birds one stone, or should I say 一石二鳥 (one stone two birds)! Check out our collection of resources for Cantonese. If you want to join our community of creating a fun multilingual family and know more about what we do here in Voiceling, join our email list below! Until next time, 拜～～👋
